3:45 PM, 4th April, Construction Site, Bangalore
It was not that Shreekant had not suspected one of his family members, especially his father to be behind all this but his heart wanted his suspicion to be untrue, after all in end it was his family. The emergence of the brooch from the site where Anna was found dead had compelled his worst fears to become true. Every ounce of his body surrendered to that horrifying truth that his father might be hiding.
For every child, his or her father would have been a hero, protecting and caring for him or her but for Shreekant it was never so, and he could never get close to him. Despite their differences, he had never hated his father for anything. The only thing that had tormented his heart since childhood was that, he never even tried to understand what his son wanted. He burdened Shreekant with the prestigious title of being the eldest son of the Mhatre family and had to live up to those expectations.
Those anticipations were so heavy for him sometimes that he felt unable to breathe. Once that he started resisting his father's ideals, it was followed by more friction between them. The gap of communication and understanding further deepened and intensified due to Aruna's interference while his siblings were already distanced from him due to various reasons. But it was not always like that.
There were days when the Mhatre Niwas used to gleam and glisten with the friendship between the four but ultimately the situations changed... Emotions changed... People changed and now one of these people was responsible for throwing him into such a big misery.
Shrugging off his agony and straightening his trembling limbs, he proceeded rationally and spoke, "This brooch is the ultimate proof that someone from my family is involved in Anna's death and if this button is of that same dress then the angle of suicide is almost eliminated"
She nodded glaring at him while he continued, "We have to search four more floors, and check if we can find something else." Proceeding with their hunt, they continued examining every area and finally reached the twentieth floor... The floor from which Anna had fallen into the vicious trap of death.
As they reached the top-most floor, the open sky was dangling over their heads and both had a similar feeling of an unknown fear strangling and choking their further movement. They both looked into each other's eyes and wondered the same thing that they can't let the other person struggle in the fear alone.
Sourcing the strength from each other, they moved ahead in their venture and inspected the place stringently. Even though no considerable piece of evidence was found there, both had successfully managed to overcome their fear and pain together.
Moving out of the dilapidated building after almost three hours, they threw their overly exhausted bodies drenched in sweat and dust into the AC car. Taking a few minutes of rest, Amna started driving the car towards the airport where they had to catch a flight back to Mumbai at nine.
Disha had also informed them that she had done her work, and they all would be sharing the information once they reach Bangalore airport. After racing through the traffic for more than one hour, all of them finally met at the Airport lounge to discuss the data they had collected.
Shreekant and Amna explained about the three important pieces of evidence that they had got while Disha then began narrating to them the information she had collected, "Sir, first about Dr. Damodar... He has taken a leave of about a month to spend a lavish holiday with his family in Switzerland, he would probably be back by next week or so."
Taking a small pause and crossing her arms around her chest, she continued, "Dr. Rathore resigned from his job after he returned from Delhi on 12th of March and none of the staff at the hospital know about his whereabouts now. About the arson case of that attendant Keshav, the police reports suggest the fire happened due to gas leakage and no other evidence could be found. Interestingly, a burnt piece of a railway ticket to Nashik scheduled on 7th March night was found in his house. Probably, he was planning to back to his hometown when that fire happened"
Inhaling a slow breath, Amna asked, "What about Amol Despande? Were you able to ask something to his wife?"
Disha downcasted her eyes, nodding in affirmation, and spoke slowly, "Amol has a two-year-old daughter suffering from a rare eye cancer called Retinoblastoma. He had asked a couple of NGOs to help him in the funding of surgery and chemotherapy, one of them being the Bangalore branch of NGO Asha, the same one with which Anna Madam was affiliated to. The ten lakh rupees that she had directly transferred him, was for this reason and I think, in return, she might have asked him to help her gather evidence against ROYMHA"
Fisting his palm he decisively muttered, "So, that's how she met Amol... By the way, did you offer her some monetary help?"
