by RV Raman
‘Am I?’ Nilay blinked and stared at her, slightly surprised.
Though her voice was soft, a second glance revealed her keen expression. Unlike her bored colleague, she seemed to be taking in every detail. Nilay looked at her again. There was something about her gaze and her attitude – she was watching, probing, listening, silently appraising. For the first time, Nilay noticed the inch-long scar that split her right eyebrow into two. He wondered how she had got it.
‘Puneet was waiting for a car,’ he said aloud. ‘Surely, the driver of the car would have seen him last? There may have been other passengers in the car too, perhaps his colleagues.’
‘We don’t know which car he took…if he did take one. His colleagues were elsewhere at the time.’
Nilay shook his head. ‘Puneet said that the car was just a few minutes away. That’s why he declined my offer to drop him off at the hotel.’
‘Do you know what car he was waiting for?’
‘No… I…I think he just said something like “the car is a just few minutes away”. I assumed it was the team car he and his colleagues were using.’
‘The team car was with the others at that time,’ Vikram snapped. ‘We don’t know which car Puneet took.’
‘Holy shit!’ Nilay cursed softly. ‘Why didn’t he take up my offer to drop him, then?’ He looked up as a thought flashed through his mind. ‘Was it a call taxi? I know that he had at least three call taxi apps on his mobile – Ola, Meru and Uber.’
‘We checked,’ Dhruvi answered. ‘He took none of them. We’ve checked with other call-taxi operators too.’
‘Then who…?’
‘Exactly.’ Dhruvi nodded slowly, her searching gaze making him feel uncomfortable. ‘If any thoughts occur to you along those lines, please give us a call.’
■
Dhruvi strolled slowly past the Deccan Herald office on M.G. Road, gazing unseeingly ahead of her. She went by Higginbothams, inhaling the noxious fumes from the incessant mid-morning traffic. Already, a thin film of oily grime had settled on her face. She could even smell it. But the overpowering jumble of noise that reached her ears seemed to get lost somewhere before it reached her brain. When her mind was wrestling with a problem, her brain automatically filtered out sounds.
She wondered what kind of a person Puneet was. As she tried to visualize him, it dawned on her that she hadn’t asked for his photograph. The sub-Inspector from the local police station would have done so as a matter of routine. She would take it from him.
Without a face to anchor her thoughts, she found it difficult to imagine what Puneet was like, even though she had heard about him from several people. He seemed to be a decent guy, diligent and conscientious – unlike Vikram. She realized that her prejudice against smooth talkers was kicking in. It wouldn’t do to let it colour her views. At least, not so early in the investigation.
She wondered what she should do next. She had followed up on the three pieces of information she had received from Mumbai – MyMagicHat, Vikram and the hotel – but was none the wiser about Puneet’s whereabouts. The sub-Inspector from the police station would shortly feed Puneet’s details into their search network, but that would take time to yield results.
After meeting Gautam and Nilay, Vikram and the sub-Inspector had left, but Dhruvi had chosen to walk around the spot where Puneet had last been seen. She had stood on the pavement outside MyMagicHat and surveyed the place, twisting a curl of her black hair around a finger and chewing her lower lip. When Dhruvi fell into deep thought, she unconsciously began twisting a curl or chewing her lower lip. Or both. It was a habit she had found impossible to kick.
It had begun early in school, when she had found that chewing the end of her pencil aided thought. Tougher the problem, the more she chewed. Sometimes, disgusted with the taste of wood, paint and lead, she would drop her pencil and twist a curl of hair around her index finger. As she grew into a young woman, she substituted the pencil with her lower lip.
Now, not finding anything useful at the spot where Puneet had last been seen, she walked a short distance in both directions. Then she gave up and walked to M.G. Road, a stone’s throw away. Her thoughts returned to the two men she had met at MyMagicHat.
Gautam had been all courtesy and concern. As the promoter, his dismay over the disappearance of someone who had last been seen in his offices was palpable. This, despite his interaction with Puneet being limited to exchanging brief pleasantries on two occasions. He had enquired after the young man’s family and asked if there was anything he could do to help. Dhruvi had taken a liking to this urbane and striking man. But the fact remained that he had said nothing to further the investigation or throw light on the disappearance.
Though Nilay had exuded a similar air of competence, he had been different. He had very efficiently and succinctly summarized everything he knew about Puneet, but had done so with noticeable detachment. Dhruvi had got the impression that the detachment was manufactured and that he had chosen his words carefully.
Beneath his impersonal veneer, Nilay had seemed tense and wary. Puneet’s disappearance had affected him more than he chose to reveal. Dhruvi couldn’t tell why, but she sensed that Nilay’s anxiety stemmed more from some personal source of unease, rather than from concern for Puneet.
She put aside her thoughts about Gautam and Nilay and considered the others. There was little more to be gleaned from the hotel people. She had spoken to Arnav, Kantoff’s vice president and Puneet’s colleague, and arranged to meet him the next day. She might have to talk to Vikram again, but he was taking an afternoon flight to Mumbai, following his younger colleagues who had left on an earlier flight. She suspected that there was more to be obtained from MyMagicHat by way of insights; the glances Gautam and Nilay had surreptitiously exchanged had suggested as much.
But first, she would wait for Alex to get the last known location of Puneet’s mobile. That, she hoped, would give her something concrete to work on.
At that moment, her mobile rang. Wondering if it was Alex, she pulled it out. It was a number she didn’t recognize.
‘Inspector Dhruvi?’ asked a cultured, vaguely familiar male voice.
‘Yes?’
‘This is Gautam Puraria. I wanted to talk to you alone. When can we do that?’
‘We can talk now.’
‘Not over the phone. Where are you? Can I come and meet you?’
