A Murder Mystery

[rajnish manga]

A Murder Mystery
(internet story)

Sub-Inspector Vijay was driving fast towards the Paying Guest accommodation in 9th block, Jayanagar. Its just a few KM from his Police Station.

Now,Let me introduce Mr. Sherlock Homes alias SI – Vijay. 5 feet 10 inch with dark hair and sharp eyes and most obviously an athletic physic to suit his Police style. He has completed 6 yrs of service as a cop , severed in rural area and recently posted to Jayanagar police station. He gained respect and popularity among the people living in Jayanagar becoz of his courage and ability to solve any critical case.

For the first time after his posting to Jayanagar,a suspicious death was reported in his circle. He was all set to investigate and drove towards the PG.

It is one of the luxury women pay guest accommodation in Bangalore. He got down from his vehicle and wondered at the extravagance of the building. A 5 Floor building with granite front wall and beautiful windows with stained glass. A grand entrance with teal wood. And the sandalwood aroma throughout the reception area made him relax and wonder the cost involved to maintain such a place. And the amount of rent to be paid by its inmates.

He remembered the news clipping that stated how successful and profitable the PG business had become. Especially PG for women who worked in private companies and BPO’s. In Bangalore itself, there are more than 1000 PGs. The rents vary from Rs. 1000/- to 10K/- and based on the rent, the facilities will vary”
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His train of thoughts was disturbed by a coarse voice,

“Good morning sir”, hostel watchman saluted Vijay with respect and opened the building gate.

“What is her name?” Vijay asked by checking the premises carefully.

“Meghana Madam, sir”, He replied.

They walked into her room, where she laid on the floor with her face turned towards floor. She might be around 25 to 30 years old, wearing silky nighty.

Vijay observed her carefully for some time; he didn’t find any sign of manhandling. He cautiously viewed the room and made a note of the amenities provided,a sofa set, LCD TV, split AC and a luxurious bed on corner side.

“Who first noticed her like this?” Vijay asked watchman.

“Kalyani madam, sir, she is her neighbor”, he said showing a lady who was sobbing on the other side.

Vijay asked his photographer to take few photos of the scene and went to talk to her.

Kalyani looked terrified and in deep shock.

“Can you explain me what had happened madam?” Vijay asked.
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She took some time to answer his question, then,

“Today morning I went to talk to her. The room was not locked so I went inside and saw her on the floor. I thought she was sleeping on the floor, so tried to wake her up, but she didn’t move I got afraid and kept my fingers near her nose and there was no breathing and she is dead”, She blurted.

Vijay felt that she was not telling the entire incident on what happened in the room when she came inside un-intentionally or ????So he tired questioning her in a different angle.

“ Did u move her or this was the position of her body when u came in?”Please do not leave any details, if u had moved her please say so”

“No Sir, I didn’t move her ,just shook her shoulders to wake her up”

“Hmmmm, does she stay alone in this room?”

“Yes, she doesn’t like to share-rooms”.

“Ym…”

“Excuse me sir”, someone interrupted him.

He turned back, and a middle age woman was standing in-front of the crowd.

“My name is Radha bai, and I manage this PG”, Sir, to my knowledge such incidents have never happened before; our PG is very reputed in this area. We have very tight security here”, She said.

Vijay nodded and said, “Did you inform her parents?”

“No sir, her parents died in a car accident. She has an uncle. We informed him today”.

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“I think, she committed suicide sir, I don’t think it is a murder”, she muffled.

Vijay said,“ Lets not decide anything as of now , the body will be sent for an autopsy to know the cause of death. Once we know the reason,We will do the further investigation based on report”

After some time, the ambulance came and took the body to the hospital.

He stayed some more time and collected Meghana details.

She was working in a BPO company. She was smart and had been in PG for past 1 year. It appeared that she was close with very few people and Kalyani was one of them. She stayed alone in the luxury room. She was lavish and preferred to live life as it came with no worry for tomorrow. As per her friends who knew her,she didn’t face any problem. So,overall there was no need for a suicide.

Vijay left the PG with the details and conversations wriggling around in his mind .

“I’ve to wait for the post mortem report, before continuing further”, he thought while driving back to police station.

After entering police station, Veeraya gave a stiff salute to Vijay. Veeraya, senior head constable who had served 15 years in the department.
Veeraya gave him a fatherly smile and gave him a glass of water without even asking for it. Vijay has great respect for the elderly man.

Once Vijay was settled, Veeraya asked him what had happened.

“A Woman died suspiciously in PG. Cause of death is yet to be known, waiting for the autopsy report, Veeraya”, he said.

“Oh, what do you think, was it murder?” Veeraya asked.

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Vijay shrugged and said, “I didn’t see any sign of murder attempt on her, also not fully convinced that it was suicide. It might be suicide, she might have taken sleeping pills”, he took a deep breath, “But we have to wait and see”.

“If you want, you can take Sunil as a helper in your investigation. He shows interest in this kind of cases”, Veeraya said.

Sunil is Veeraya’s only son, recently joined as a constable. Vijay smiled and nodded.

Veeraya felt extremely happy, he wanted to see his son as an Inspector. He was confident that if his son worked closely with Vijay, then he can learn many things.

He called Sunil, and told him to help Vijay in this case.

Sunil,chatterbox type guy with loads of doubts in everything he sees or hears,but eager to learn.

He went through the case details and wanted to know the process involved in determining the cause and time of death by doing the autopsy. Vijay chuckled and started clarifying his doubt.

“In a murder or suicide, one of the best pieces of evidence is the victim’s body. It usually indicates the cause of death like strangulation, gun shot, blunt force trauma, etc. The fine details of how this death occurred can provide very good additional information. To the untrained eye most of this evidence might go unnoticed. Forensic pathologists are experts and trained to gather this kind of information from the body”, Vijay stopped and gazed at Sunil. He looked very curious to know more.
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He smiled and continued further, “The examiner will try to develop a complete picture of how the victim died and any evidence, including trace evidence that may be found on the victim’s clothing, belongings, and on the body itself. In the end, based on these clues, the examiner determines the cause of death. In order to find the time of death, they check body’s discoloration, temperature and rigor. Experts can determine the time of the death exactly with these details. So that’s it, OK?”

Sunil clapped after hearing that.

Vijay patted Sunil’s shoulder and sat in his chair looking at his pending cases.

After three days,he got call from the hospital with autopsy details. The report stated that the cause of death was due to poison in food. He was surprised as he didn’t expect that. He asked Sunil to collect the report from hospital.

After reading entire report, he began to analyze the possibilities.

“What is the reason of the death sir?”, Sunil asked, he was unable to control his curiosity.

“Ym… Death due to poison in her food”, Vijay told.

“Oh… I didn’t know that food poison would kill people. Last time when I ate pani-poori, my stomach was upset, and the doctor told it was a food poison. Thank God It was not serious enough, otherwise, I would not be here now”, Sunil said fearfully
.
“Ha ha ha”, Vijay laughed for some time, “Hey, that is ‘food poison’ not ‘poison in food’”.

“Oh.. What is the difference”, Sunil kept his face innocently.
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“If somebody mix poison in the food purposefully then that is called ‘poison in food’”, he explained.
“Oh… so it is not a suicide?” Sunil said.

“No… we can’t say anything now, but we can’t rule-out the murder also in this case. Let’s put more attention. We have to resolve this case as soon as possible”, Vijay said.

Part2 (http://yourstoryclub.com/short-stories-love/meghana-murder-mystery-2/)

Meghana’s case was published in all newspapers and it was devastating to all her colleagues and friends.

Vijay entered the InfoMind BPO office campus ,where Meghana worked before she died. He waited in the reception to meet her colleague Rani.
BPO has become a hot destination for young graduate job seekers. It is not even necessary to hold a degree in order to do the BPO job. If a person has a good voice and problem solving skills then he / she can very well fit into that job. There are people who work in BPO while still studying their degree course.

The money they earn is more when compared to what their parents used to earn in those days. In fact it is more than their parents’ current salary. Most of them are from middle-class family,were luxury has been a mere word and a paradise that can never be experienced.

These jobs and salaries has brought so many changes in their life as they began to spend lavishly and so many other factors led to lot of changes in the society.
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Vijay had stopped thinking, when he saw Rani was coming to meet him.

Rani introduced herself. She looked too modern with her attire.

“It was terrible to know about Meghana. I still can’t believe that she is no more”, she said with moist eyes. Her accent sounded American.
“Yes, I can understand. Could please tell me what happened that night?” Vijay asked politely.