"I did sir... But she refused, saying that her husband's insurance money would be enough for the completion of the whole treatment process. Still, I gave her my card, in case she needed any form of help"
After the completion of the conversation, Amna turned towards Disha, "We need the help of a translator, to help us understand the pages of the document properly"
Shaking her head, she replied, "I will arrange for someone, by tomorrow evening but it has to a trustable person, because as we discussed, it may be important proof which could point towards the reason for Keerthana's death. Coming to that... we have to meet Kavya, she might be knowing something"
"The thing is I am having an important meeting tomorrow, and if I don't attend it, Papa will again... And a lot of unnecessary drama will happen." He uttered in a feeble voice showing his dissatisfaction while Amna replied, "Don't worry, you attend the meeting, I and Disha can go and meet her" He stared at both of them while Disha too replied in affirmation.
The work for the day was done and the next course of action was also planned. As the announcement for security check began, they moved out of the lounge and departed for Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, almost at midnight, Shreekant and Amna went back to the Outhouse while Disha went back to her home.
The newly found proofs were to be kept with the utmost safety and Shreekant knew that there was no better place than the room in which he slept in the Outhouse, which had a safety vault attached with the cupboard.
Even though, all three were endlessly tired their eyes were not. A lot of questions were remaining to be answered and nabbing the culprit was still miles away. They knew that just knowing the culprit's name or having a few pieces of evidence won't help them in any way, they also had to make sure that whoever was involved gets no chance to escape from the court of law.
9:30 AM, 5th April, Mumbai
Disha had made some silly yet convincing excuses to Anant for her disappearance for the next two to three hours, but she was well aware that she could be called any time in case some emergency erupted. It was important at the same time that Disha and Amna shouldn't be seen together near Mhatre Niwas.
Although both of them started their routes separately, but almost reached the relevant address of Kavya's home at roughly the same time. The drive to her house took nearly an hour and it was in the outskirts of Mumbai in a newly made apartment, as a result of which most of the flats were empty.
Their eyes traversed to the nameplate at the side of the door as they read in their minds, "Soumya Gupta," and glanced at each other with astonished eyes and Disha asked her, "Amna, did you note down the correct address from Keerthana's mother?"
She simply nodded with her mind equally perplexed and spoke in a low tone, "Let's press the bell and check once, I had noted the address very carefully. Did she again change her home or what?"
After almost pressing the bell thrice with no response from inside, they finally heaved a sigh of pure hopelessness and turned their back walking towards the corridor, just when Disha heard the clicking sound of the door opening that echoed in the almost empty floor.
Hinting Amna the same thing, they rushed back to the flat where they saw a girl in some casual dress closing the door. Hastily striding towards her, before she could close the door, Disha placed her foot in between the door and wall while the girl glanced up with frowning eyes almost yelling at her, "Who are you, people? What do you want? How did you get this address?"
Amna bounced her head up and spoke in an equally loud manner, "We want to meet Miss. Kavya Jindal... We got this address from Keerthana's mother"
On hearing the mention of Keerthana's mother, the girl lowered her guarding position slightly and uttered feebly, "I am Kavya Jindal... What work do you people have with me?" while Disha also withdrew her foot for the time being. The door was also open almost fully and she hunted the duo with her prying eyes for an answer.
Amna could visibly notice the unknown fear in her eyes and tried to mitigate and comfort her by showing her ID card and said, "I am a doctor... We both came here hearing about Keerthana Foundation. We needed some help and a few information from you, please help us... We both will be very grateful"
Kavya although not convinced but still allowed the duo to come inside and made them sit on the sofa, and it was quite evident from her expression and behavior that she wanted them to leave the place as quickly as possible. Before they could ask her any question, Disha's phone rang and she had to pick up the urgent call.
Disconnecting the call, by telling the person on the other side of the receiver to call her later, she hurriedly tried keeping the phone in her bag. Just then, her employee ID card fell on the ground and Kavya picked it up to give it back to her.