“We usually spend our Friday night in pubs,and even on that day we had a very good time in the pub, and we left around 11:30PM.We didn’t have any food in the pub, so we decided to get parcel from Mastan center. She dropped me and went to her PG. In fact, she even called me when she reached the PG”, She said.

“where you under the influence of alcohol?”

“No sir, we both had only Pepsi”. We went to pub only for a dance”

“Ym… when did she call you?” Vijay asked.

“1:30AM”

Vijay asked Sunil to note down the time.

“Do you remember at what time she dropped you?”

“I think it was around 12:30 AM”

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“Its surprising that you can remember the time very well”!!!

“I got a call from my boy friend when she was about to drop me, so I remembered it well”

“How much time it takes to reach from your home to Megan’s PG?”

“Usually it takes around 20mins.Since it was midnight,15 mins max its possible to reach her place..

“So, if she had started at 12:30AM then she would have reached her PG around 12:45AM, and by the time she entered into her room, it might have taken another 15 mins, that means 1:00AM. But she called her at 1:30AM.”, Vijay mumbled.


“Are you sure she had reached her room when she called you? May be she had bath first and then called you”, Vijay said.
“No, I heard the sound of the door opening when I was talking to her, so I guess she reached at that time”, she said.

“That means she reached at 1.30AM, so why the hell it took half an hour more time for her to reach?”, his mind voice asked that question to him.
Can you think of anybody who hates her or misbehaved with her in the past days?

Rani stalled after hearing that, her voice was quivering, “It might be that guy”

“Who?”

“Vikas, an engineering student”, her voice was shaking.
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“Who is Vikas? What was his relationship with her?” Vijay asked Sunil to note down the Vikas details.

“Hmmmm… I told her to be careful with that guy… she didn’t listen… see what he had done …

Vikas,doing his final year engineering in PES Institute of Technology. He saw Meghana at the bus stop one time, since then he tried to molested her. She was unable to tolerate him. Out of frustration, she slapped him in front of his college friends. He felt insulted and yelled at her that he would kill her if she refuses to marry him. I think he did, he killed her. He is a rogue, please hang him”, she said in resentment.

“Do you suspect any other persons?”

“No… she was good with every-body else”, she said.

“Thank you very much Miss Rani. I appreciate for your cooperation”, Vijay shook her hand and left the campus.

“WoW… This is going to be a dead easy case… the murderer found”, Sunil shouted while driving the vehicle.

Vijay smiled and remained silent. Somehow his intuition was telling him that Vikas didn’t kill her as he knew this kind of road-side Romeos. They just threaten, but not courage enough to commit a crime. Even if they commit, they do with acid or with a knife because of rage, not silently as pre-planned murder.

“Where do you want me to go now, sir?” Sunil asked.

“PES Institute of Technology”, Vijay said.
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Smartly dressed in denim jeans and T-shirt with ray ban glass Vijay stepped off his Royal Enfield, along with Sunil into the PES Institute of Technology.

They didn’t want to scare the students off by going in uniform.

Seeing Vijay getting off his bike, girls smiled seeing Vijay’s attire and his crew cut hair style and physic.

“Who is the handsome guy”, asked a girl dressed in jeans to her friend and whispered themselves looking at Vijay, wondered who he might be.
Vijay went straight to the principal room to meet him and informed him that he had come to meet Vikas as he wanted to question him on Meghana’s case. Principal asked the peon to take them to Vikas class room.

The peon said,“Please follow me, sir”.

When they were turning around the corner, Vijay accidentally bumped into a girl and her books fell on the floor.

Vijay said, “Sorry, I didn’t notice”. She said, “It’s all right even I didn’t notice you coming”.

Her voice sounded musical to his ears. He wondered is it like this to him or for everyone who talks with her. He causally stole a glance to look the name on her books.“Abighnya”, he muttered.

He helped her to get the books and while giving it to her, he saw her face and stared at the vibrant glow that dominated the face and the way she had taken care to dress herself amidst jeans and skirts, impressed him.

He felt strange pleasure and calmness seeing her face, an unknown bond with invisible strings held his gaze and he totally forgot that he was in college and staring at her.
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Impatiently Sunil gave a squeaking noise, “Shall we go sir”.

“Ya, we can go”, Vijay wondered what had happened to him.

Vikas was not in his class room and someone suggested to check in canteen.In the canteen they noticed him and he appeared drowsy. Except his sleepy gesture he looked handsome and casually dressed. Vijay told him why he had come to meet him.

“l loved her so much. She was my life and I was ready to even die for her. Though she insulted and despised me many times, still I loved her so much. But she left me”, Vikas was moaning.

Sunil never expected to see vikas mourn over the death of Meghana but rather assumed that he would be seeing a happy face.

Vijay keenly observed him and said, “She died becoz of poison in her food”, and noted his reactions. It was clearly evident that he didn’t expect this and he was shell shocked.

“Poison!!!!”.

“We are checking on her friends and others who know her. And we came to know that she insulted you in-front of your friends. So u got a motive to kill her for insulting you right Mr. Vikas?” , Vijay said.

“Are you nuts? Are you suspecting me…? I would rather die for her than kill her. In fact, I met her Friday night and pleaded her to marry me”. Vijay frowned hearing that, “What are you saying?”

“I followed Meghana from Pub on that day. I waited until Meghana dropped her friend at her home then I stopped her on the road. I pleaded her to marry me. I tried to convince that I would take good care of her after marriage”. We argued for some time and finally she said I was younger to her, so she wouldn’t consider my proposal and asked me to forget her.
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I was unable to do anything. It’s so frustrating when the one you loved never realize your true feelings, but just ignores it because of some stupid reason that they think is so strong and valid.

I returned home with so much pain in heart and then… then … I came to know in newspaper that she was no more”, He burst into tears.
“How long did you argue with her?”

“Around 20 mins I think”, He said.

“Hmmm… that answers the question of why she reached home late that day”.He thought ,”who had access to put poison in her food?”

Sunil was disgusted to see a man cry and said “Sir, don’t believe him. My father always used to say, we should not believe the words of a sobbing man. We have to take him and give third degree treatment”.

Vijay stared at Sunil asked him to keep his thoughts to himself and wanted him to observe what’s happening.

“Vikas, I can understand your feelings. I will contact you if I need any more details or you can contact me if you would like to share anything with me, here is my contact number”, He gave his visiting card and left the canteen.

“Sir, we should not have left him simply like that”, Sunil grumbled.

Vijay didn’t say anything. Vijay slept late thinking about the case. He got a dream where he was studying engineering in PES Institute of technology, and his classmates were Abhignya, Meghana and Vikas. Meghana and Vikas were lovers. And he and Abhignya were also lovers…And before he could further enhance his dream world …..He got a call from Sunil early morning,
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“Sir, I have good news, we arrested the murderer”, Sunil said vigorously.

“Who?” Vijay exclaimed.

“Vikas. He had come to police station and surrendered saying he indeed killed her”.

Vijay sprang up and sat upright, he couldn’t believe his ears hearing the name.“What are you blabbering? Is it really the college student Vikas that we spoke yesterday?”

“Yes, sir”

“Something is so wrong”, Vijay muttered.

“I’m coming immediately”, Vijay cut the call and got down from bed to get ready

Vijay entered the police station and so much was going on in this mind hearing the news about Vikas.

He saw a person sitting opposite his chair, from his view he couldn’t guess who it was. He saw Veeraya standing in the corner looking at the files.
On seeing Vijay, Veeraya gave his usual salute and informed that Meghana’s uncle has come to meet him.

Vijay nodded and went to the cell where Vikas was kept. Sunil was taking few details from him.

Vijay went near to Vikas and said, “Are you crazy? What happened to you? Did you really kill Meghana? God!!! Do you know the consequence of your statement?”

Vikas smirked, “Yes, I did it. I killed Meghana. She despised me refusing my proposal, so I decided to close her chapter. I will never allow her to be part of someone’s life other than me”, He blurted.
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She never respected my love nor did she acknowledge the truth in it. She walked away that day without even realizing how much pain she had brought in and just crushed my innocent love under her feet. Why should such a person live on earth?

“My intuition has never failed me. Tell me, who asked you to say like this. Whoever it is, I can arrest them and get justice for Meghana’s death. Hundread criminals might escape justice but not one innocent be punished. Have you ever heard of it? You are a true lover, but not a killer… tell me”, Vijay shouted.

CI Parasuram said, “Control yourself Vijay”, as he entered into station. Vijay turned back and saluted him.

“Vijay, he has admitted that he killed her, so why are you trying to pursue him that he didn’t. Are you planning to drag this case? This is not the only case we have so take his statement and file the FIR and damn close the case. Already we are getting too much media attention on this case”, Parasuram said.

Then he turned to Veeraya and said, “Veeraya, minister is coming for a shop opening ceremony in MG Road. Send few of our people for security, I’ve to go and meet Mayer”.

Before leaving the station he patted Vijay’s shoulder and said “Take it easy man”.

Vijay sighed and sat in his chair. Meghana’s uncle was observing all these drama.

Meghana’s uncle said, “Sir, Meghana had mentioned about him few times . I too have a strong feeling that he could have killed her. Please take my statement and file a case against him. We should not leave these criminals in the society”.

Vijay looked at him in a manner that told him he knows what has to be done and then asked, “May I know your name?”

“My name is Sudhakar Rao, working in Andhra Bank” and gave his visiting card to him.

“Where were you when she at the time of her death?” Vijay asked.
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“I was in Mumbai branch to take care of some office work. I was informed about her death and immediately rushed to Bangalore. We are still not able to digest the fact”, his eyes turned moist.

Vijay asked, “Please, tell me more about Meghana’s early days with you and your family”.

“Meghana lost her parents when she was studying in 10th, since then she had lived with us. We don’t have kids of our own, so we took care of her like our daughter. She had an independent nature and didn’t want to depend on us. So when she got her job she informed us that she decided to live on her own and promised to visit us when she was free from job”, he took a break for a while. Then he continued, “She trusted few and had very few friends. Sir, we had planned to give her away in marriage this year and even started to find bridegrooms for her ,but unfortunately… this happened…”, and he was neither able to complete his sentence nor control his tears.

Vijay remained silent until he relaxed.

“When did she tell you about Vikas?”

“During her visit to our place, she told a couple of times. I didn’t take it too seriously”, he said.

“Hmmmm… anyway, thanks for coming. I’ll call you if I need any more information”, Vijay stood and shook his hand.

“Certainly, Sir”, and he left.

Once he left Sunil came near him and whispered, “For some reason I don’t like his face, he looks cunning”.

Vijay laughed and became busy in preparing the FIR. Some part of his mind was thinking why Vikas did like that.

Later he got a call from CI and he was needed in MG road for minister’s security.
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“I was in Mumbai branch to take care of some office work. I was informed about her death and immediately rushed to Bangalore. We are still not able to digest the fact”, his eyes turned moist.

Vijay asked, “Please, tell me more about Meghana’s early days with you and your family”.

“Meghana lost her parents when she was studying in 10th, since then she had lived with us. We don’t have kids of our own, so we took care of her like our daughter. She had an independent nature and didn’t want to depend on us. So when she got her job she informed us that she decided to live on her own and promised to visit us when she was free from job”, he took a break for a while. Then he continued, “She trusted few and had very few friends. Sir, we had planned to give her away in marriage this year and even started to find bridegrooms for her ,but unfortunately… this happened…”, and he was neither able to complete his sentence nor control his tears.

Vijay remained silent until he relaxed.

“When did she tell you about Vikas?”

“During her visit to our place, she told a couple of times. I didn’t take it too seriously”, he said.

“Hmmmm… anyway, thanks for coming. I’ll call you if I need any more information”, Vijay stood and shook his hand.

“Certainly, Sir”, and he left.

Once he left Sunil came near him and whispered, “For some reason I don’t like his face, he looks cunning”.

Vijay laughed and became busy in preparing the FIR. Some part of his mind was thinking why Vikas did like that.

Later he got a call from CI and he was needed in MG road for minister’s security.

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On the way, Vijay said to stop the vehicle all of sudden. Sunil looked startled and stopped the vehicle with sudden break.
“Look that side, seems to be an accident”, Vijay said by pointing Sunil to the direction of the accident.

They got down immediately and went to the spot. People who were surrounding the scene gave way to them seeing their police uniforms.
A girl was arguing with a bike guy. It appeared as though a guy had hit the vehicle and the scooty was lying down by the force the bike hit it. She was holding her elbow tight and it was bleeding.

He recognized her, Abhignya the girl whom he met in PES Institute. Sunil too recognized h
er.

Sunil reacted quickly and grabbed the bike guy’s shirt collar and yelled, “Has Govt given license to kill people, loafer, show me your license”. The bike guy kept quiet after seeing him and searched his purse to get the license.

Sunil said, “Sir, I’ll take care of him please take madam to hospital”.

“Abhignya, please come with me, it is still bleeding, he said and asked her to sit in his vehicle.

She was not sure if she can go with him and seemed hesitant to go in a police jeep. But he convinced her that it would be better if she gets treated first and so saying he took her by hand and did the first-aid in vehicle.

On reaching the hospital, she was treated for her injury and they provided a room for her to take the rest for some time. Vijay and Abhignya were left alone in that room.

Both had different thoughts going on in their mind.

Vijay was thinking,
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“What is going on here? What I’m doing here? Why am I worrying like this for her when she met with an accident? Being in duty I’m not supposed to spend my time like this. Would I care if someone else was in her place? Off course, I would have cared, but how far? Maybe I would have called an ambulance and send them in it, but definitely not taken them personally to the hospital”.

Vijay was caught in an unknown feeling. He couldn’t decide as to what is going on with him. He liked the feeling though and felt his senses were not in his control when she was near him.

And what Abhignya was thinking is a mystery! A girls mind thinks a lot than guys under such situations…
Is he falling in love ??????????

She opened her eyes and looked straight at Vijay with a mesmerizing smile.

Ah… when he saw her looking into his eyes with such a smile all the preparations he had done to talk to her was of no use.
He couldn’t take his eyes off and heard her saying, “Thank you so much”

Vijay smiled and said, “Your welcome but, As a police officer it’s my duty (really????)“

She said, “I have a feeling that I have met you before but am not sure when and where”

He literally blushed and said, “Glad that you asked me now, was wondering if you will remember me or not”

“Yes, in your college. And of course it was by accident. I do remember your name, Abhignya”, he smiled.
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She grinned, “Now I got it! I wondered how you knew my name when you asked me to come to the hospital”

He was fascinated by the way she expressed herself and so lively to watch her expressions.

He scolded himself for flying in the air with admiration for her and finally came back to reality and said, “Let me know your parents phone number, I will inform them”.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t want them to unnecessarily worry about me and moreover if they knew am in hospital definitely they will come to see me despite their work. Frankly, I don’t want to scare them off for this little accident. With that bike guy’s help I have happily bunked college “, she laughed.

On seeing her laugh with such childish mischievousness, he remembered a quote that he read somewhere,

“Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.”

Every time he saw something new in her he was captivated by it. He knew he hasn’t felt these feelings before with anyone.

He too laughed and asked, “What is your father name?”

“Hmm… started Interrogation, ha?” she smirked.

He said, “No… No… I just asked casually”.

“I was just kidding. My father has his own farm and with my brother’s help he takes care of it and my mom is the world’s best home maker”, and my native is Malur.
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I stay with my uncle’s family here in Bangalore and studying engineering”.

She felt proud and happily said, “I am the first person to study engineering in my entire family”.

He awed her and said, “Excellent, I appreciate your effort to have come this far and all the best of your future”.

“Now, it is your turn. Please share your family details”, she leaned a bit towards his chair to listen care-fully.

He smiled and said, “My father is a retired military cornel and my mom is a wonderful home maker. We stay in Yaswant Pura … I had an elder brother, he was also a police officer but he passed away in a naxalite attack.”

She observed his shaky voice, understood the pain and emotions when he mentioned about his brother’s death. She didn’t expect a Police officer to be so frank about his feeling and sharing it with a person he met only few times, but still even she couldn’t bare his pain and she knew death may end life but not the feelings and memories that one felt for another.

“You know, I have never spoken to any police officer before. You are the first”, she deliberately tried to divert the topic.

He chuckled and said, “Yes, it’s the same here. I have never spoken with any girl this much”.

“What? Don’t tell me lies… a handsome guy like you should be having many girlfriends?” she had thrown a stone in dark.