Kavya's eyes stole a glance at the details of the ID and her facial expression again changed. Instead of giving Disha the ID card, she unfurled a kitchen knife from the dining table behind her back and raised her arm holding the sharp metallic object.
Shaking her head violently, she replied in a mighty voice, "You people came this far, to harm me. Taking my friend's life was not enough. Because of you people, I left my life in Bangalore and came here but still, you followed me here like a shadow. What are you people up to now? Want to silent me also? If anyone of you moves a single step towards, me I swear to god, I won't think twice before using this knife"
She was howling horribly and her eyes were draining more blood than they could ever imagine. Disha and Amna stood upright from their position and were in total astonishment while Kavya's eyes were completely focused on the duo.
Disha tried to talk, taking a step towards her, "Kavya calm down... Why are you doing this? but she halted her as she pointed the knife even more closely only a few inches apart to strike her.
Amna pulled Disha back in time and said in a calm voice, "I think you are confused... There is some misunderstanding... We are not what you think, believe us"
Muttering huskily taking sharp breaths, "Believe you, people... I just saw her ID card, she is an employee for that Mhatre Group"
Inhaling loudly Amna spoke, "She is an employee but we both are not here to harm you in any way... So put that knife down, please..." She was soliciting to her with all her might seeing her startling behavior.
Amna had managed to take another tortoise step ahead while speaking, simultaneously keeping her eyes steady on Kavya. Before Kavya could take any further step, Amna hinted at Disha and stomped on Kavya's feet, causing her to distract while Disha pushed her slightly, making the knife drop on the ground and she quickly picked it up.
With the knife now in her hand, Disha uttered slowly, "We both are not here to harm you in any way" Leaning herself sideways she threw the knife on the sofa and continued, "We just came here to ask if you if Keerthana was in contact or knew a woman named Anna Mhatre before she died?"
Her eyes widened as she heard the name and she howled at the top of her voice, "If you people are not here to harm me, then just get the hell out of here, I don't know anything... Please let me live in peace. Just go from here..."
Amna took another step towards her as Kavya's expression was slightly changed and she saw her staring at the ground thinking something deeply. Seeing the acute hostile behavior of hers, she had only one option in front of her now as she knew that Kavya had some important information that she was hiding.
She mumbled under a deep loud exhale, "I am Anna's estranged sister, and we both are trying to nab the person who is responsible for her untimely demise... The main person we suspect is Anant Mhatre, chairman of Mhatre Group, but we need evidence for that and about Disha, even though she is an employee for Mhatre Group, she is also a sufferer because of Anant Mhatre"
Although her facial expressions were changed slightly, she still roared in her not-so-polite voice, "See, I have no interest in believing anyone right now, you have no idea, under what fear I am surviving, so much that I had to use a fake name board outside so that no one can find me. Please leave me alone... And my advice to you people is that you stay away from all this if you want to survive"
She lifted her arm, gesturing them to go out while Amna decided to try one last time. She kneeled, hanging her head and grabbed Kavya's feet, and pleaded, "Never in my life I have kneeled like this before anyone, I am doing this for you." Tears had started choking her throat as she continued, "Please help me... Mhatre Group has harmed and destroyed many lives including both of us, we desperately need to know the truth"
Disha exhaled loudly and yelled, "Amna, stop this... She is not going to help us in any way, why are you doing it in front of her, we will find some other way. Please stop begging her." She forcefully flinched Amna away from her kneeling position to make her stand upright on the cold floor and gave a painful angry frown at Kavya while approaching the door.
As they were about to leave the place, a voice ordered them to halt in their position, "I will tell you everything, but will you promise me that you people will help me to put the person behind bars who is responsible for my friend's death, and because of whom I have to live like this... The same person who is responsible for your sister's death"
Her words were reverberating in both Disha and Amna's ears, with tremors of trepidation taking control over their body. With bulging eyes, Amna asked, "You mean to say, both Anna and Keerthana were killed by the same person?"