He blushed hearing “handsome guy….”, and caught off guard when she knew that he felt shy about her comments.
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“I had been busy with my work and have strived hard to get to the position where I am now and earning a good name is hard these days… It’s hard being an honest cop! … So, I missed the opportunity to engage with girlfriends and do parties… also not impressed by anyone till a few days before …” saying that he left the sentence unfinished and left it to induce her curiosity.

But she was more careful than he had thought and so she flooded him with questions and asked “how did you become a police officer? I hope you won’t mind to tell me”.

“It’s my pleasure to tell you. When my brother passed away it was a big shock to my family. After that incident, my mother forced me to do either engineering or medicine she didn’t want to lose me like my brother at such a young age… Since childhood, my father and brother inspired me in lot of ways and I respected them for what they are and what they have become and what they did to serve the people… Though my mother refused, my father encouraged me a lot and convinced my mother and …” he stopped and smiled at her trying to guess her expression.

“Great!!!” he thought as she is not giving away anything from her expression. She is difficult to read.

“Was I boring you with my auto-biography?”

“No way it’s so awesome to hear, please continue”, her voice seemed firm.

“I respect this job and more than anything I love what am doing. It presents so many challenges and I love solving it… Even my mother wanted me to become software engineer with its 5 to 6 figure salary… I have wondered if anyone of them dreamed becoming a software engineer or just joined the job for its salary and status symbol”, he said.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

“It is very nice to know about you. I wish that I am bit determined like you are”, she said.

He had opened up to her more than he never had to anyone in his life. “This is not correct”, He chided himself.

“OK, Abhignya, I’ve to go now. I think, you will get dis-charged after some time, take care”, he said and was ready to leave the room.
She got up from her bed and said, “Once again thank you very much for your help. Sometime later when you free please come home, I will introduce you to my uncle. He is fond of police officers”.

“Sure, I’ll come. Bye”, he almost asked her phone number but controlled himself and left her room.

“What is happening to me? Why I need her phone number? I should keep myself busy, otherwise, I’m getting distracted” he mumbled himself.
He knew that these feelings have become usual when she is around or when he thought about her.

He thought, “I don’t have the control but the heart of mine wants to control that which doesn’t belong. It’s just that the feeling of wanting to have everything to oneself.”

He looked at the watch after coming-out of the hospital, and said “Great!!!”

It was almost evening and it would be too late to attend the shop opening, so he decided to go to station.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

On entering the police station, Vijay saw Sunil and Veeraya in a serious discussion.

Sunil informed him that the function went well and managed when CI enquired about Vijay.

Through the corner of his eye Vijay was able to notice the excitement of Sunil and he knew what was coming next.

Sunil asked, “How is madam sir?”.

He said, “She is fine”

He avoided Sunil’s over enthusiastic question by saying, “Can you bring Meghana’s case file”

He said “Ok, sir”, and handed-over the file to him.

Vijay noticed Sunil’s disappointed and just smiled to himself. He informed Veeraya and Sunil that he is leaving early to home with the file. Vijay’s mother was surprised to see him as he rarely comes home early. He changed to casual clothes and went to his room with the file.
He began to inspect the details of the case. He took a pen and wrote down the events.

Friday 11:30 PM – She Left the pub

Around 12:00 AM – She took the parcel

Around 12:30 AM – she dropped her friend

Around 12:40 AM – She met Vikas

Around 1:30 AM – She reached her home

>>>

[rajnish manga]

“As per Vikas, he had put an Arsenic poison in raitha that was packed along with the main parcel. Arsenic is a rat poison; the same thing was mentioned in the autopsy report, so it deduces that Vikas was the murderer… But my heart was saying, he was not a criminal……….what I’m missing here”, Vijay went into deep thinking.

He took the autopsy report to verify the details again. While going-through the report… suddenly a thought sparked in his mind. He took the case file and opened the page where the crime scene photos were attached. He closely verified those photos and then he smirked … because he got a proof to say Vikas didn’t kill her.

The next morning, he went straight to Vikas and asked,”How did you kill her”?

Vikas was clearly annoyed by the question and simply said,” How many times do I have to tell? … I killed her with rat poison, that’s it”, he exclaimed.

“No, you didn’t”, Vijay yelled at top voice.

“Are you crazy? I’m confessing myself, how can you say that I didn’t kill her? I don’t want anybody’s sympathy here. “, Vikas grumbled.

“Ok, here is the fact. That night Meghana didn’t eat the parcel food at all. She ate some other poisoned food, which caused her death. We didn’t know exactly what was that? But we would find that”, Vijay said.

Vikas was gazing at him unbelievably.

“No… no… you are lying… I’m the murderer… I’m the murderer … don’t try to save me”, he shouted.

“Vikas… calm down…, don’t behave like a surd. Here are the photos that we took that night. You can see in these photos that she didn’t even open her parcel. And here is the autopsy report which shows that there are no traces of the parcel food. She indeed ate some other poison food”, Vijay finished it in a soothing voice.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

He continued after some time – “What are trying to achieve by confessing that you killed her… you are actually making the killer to escape and make him do some more crimes. If she is alive, she would never have appreciated this.”

Vikas eyes become moist… he clenched his face with his hands and sat on the floor.

He cried a lot then said, “I tortured her, I harassed her. I know she might have spent many sleepless nights because of me. I never thought about that when she was alive, now I am realizing.

How cruelly I behaved. When she is no more, I don’t have right to live, I should also die. But please don’t leave me… kill me…kill me…” he fell on the floor.

Vijay tried to comfort him for some time then he called his parents and sent him with them. Later he called the CI and told him that Vikas didn’t kill her, so he would continue the investigation to find the true murderer.

“Now the case has come where it started, who is the murderer?” Vijay was thinking.

“What should we do now Sir?” Sunil asked with disappointment in his voice.

Vijay smiled and said, “There are several unanswered questions here Sunil, first, she ate some poisoned food that caused her death. However, that was not part of the parcel that she bought that night. But where did it come from? Why she ate that food instead of the parcel that she bought? Had someone given that food to her? If that would be the case, how come she ate it? The person might be a well-wisher or close friend of her, whom she believed blindly. It is really hard to predict who that was”, Vijay sighed.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

“Hmmmm…. So many unanswered questions and I need to find the murderer soon before he strikes again!”, Vijay thought.

“I have not investigated her past yet. Need to concentrate on that”, Vijay muttered.

“We have to find more about Meghana’s past life, I vaguely remember that her colleague in InfoMind said that she had joined the company two years back, we don’t know about her previous workplace. If we can find those details, we may find few clues”, he said.

Sunil always wanted to prove his intelligence and wanted to do investigation without any help from Vijay.

So, he said, “Sir please gives me a chance to investigate and provide the details”.

Vijay said, “Alright Sunil, you can go ahead and any information or clue just give me a call immediately”

“And we have two more things to do, 1) Get her cellphone call log and sms details for past ten days until the day she was murdered. 2) Visit her PG room one more time to see if we can find anything”, Vijay said and instructed two constables to get her cellphone details and report him ASAP.

Vijay went to PG to inspect it and he was standing before it. This time no corpse and no crowd surrounding the building. Everyone had forgotten what had happened and they continued on with their life.

He thought, “Sometimes something’s happens without our control… we can’t do anything about it… but time will heal all the hurts and wounds”…
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Thinking so he went to her PG room to inspect it. Her room was left unoccupied as per his instructions. He opened the room door and entered inside. There was a body shape mark on the floor to indicate that her body was lying there before. He went further inside and started observing the premises carefully. His team had searched the room thoroughly and taken few items, whatever they felt was useful for the investigation, so it was almost hopeless to search again. But his instinct told that there was something left unnoticed in that room.
There was no separate bedroom as everything was arranged in single spacious hall. He went close to TV stand; he thought there was something wrong with the way the LCD TV was arranged. He lifted the TV up, and he noticed a small paper sticking on the bottom of the TV. He removed it and put the TV back. He found that there was a nude drawing on paper. When he closely observed it, he surprised as it was Meghana’s picture. There was a note on the bottom saying, “WITH LOVE”. He kept that paper in his pocket and spent some more time and left the room after that.

From there he directly went to his home. He had no clue about who might have drawn that picture, but he decided to keep it safe as it might come handy later.

He slipped into sleep thinking about it. He got a dream; it was his wedding reception with Abhignya…

Meghana attended the reception; but she was naked, whereas all attendees were properly dressed. She was standing far from him and was talking with someone. He didn’t recognize the person with whom she was talking. He wanted to see him closely, so he walked towards that person. Abhignya and his mother were opposing and pulling him back. But he didn’t listen; he went and pulled that person towards him. It was Vijay’s father; He was stunned seeing him …
>>>

[rajnish manga]

He suddenly woke up from sleep… his whole body was sweating and his head was aching from the startled dream … it took some time for him to realize that it was just a dream. He had no idea why he got a dream like that.

Why was his father talking to her? And why she was nude? Did my father know her? And why was she in his wedding reception.

He finished his daily routines and sat on a chair and began reading newspaper. His father came after finishing his usual morning jog and wished him good morning. For a second, he felt like discussing his dream with him, but he didn’t.

“Did you sleep well? You don’t look fresh and fit for the day?” he asked Vijay by looking at him. Though he asked casually, it sounded as like a military command to depict the fact that he worked in military.

“I had bad dreams. That’s it”, Vijay smiled.

“How is your work? I read that you are investigating a murder case, so how is it going?” He asked while sipping his filter coffee.

“No much progress. We are still investigating the case”, Vijay sighed.

“I didn’t remember the victim's name. Who was it? “, he asked by putting his coffee cup on the table and ready to take the newspaper on this hand.

“Her name is Meghana”, Vijay said.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

“Meghana”, he mumbled the name, “What is her full name?”, he put the paper on the table as he dismissed the idea of reading it.
“Pagadala Meghana Naidu”, Vijay said by looking at his father carefully.

“Pagadala Meghana”, he again mumbled the name. Vijay grasped some change in his face after hearing her full name.

“What is it dad? Do you know her by any chance?” he asked.

“No..No… It sounded familiar, that’s it. Ok carry on”.

It’s his way of saying that the meeting is over and end of conversation.

Vijay didn’t understand why he had reacted that way after hearing name.

“Is dad trying to hide something from me?”, Vijay thought.

Later he got ready and hurried to the police station as it was late and he needs to read the reports that were awaiting for him.

Reports regarding Meghana’s call details were ready and he started checking it. Constables said they mapped the numbers with the names by checking her cell-phone. He looked at the last page where the call and sms details were given on her last day.

He opened the book where he had noted down the sequence of the events earlier and started inserting the call details with the names from whom she got call or sms.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Friday – 10:20 PM – SMS from “James” saying “I’m here meet me “
Friday – 11:00 PM – call from “X” and spoke around 5 mins
Friday – 11:20 PM – call from “Uncle” and spoke around 2 mins
Friday 11:30 PM – She Left the pub
Around 12:00 AM – She took the parcel
Around 12:30 AM – she dropped her friend
Around 12:40 AM – She met Vikas
At 12:50 AM – SMS from “James” saying “Wht r u doing? Sleeping”
At 1:25 AM – She called “Rani” and spoke around 2 mins.
Around 1:30 AM – She reached her home
Around 1:35 AM – from “X” and spoke around 10 mins.

After writing all these names on paper, he rounded the person names “James”, “X”, “Uncle” and looked at the constables.

>>>

[rajnish manga]

“We have to find who these guys are and what is their relationship with Meghana? I’m guessing “Uncle” means Sudhakar Rao”, he said by pointing out the name on paper.

“Yes, sir, we will come with the details. What about the other callers who had contacted her in last ten days since her death”, one of the constables asked.

Vijay shrugged and said “Well, We can keep these details, as of now only these guys are crucial”, he shoved the papers into a drawer.
They left to find those caller details.

After some time, he got a call from Sunil.

“Sir, we have big leap here. I gathered where she worked earlier, and I found important information. I guess that could solve Meghana’s case. I’m coming there”, he said all these without a pause.

Vijay said, “Good, Sunil. I’m in the police station. Come and lets discuss the details you have collected”, and disconnected the call.

Vijay knew Sunil’s enthu and his eagerness to solve the case. At the same time he was thinking, “What could be that information? And why is Sunil so freaked out about it” Vijay muttered and trying to guess.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Sunil hurriedly entered the station and gave a stiff salute to Vijay and started telling whatever he gathered so far, “Sir, she had worked in ICICI Bank customer care center, and most importantly she had a live-in relationship with one of her colleague”.

Vijay remained silent as he wanted him to say few more details.

“That guy was a fraud. He stole money from customers account. She noticed it and warned him few times, but he continued to do the same thing, so she reported that to her manager… They had filed a police complaint and put him in jail for few months. It was a shock to him, and he didn’t digest the fact that she had complained on him. And later he broke up with her. After that incident, he didn’t get job anywhere. He hated her as she was the reason for his condition. So he wanted to take revenge on her and he was waiting for the opportunity”, Sunil uttered everything and slurped the water on the table.

“Hmm.. So Meghana had an enemy”, Vijay said.

“Yes, sir, I don’t know how he planned and killed her, but my sixth sense is telling that he is the murderer”, Sunil said and he was so positive about his conclusion.

“Good Sunil, you did an excellent job”, Vijay patted on Sunil’s shoulders.

“By the way, what is that guy name? Where is he now?”

“His name is Allush. He is staying in an apartment in J.P.Nagar. Earlier Meghana also was staying with him in that apartment. I have the address”.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

“Let’s go and meet him and find out what had happened”, Vijay said as he is getting ready to go out.

They reached Allush apartment complex in JP nagar. They went straight to his apartment and knocked the door. No body responded, they had continued to knock the door. Next door neighbor came and said, he hasn’t been coming to apartment for the past ten days. They asked him whether he knows where he might have been. Next door guy said,”I don’t have any idea”.

They nodded and left the complex.

“Sir, Am sure that guy killed her. See, otherwise why he didn’t return to his apartment since her murder”, Sunil exclaimed.

Vijay smiled and said, “Sunil, the important point here is, she died because of the poison in the food. It was not a rape or acid attack or some other bloody manner of attack. So, how do you think this guy could have killed her”.

Sunil shrugged and said,” That can be possible sir; I saw one English film where the murderer killed a kid by giving poison injected chocolates. So, may be this guy did the same thing, who knows”.

“May be … Anyway … it’s your responsibility to find him. From tomorrow do vigilance duty here and see if he comes to his apartment”, Vijay said in a stiff voice

Sunil said, Yes Sir”.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

It was almost evening, so they decided to have snacks. They had parked the vehicle in the police station and wore casual dresses. Vijay took his bike, and they went to Uppahara chat & Pani Puri center near silk board. It was one of his favorite chat centers. Since it’s near to silk board junction, one can see the whole crowd near bus stop from sitting inside the shop. The chaat center was heavily crowded that day.
However, after waiting for some time, they found a place near the corner and had good view of the bus stop and its awaiting crowd. He always liked to sit on that place and see the people on the road, who were busy going to different places haphazardly. So many different people and so much difference yet they are united under one roof.

They had ordered chaat and coffee.

Then he saw her, “Abignya”, at bus top waiting for a bus. She was wearing beautiful embroidery saree in lush green color with simple but pretty pearl set and white stone bangles to suit her complexion. She looked gorgeous and he controlled his urge to have her in his arms. He decided to meet her and asked Sunil to wait there and went to the bus stop.

On reaching he said, “Hello, Abhignya. How are you?” he said.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

She turned to his side and was surprised to see him , “Oh! Officer, what a surprise! I’m doing well”, she smiled with her eyes.

He felt, “A girl can express sadness, fear, anger, happiness and almost all the feelings with their eyes”.

“I’m glad to hear that you’re doing well”, he certainly didn’t know what else to ask or say.

“So, what are you doing here? Any case investigation?”, she asked.

“No, I just came to have snacks there”, he said by pointing to the Uppahara chat center.

She looked at that chaat center and said, “Oh! I like the chat they serve”.

Vijay had decided earlier on what he has to say to her if he might see her again. But didn’t know how she will react to it.

He said, “Abhignya, Please don’t mistake me for saying this. But I can’t talk freely with you by keeping this feeling inside… I’m really crazy about you… The moment I saw you in college, I felt you are the woman with whom I should share the rest of my life. I don’t know whether this is the right place or time, but I wanted to ask you this for a long time,… I would like to marry you, will you marry me?”, his voice sounded genuine.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

It was a startling moment for her;

She didn’t imagine a police officer to propose her that too at the bus stop. She looked around in embarrassment and confirmed that nobody was observing them.

She took some time to respond, “I need some time to think”, she muffled.

“Abhignya, I just expressed my feelings. But it is totally up to. You know…”, he stopped for a second.