Rolling her gloomy eyes she spoke quite professionally, "The better answer would be that they were killed because of the same reason, and the person behind all this is Chairman of Mhatre Group, Anant Mhatre."
"What reason are you talking about? Is it something related to ROYMHA?", Disha asked as she crossed her arms crossed her chest.
With a glaring expression, she nodded in affirmation, "Not related... The reason is ROYMHA. It's a bit of a long story and you people need to understand every part of it carefully"
Hinting the duo to return to their seats, Kavya sat on the sofa across them and began her account, "Keerthana and I were working on an exclusive story about Simon Jacob, have you both ever heard of his name?" Sensing their silence as a no, she continued in an annoucing manner, "International drug cartel leader... Wanted by Interpol... Russian drug kingpin. He is like a ghost, CIA, MI6 have tried to catch him numerous times but unfortunately, he somehow always managed to escape, the main reason being, he lived on international waters, not on the land"
"Around three years back, the Russian intelligence agency managed to get their hands on a five-tonne drug consignment which belonged to him, and after inspection of the consignment, they found a new drug amongst it, DGS or Desmoglicasine. A drug that works like magic, made up of three compounds in a unique ratio 5:3:2, Desmosline, glicaneozone, and sinemicasol"
Rotating her vigilant eyes at Amna she asked, "You are a doctor, right? Have you heard of these three drugs?"
Swaying her head confidently, she inhaled a deep breath before saying, "Desmosline is a sedative and hypnotic, glicaneozone is a hallucinating agent, and sinemicasol is a CNS stimulant just like cocaine, but all these three are banned in India for use, they are not even approved by US FDA"
Impressed by her answer Kavya gave a gentle smile, "Right... but few countries still allow it, under careful supervision. These three drugs separately are nothing... but when combined in the specific ratio, they become DGS, a drug that cannot be detected in any steroid test or dope test, not in any sample, hair, blood, urine not anywhere. It's not a drug, it's a boon or magic for the drug dealers and users. It's like committing a crime without a trace"
Changing her position slightly she again spoke, "Russian Narcotics Bureau were shocked when they found about this new drug and its rampant spread among Russian citizens. Various researchers and chemical engineers worked day and night to find every smallest information, including a way to detect the drug."
"Just like poison cuts poison, a new ionization enhancer called Zencro was synthetically prepared by a group of Russian scientists and the study became publicly available around five months later. With that development, the use of DGS slightly decreased in Russia but still, it was a long way to go since the usage of Zencro in routine testing was not possible as the compound was slightly difficult to prepare. Only pharma or biotech experts could prepare it. The unique properties of DGS and Zencro were made available in Russian research websites, but unfortunately, that paper and few others could not get that big recognization, mainly because they were in indigenous Russian language"
On hearing Kavya's words, Amna hastily took out her phone and showed her the pictures she and Shreekant had clicked in Keerthana's house, "Are you talking about this?"
With a displeased face she continued with her explanation again, "Yes, it's one of the Russian research papers. It was highlighted by me and I only explained it to Keerthana. My father worked for a Russian company for many years, and I completed my preliminary education in Russia before finally moving to India.
"It was indeed a coincidence that I understand and speak Russian. The development of Zencro in Russia was slightly detrimental for Simon as multiple companies had started synthesizing Zencro just within a year. So, he devised a brilliant plan, to move DGS out of Russia and use pharmaceutical companies, especially those which were internationally certified, and here's how ROYMHA came into the picture"
Disha bit her lower lip and her limbs were quivering in fear as she spoke, "You mean to say that ROYMHA has business connections with an International Drug Cartel Dealer, Simon Jacob"
She shook her head slowly, "This is the biggest secret of ROYMHA that Mhatre Group was hiding, and this secret was the reason for Keerthana, Anna, and even Amol Despande's death."