Then he continued… “I got a dream that we both got married. It may sound crazy to you, but it’s the fact”.

“But, take your time. Please don’t think me as a road side Romeo. If you don’t like my proposal, you can tell me. I won’t feel hurt. I can understand”, he said.

She kept her head down and said, “I can understand your feelings. Give me a day or two I will think about it”

He nodded and said, “Thanks for understanding my feelings; here is my visiting card, you can call me any time to tell your decision”, he gave his visiting card to her.

He said, “Please remember; this is going to be a crucial decision in your life, so take time and think and then let me know. Whatever it may be, I respect your decision”.

She smiled and took his visiting card. He said bye and returned back to the chaat center.

Sunil had already finished two rounds and was getting ready to start the third round of snacks. He saw Vijay is coming and so said, “Where were you sir! I ate so much just waiting for you”.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

“Oh! Sorry Sunil. I was talking with Abhignya. I didn’t know that you eat more while waiting for someone”, he smiled.

Sunil blushed.

They both spend some more time before they left to their home.

Sunil told to Vijay that he would visit Allush apartment that night to check in case he shows up.
*****
Vijay was too tired and was about to sleep but he got a call from Sunil,

“Sir, I saw someone going inside Allush apartment. I have a strong feeling that it’s Allush. What do you want me to do? Can I go inside?” he muffled.
Vijay didn’t expect Allush would show-up in his apartment so soon, “Sunil, don’t go alone. Just wait outside. I’m coming there”, He disconnected the call and got up from the bed to get ready.

His mother asked where he was going at that time, he said, it is just to meet some important person.

He met Sunil at the outside of the apartment. He parked his bike outside, and they entered inside the complex. They knocked the door after reaching Allush apartment.

Somebody from inside asked, “Who is it?”

Vijay said,”Open the door Allush, this is SI Vijay. I’ve to talk to you”

“Get lost… you bastards … “, he screamed from inside.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Vijay surprised for his reaction as he didn’t expect that he would react like that. And he heard a noise from inside.

He suspected that Allush might try to escape … so he signaled Sunil to break the door. Sunil hit the door with his right shoulder with a full force so that it got open.

The moment they entered inside, they saw Allush was trying to escape by jumping from the patio. Vijay rushed into the patio, but by that time, Allush jumped to the ground.

Vijay didn’t think of anything but only catching him, so he too jumped. Sunil remained at the patio as he didn’t dare to jump 25 foot floor.

Allush ran towards the basement and Vijay chased after him. When Vijay entered inside basement, he didn’t see Allush anywhere… he looked around… his leg was paining … may be a hair line fracture because of the jump …

He removed his short-gun from his gun-pocket and kept it in hand.

“Allush… I know you are hiding here… you can’t escape from me… surrender yourself… “, he shouted.

Then to his shock he heard a vehicle’s accelerating sound with full power and it appeared as though… it was coming very near to him…
>>>

[rajnish manga]

When he looked back… black SUV was coming fast towards him with mad speed… in a mill-second time… he jumped back… and the SUV brushed past him and went ahead.

Vijay understood that it was Allush. The vehicle has gone outside of the basement. Vijay got up and chased the vehicle up to outside. But the SUV was too fast, he was unable to reach it and his pain was excruciating.

He looked at his bike, which was parked outside. He managed to quickly start it and drove towards the vehicle.
He accelerated his bike to maximum speed, then after a minute, he noticed the SUV. He alerted patrolling police through radio to look out for a Black Toyota SUV. He described the vehicle and which side it was going. Since it was mid-night, there was very less traffic.

Beggars who were sleeping on pavements were surprised to see the chase and the commotion the speed created.

After few minutes of chasing, he drove beside the vehicle just in alignment to get the driver’s view and shouted to stop the vehicle looking at Allush.

He laughed and showed his middle finger. He really looked so crazy driving at such speed and he tried to squeeze Vijay’s bike by driving the SUV to crush him between the vehicle and the side pavement ;

Vijay managed to slow a bit and went back side of the SUV avoiding the crash in pavement.

Vijay desperately waited for the patrolling police officers. But time was very less and anytime he might crush him with his vehicle.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

He felt, he had no option but to shoot the vehicle, so he aimed his pistol for the SUV tires and shot it, but unfortunately missed. Vijay raged over the missing and found it difficult to shoot while driving the bike.

It looked like Allush heard the shooting sound, so he increased his vehicle speed. Vijay also increased the speed of his bike. They entered the deserted Hosur flyover.

Vijay was back side of the Allush SUV and trying to over-take, but he was driving like a snake and not giving any changes to Vijay.

Allush smiled to himself……….when he pressed the brake.

It was so sudden and the impact was a disaster … Vijay bike strike the back side of SUV and he lost his balance and didn’t have any time to react. He was thrown into air and his bike plunged into the back side of the SUV…
Just like a leave falling from the tree and reaching the ground, Vijay fell to the ground except for the speed and force with which he fell can’t be compared.

Allush drove near to Vijay and looked at him. Vijay was loosing his consciousness.

Allush said,“Don’t ever try to catch me again!!” and drove away.

Vijay lost his consciousness.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Next day when he opened his eyes… he was in a hospital. His head had a bandage and left leg as well his right arm was in bandage.

He saw his mother and father. His mother noticed that he opened his eyes.

“Vijay, how are you feeling? What happened?” her eyes turned moist.

“I already told you not to join in police department, see what had happened now. If something worse happened… just like your brother….” she didn’t complete her sentence and started sobbing.

His father took her outside.

When Vijay tried to remembering the things, his head was paining… it took a while for him to recall what happened last night.

After remembering that Allush escaped, he clinched his fist in anger.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

In the meantime, Veeraya revealed shocking news to Sunil.

“I can’t believe it, are you sure?”, Sunil puzzled.

“Sunil, even I was unable to believe but I saw Vijay sir’s father talking to Meghana’s Uncle”, Veeraya said.

“That’s what I’m asking. Why on earth Vijay sir’s father talked to her Uncle. You might have mistaken by seeing someone else”, Sunil said irritatingly.
Veeraya argued, “No, Sunil. Though I have seen Meghana’s uncle only once, I can still remember him”,

“See, daddy. I don’t know whom you have seen. Right now Vijay sir is in hospital. Don’t bring this topic in front of him and make him worry. And more over the killer is identified, it was that Allush. So please be quite”, Sunil grumbled and left from the place.

“Hmm… May be I’m getting old… so my vision is not good enough to recognize the person… otherwise why sir’s father was with Meghana’s uncle”, Veeraya muttered.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

In Hospital, Abhignya came along with Sunil to see Vijay.

“Oh! You woke up. How are you feeling sir?” Sunil asked.

He shook his head indicating that he is feeling better.

“Yesterday patrolling guys got you on Hosur. I gave your bike for repair…”, then he looked at his watch and said, “Ok, sir I’ll come later… we can talk more about it… take care”, he left.

Vijay looked at Abhignya side. She looked worried and he can see tears in her eyes. He asked her to sit.
She came close to him and took his hand and pressed it.

“Please… don’t do this kind of stunts again… you are hurting many people here”, she said in anger and wiping her tears.

He smiled and said, “Few days back you are in the hospital, now it turned up-side down”.

“I wished, I would have been in your place”, she said. And she continued, “So! How did it happen? Is that part of that murder investigation?
>>>

[rajnish manga]

You know… your photo came in newspaper… they described you as a brave police officer… now so many people would have become your fans”
“Oh! Then it is difficult for me to walk on roads as many people would recognize me”, he laughed.

“Why do you want to continue on this case … I’m feeling it is dangerous to continue investigate this case… please handover to someone else…” she said.

“You told exactly what I was thinking. I’ve been telling him to quit this job, but he never listens to me. At least ask him, not to investigate this case”, Vijay’s mother grumbled while entering room.

Abhignya got up from her chair as she saw his mother and wished her. Vijay introduced her as she is studying in PES College and he met her during this case investigation.

Vijay’s mother smiled at him and said,”I already know her and she came today morning to visit you when you were unconscious”

They had a chat for some time then,

Abhignya said, “Aunty… I have to leave now. Take care Vijay”, and she was about to leave the room.

Vijay’s mother held her hand and said, “Come home one day”.

She smiled and said, ”Sure aunty”
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Once she left, “I was surprised when she came to see you. She is a nice girl Vijay. Bring her to home one day ok”, she said.

Vijay smiled and nodded. And he knew that was a green signal from his mother. Who knows him better than his mother?

It took nearly two weeks for Vijay to recover from the accident. Meanwhile, Vijay’s mother didn’t allow any police officer to discuss about the case. Veeraya and his family came to see him. Vijay’s superior officers also visited him. They had asked him, whether it was ok, if someone would take up this case. However, he refused for that. News reporters came few times to take his interview and gathered his progress in the case.

The case created too much sensation in Bangalore and people started discussing about it. Especially, this created a buzz in IT sector. IT guys were doing betting in online forums discussing who might be the killer.

Abhignya visited him daily and helped his mother until he recovered fully. Meanwhile Sunil collected Meghana’s call details with the information of the caller. He was eagerly waiting for Vijay’s return to the station…
>>>

[rajnish manga]

They all stood up and applauded as Vijay entered the station, and in chorus they said, “Welcome back Sir”, Vijay smiled at them and said, “Thank you “and sat in his chair.

Sunil came near him and said, “Sir, we tried to locate the Allush, but it looks like he escaped to Andhra Pradesh. We informed to AP police and they are trying to catch him…”,

“Hmm…” Vijay shook his head.

“One more thing sir, we got the caller details. So in her mobile, “X” means Allush, I think she named “X” becoz he was her X-Lover.

And the guy ‘James’, who messaged her was her boss.

As per that SMS, it looks like he was in that pub along with her”, Sunil said by giving the call detail papers to him.

“What?” Vijay frowned as he didn’t expect that.

“We tried to contact him, but after her death, he moved to Mumbai. We didn’t know why he left to Mumbai. May be that was coincidence.

When we enquired few people, they didn’t have good opinion on him as he harassed many of his female colleagues… So we got a suspicion on him”, Sunil said.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

“What is going-on? So many suspects are identified in Meghana’s case. Why the hell, he wanted to move to Mumbai after her death? Why Meghana’s friend, Rani, didn’t tell that her boss was in pub? Had he done something? If he had done something, why Allush ran away after seeing me? Why Meghana’s uncle, didn’t tell about Meghana’s X-Lover? Why did he hide that information? Who is the real killer?” his head heated with these thoughts and he wished, he would have continued in the hospital for few more days.

**

It was almost 2 pm and most of the constables had gone for lunch.

While Vijay was about to go out he got a call from Veeraya …

He was surprised to see Veeraya calling him,as it happens very rarely.

He attended the call, “Yes, Veeraya …”,

“Sir, I’ve to tell you something … a burring fact… I confirmed it today. But don’t know how to tell”, Veeraya’s voice was shaking and Vijay knew it and confused why Veeraya was in this state.

“What is it? Veeraya? Why is your voice shaking?”, Vijay was puzzled.

“It is about your f…” that’s it a big crushing sound came and call got disconnected.

It happened so suddenly that Vijay didn’t know what happened or why the call got cut.

“Hello… hello … Veeraya …are you there?”, Vijay shouted.

After a while he confirmed that call got disconnected. He felt something was really wrong.
>>>

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“What is it, sir?”, Sunil asked.

Vijay said, “Veeraya called… he was trying to say something … but all of sudden call got disconnected … something is wrong “

“Don’t worry sir… he is always like that even for small things he will worry so much… he will call again”, Sunil smiled.
“Hmmm…”,

15 Minutes later…his desk phone rang, he took it,

“………….”
“Oh, where did it happen?”

“………….”
“Which hospital?

“…………..”

“Ok”, Vijay disconnected.

“Sunil… There was an accident in M.G.Road… A hit and Run Case. Man in late 50′s was hit and had been taken to hospital with seriously injury… we have to go now …”, Vijay said and looked at Sunil.

Sunil didn’t understand why he was in such a hurry …

“The person was a police officer… but they didn’t tell me the name”, he said by taking his hat and ready to go. Sunil also came with him.

On the way, Vijay tried to call Veeraya’s cellphone … but call didn’t go. Some reason he felt uneasy…and Sunil felt very tense…
>>>

[rajnish manga]

They reached the hospital. The receptionist directed them to the ICU where they had admitted the person.

They went and saw the person through the ICU door, it was Veeraya…

Vijay was startled looking at Veeraya. Tears rolled down from Sunil’s eyes.

He turned to Vijay and said,

“Sir, please tell me, he is not my father … please … “, He begged him.

Vijay didn’t know what to say … it was hard to believe for himself…

“Sunil … be strong … we can save him… nothing will happen to him”, he said.

Doctor came from ICU and said, “Sorry sir… we tried our best … but it was too late… he passed away…”

Sunil fell to the ground and busted into tears after hearing that, “He wanted to see me as an Inspector… but he left before that…”, he was mumbling

He went inside and cried lying on his father’s chest… it was difficult for Vijay to control him.

Vijay knew that he had to be strong at this point of time. He called the police station and informed them about the situation.

Then he spoke with the people, who admitted him in hospital,

As per witnessed people, a car hit him intentionally while he was talking over phone standing near the pavement, and it went away without stopping.

“So… someone killed him … “, Vijay muttered.

Doctors completed their formalities and handed-over the dead body to Sunil.

After that incident Vijay tried to trace the car, but could not find any details. He appointed few constables to trace and find that car.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Sunil came to police-station after few days… he appeared normal… but Vijay knew how much pain he must have gone-through.

Then one of the constable came to police station in a rush and said,

“Sir, AP Police caught Allush… they are bringing him here… our team just confirmed it … “

“Great”, Vijay smiled hearing that.

After a while, The AP Police entered the station with Allush , he was hand-cuffed.

AP Police officer said, “We traced Allush based on his SUV description … it’s unfortunate for him that he didn’t leave his vehicle …” .

Vijay instructed his constables to keep him in lock-up and thanked the AP Police for their support. They obtained Vijay’s signature in a form to confirm that they have handed-over Allush to him and left the police-station.
>>>

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Once they left, Vijay rushed into the lock-up and clinched his fist and slammed Allush’s nose … blood gushed out from his nose … he crawled to the floor with pain…

“What the hell? Why are you hitting me?”, he screamed by looking at the blood coming from his nose.

“Why did u kill Meghana?”, Vijay shouted.

Allush looked startled…

“So you are looking for me …. Because you thought I killed her …”, he muffled.

“Great… I didn’t kill her”.

“What …. What are blabbering about …. “, Vijay said angrily.

“Ok… wait a minute … give me a glass of water … I’ll tell everything from start…”, he said.

Vijay signaled his constable to give water to him. He gave glass of water to Allush and also cotton to cover his bloody nose.

He gulped the water …. And started telling to Vijay,
>>>

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“I didn’t kill her … when she lost her parents … she become so close with his uncle… he was providing whatever she asked… When she was in her teens, she didn’t know why that rogue pampered her… he took that as his advantage … slowly he made sexual relationship with her … he continued that relation for many years until his wife caught them in bedroom. After that his wife forced her out of the house … so she left the house and looked for a job … though she got a job… the salary she received was not enough to satisfy her luxurious life … she contacted her uncle again for money … “, he stopped and took a break for some time.

Vijay and Sunil were shell shocked hearing this …

He continued … “That bastard got a great idea … he used her and through her he impressed his higher officers and got promotion … for more money he made her a high level prostitute … he kept it as a secret … nobody knows … she used to go to office regularly … At times she entertained big shots in the society for money… but slowly she realized that how much she had lost in life doing this… one day she refused to do and informed her uncle that she can’t do those things any more… during that time I met her… we became very close… she told everything to me… and we started living together in my apartment happily”, he stopped.
>>>

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“What happened next?” Vijay asked as he is trying to see how much truth he is telling.

“Don’t know but after sometime she again started complaining that money was not sufficient … she didn’t leave her lavish life style… she wanted more money… I gave my full salary to her… but still she was not satisfied… she had put so much pressure on me … so I had to do something to get more money … about that time… I did a mistake… I did that for her… I decided to steal money from customer’s bank accounts … she also helped me… it continued for a while… suddenly … one day they came to know the fraud… wisely she escaped by complaining about me. They arrested me … I didn’t digest the fact that she complained about me… but still I forgave her thinking about the good times we had. She felt sorry for what she had done and begged me to be with her.

we decided to go Dubai … for that I continued to do many other frauds activities to collect the money … but …. That loafer … her uncle killed her… he didn’t want her to leave to Dubai as he wanted her to satisfy all his needs…”, he blurted everything.
>>>

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“Hmm…”, Vijay took a time to grasp whatever he told so far.

“Then why did you escape after seeing me”, he asked.

“I did many online scams and cheated people for money and police were looking for me… so I thought you came to arrest me … but I didn’t realize that you came for Meghana’s case”, he said.

“Do you have any evidence to prove that you didn’t kill her”, he just wants to confirm that he really not killed her.

“No… I don’t have any evidence to prove that… but you please go and check that loafer, Meghana’s uncle … you will get many evidence to prove that he killed her…”, he grumbled.

Vijay came out of the cell and signalled the constables to lock the cell.

“He might be telling the truth… It is better to obtain a search warrant and do thorough search in Sudhakar Rao’s home”, he thought.

While Vijay was deep in his thoughts.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

The phone rang … Sunil attended the call … he was shocked after hearing the news that was conveyed.

“Sir, Meghana’s Uncle is dead … his servant called … he saw him on floor drenched in his blood”, he screamed.
“What the hell???”, Vijay was shocked.

Vijay rushed to Sudhakar Rao’s home along with his team. They saw the withered body of Sudhakar Rao soaked in blood. He was lying face down and stabbed on his back

He instructed his expert team to take photos and search for any finger prints. He looked at the servant, who was in the other room. He was trembling with fear.

Vijay approached him and asked,

“How did it happen?”

“I killed him”, he heard a voice with such anger but when he turned, all he could see was a woman with tears rolling down her cheeks.

A lady was standing in the kitchen corner with a knife. The knife was covered with blood which indicated that it was Sudhakar’s murder weapon.
>>>

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Her hair, dresses were not proper and she looked totally exhausted and tired. It looked like some struggle had happened before the murder.

“Who are you?” Vijay asked in a surprise.

“I’m his wife and it is shame for me to say that”, she said in resentment.

“What are you saying? … You killed your husband… Why?”

“Not just my husband… I’m the one who killed Meghana …”, She grinned.

Vijay and Sunil looked each other faces in shock. Clearly it’s not a fact to be digested easily.

“You killed Meghana … “

She said, “Yes… indeed… I will tell the truth from the beginning and I am not ashamed for killing this heartless monster …”,

She dropped the knife to the floor and sat on the sofa and started telling her story,

“I’m actually his second wife … he married me because he didn’t have kids through his first wife. Like any other girl … I had dreamed of a wonderful married life. It started off well, he was well educated and worked in bank and financially we were sound. Apart from that he was very good artist. He drew many pictures of me. I was floating in air thinking I was lucky to be his wife.
>>>

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After few years of marriage ….Slowly I came to know the real intentions of him… he was a sadist… he harassed me to do things that no married women will dare to do… he drew my nude pictures and showed it to his friends … I become a public joke for them.

I had many sleep-less nights… but I ignored all those pains because I loved him… I wanted him… I didn’t want to lose him. I struggled to make this marriage work and wanted him to lead a decent life with me.

God didn’t have any mercy on me and to make the matter worse Meghana entered in our family. I initially thought he was taking care of her as a father… but later realized that it was all about the lust on her… I pleaded him not to indulge in these sinful activities … but he continued his relation with her…

They continued their relationship in my home, in front of me… it was a worst period of my life…”, she stopped talking and she wiped the tears that are coming uncontrollably from her eyes.
>>>

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Then she continued – “They treated me like an extra baggage and ignored me in my own home. I have not studied much and my parents were no more. I have only one sister who is way younger than me and studying in hostel. If I had to support her I had to stay here and endure all the pains inflicted on me. I requested Meghana to stop this incest relationship and advised her about her future life. And the way these activities will affect my life as well.

She didn’t listen to me, not even a single word not even my plea entered her heart. I had done what I could do and left everything the way it came. About that time … It happened… God had answered my prayers and I got pregnant… I could see visible changes in him .He started taking care of me and I felt relaxed, he had even asked Meghana to go out from our house. She refused initially as was she afraid that her luxury life would go away, if she would stay outside. But he never gave her any option but to go out. So, she left us…

I thought good days have started in my life… but… but that bitch came to my home few months later… she said she had changed…and gave me something to eat and said it was Swami prasad from temple… I was so stupid to believe her and ate that thinking it was Swami prasad and few days later I got miscarriage… You can’t imagine how much I cried when I came to know that… my unborn kid dead … I was helpless… didn’t know what to do. My motherhood was taken from me by that selfish bitch…
>>>

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“Is there anything more worse than that…???”

Vijay was not able to answer her questions. He understood her, a mother’s agony for losing the child. He had seen his own mother cry over the body of his brother. It was the worst moments of his life.

She continued – “After that incident he changed again… he despised me… and continued his relation with her… he made her a prostitute to get more money… all her customers were high level… who were well settled in the society… even her boss was one of her clients…” she stopped and looked straight at Vijay and said,

”One more thing … you will never believe what I am going to say. You may feel nauseating to know the fact that. Your military father… he was one of Meghana’s customers. My husband introduced her to him. Your constable, Veeraya followed your father and he came to know that fact… but he didn’t know that they saw him … and my husband was afraid that if he informs you… then you would come to know everything… So he killed him, a simple Hit and Run case”.

Vijay now realized why his father behaved that way when he told Meghana’s full name, and why he got a dream like that.

He did fell nauseating … by the fact that can’t be ignored. The respect and awe he had for his father… everything had changed in a minute.
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She continued – “Once he renewed his relation with her … he stopped coming home. I couldn’t bare his absence. I had forgiven her for many mistakes… but he went to the extent of leaving me for her sake… So I decided to kill her and eliminate her once for all from our life…Nobody should get a doubt… I could trust only one person that was my cook… I requested her… she understood my pain… She promised to help me and I told her my plan. As per the plan, she joined as a cook in Meghana’s PG . She continued in that PG until Meghana trusted her.

My cook used to prepare special food for her… no body in the PG knew about it. The time that I waited for so long came … When Meghana returned that night from pub… as per the plan… my cook gave poisoned food to her… Meghana knew her well, so she didn’t question about the food… she ate that food and then she finally died and felt me in peace to relax.

Since it was midnight… nobody knew it”, She blurted.

“But… why did you kill your husband?” Vijay asked.

“Once she died… he came back to me and poured his love at my feet and begged me to forgive him for his mistakes and promised to be good. I thought he changed …

After few days he asked me to call my sister, who is studying 10th standard ,and bring her home from hostel and convinced me saying that we can adopt her.
>>>

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I believed him and called her. But… that bastard had some other ideas… today… he tried to rape her… I begged him not to do… but he didn’t listen… and I didn’t know what else to do… I took that knife and stabbed him multiple times… that’s it… he died under my feet… now… no one has to suffer… i killed him… I should have done that long before but the love I had for him didn’t let me do it.…”, she broke into tears and fell on the floor.

“Hmm…”, Vijay sighed and signaled Sunil to arrest her.

Sunil approached her and arrested her.

When he was about to take her …… she suddenly sprang from the floor and in a second took hold off the revolver from Vijay’s gun pocket and pointed the revolver to her head and pulled the trigger.

Everything happened so fast… no time for anyone to react… the blood splattered over where… her body fell on floor… it was motionless.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

The murder mystery case that created so much hype was closed. Vijay and his team were greatly appreciated for their efforts in solving the case.

After that incident, in guilty, Vijay’s father was not able to see his family especially his son who didn’t reveal a thing to his mother and who requested the client list of Meghana not to be displayed in the newspapers.

Ashamed he left his family and disappeared.

One month later

Vijay and Abihgnya’s Reception…

People from different facets of life attended the reception. Function was arranged in an open ground nicely decorated with flowers and fountains. It was close to midnight but still people were coming and greeting the new couple.
>>>

[rajnish manga]

Abhignya looked beautiful and happy .Vijay noticed some one in the crowd. He felt that he had known that person Some where he had seen her.

All he could notice standing from the stage, was a lady with beautiful white designer saree with glittering diamond bangles and ivory white watch and her flowing lose open hair. She stood like an angel from earth in her attire.
He tried to see her face. But he was not able to see clearly. Out of curiosity to know more about her,

He asked Abhignya “Is that your friend standing there in white saree?”

Abhignya puzzled and said, “Who”?

Vijay pointed in that direction but to his surprise his wife said, she doesn’t see any lady there.

But Vijay was able to see the wicked smile on that lady’s face and suddenly it struck him and he thought,
“No, it cannot be possible… Meghna ....??????”

- THE END -