‘I’m on M.G. Road itself. I could return to your office if that’s all right with you.’
‘Not the office, Inspector. You’ll understand why once we’ve had a discussion. Can I pick you up from where you are? We could have a quiet lunch while I brief you.’
‘Okay.’ She looked up at the large sign of the shop in front of her. ‘I’m in front of Cauvery Emporium. Do you know it?’
‘Yes, I do. Please wait there. I’ll be with you in a few minutes.’
Less than five minutes later, a white Audi drew up at the kerb and the rear door opened. Gautam was sitting inside.
‘Please get in,’ he said with an apologetic smile. ‘I’m sorry to act so secretive, but you’ll soon understand why.’
They rode in silence for a few minutes as the car took several turns before pulling up in front of the Oberoi Hotel. Gautam led the way into a restaurant where he selected a corner table.
‘Thank you for agreeing to see me alone,’ he began softly, taking care that he wasn’t overheard by other customers. ‘I have something to tell you that I couldn’t share in the presence of the others. As you know, Vikram and I are in the middle of negotiating a deal. What I have to say could jeopardize it. Please treat it as confidential.’
‘Why did you choose to tell me and not the sub-Inspector who is handling the case?’
‘Well, he didn’t seem particularly interested in the case. I got the impression that he was just going through the motions.’ He raised his hand as if to apologize. ‘Of course, I may be wrong, but Nilay and I felt that he was not going to do anything beyond filing a
missing person report.’
‘You are very keen to find Puneet –’
‘Oh yes! I was to have verbally concluded the deal with Vikram today. But Puneet’s disappearance has put a spanner in the works. I am very keen to conclude it as soon as possible. I want Puneet back in the office before Monday morning.’ Gautam hesitated, smiled uncertainly and continued. ‘I thought you were more involved in the case than the sub-Inspector. Besides, you are trying to help Puneet’s family.’
‘I’m on this case only temporarily, Mr Puraria. This is a missing person case… It’ll be handled by the regular police, not the CCB.’
‘We need to find Puneet this weekend, Dhruv – sorry – Inspector. I’m sure you can do it.’
Dhruvi felt herself redden slightly.
Gautam was contrite and apologized at once. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you,’ he said hastily, averting his eyes.
A waiter approached them and they quickly placed their orders. The interruption ended the unintended moment of mutual awkwardness and Gautam picked up the conversation once the waiter had left.
‘I don’t know whether what I am about to tell you is connected in any way at all with Puneet’s disappearance, but I didn’t want to conceal it…just in case it turns out to be pertinent in some way. But please keep it confidential. Please.’
Dhruvi nodded silently and Gautam continued.
‘This morning, we discovered that our office was bugged. Someone had placed electronic bugs and had been eavesdropping for weeks, if not months.’
‘What kind of bugs?’
‘The security firm that swept our office says that they are professional, mid-range devices; active wireless devices that have sufficient range to be controlled from outside our office.’
Dhruvi’s interest surged again. This was, indeed, turning out to be a white-collar crime!
‘You discovered it only this morning?’ she asked.
Gautam nodded. ‘Only five people in the office know about it. We haven’t told anyone else and I have yet to figure out how and when to inform Kantoff. On the one hand, it could be material information that I am bound to disclose to Kantoff. On the other, it happened just this morning. I need to consult the others before I take the next step.
‘Seven rooms in all were bugged – four meeting rooms, the conference room, my cabin and Nilay’s. Puneet was working in one of the bugged rooms. We believe that the eavesdropper may have complete information on our deal with Vikram’s company.’
‘Vikram’s company is considering investing in your company, right?’
‘Yes. Now I think it’s a fair assumption that whoever placed the bugs is antagonistic to our interests. Why else would they bug our office?’
Dhruvi nodded. ‘That’s a fair assumption. Who do you think it is? Competition?’
‘Possibly. Can you think of anyone else?’
Dhruvi thought for a moment and shrugged.
‘It is also a fair assumption,’ Gautam continued, ‘that someone who is hostile to our interests would want the deal to fall through. They would want to delay or even scuttle it.’
‘And one way to do that is to abduct Puneet? Is that what you’re suggesting?’
‘I wouldn’t go so far as to actually say so. But the thought did enter my mind. It is a possibility, isn’t it? Of course, we hope – fervently – that this is not the case. But what if we’re wrong? That’s why I thought of confiding in you. I’m sure you will be discreet.’
‘You didn’t want to disclose this in front of Vikram because it would weaken your position, right?’
‘Put yourself in the shoes of an investor for a moment. If you find that someone has been listening to our confidential conversations, you will want to re-evaluate the deal…maybe even call it off. I don’t want that to happen.’
‘Okay. But why did you not want to talk about this in the office? I could have met you there.’
‘Because, Inspector, I am not sure if we’ve removed all the bugs.’
Chapter 7
‘What do you mean you want to investigate this case?’ the Assistant Commissioner of Police asked Dhruvi, glaring at her over his reading glasses. He was the head of her squad at the CCB. ‘Have we been called into the case?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Has it been assigned to us?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Then how can you investigate it? It’s a straightforward missing person case, which should be handled by the concerned police station.’
‘I think that there could be more to this than a simple missing person case, sir. But the local sub-Inspector is planning to do nothing other than file a report and wait.’
‘You think, Dhruvi? Is that sufficient? Is there a complainant?’
The scar across her eyebrow, a legacy from a cross-country motorcycle-rally accident, began throbbing. She knew that it would have turned white. It always did when she was under pressure or excited. Pretending to scratch her forehead, she hid the scar with her hand.
‘Well…no sir,’ she mumbled. ‘Nothing formal, at least.’
‘For all we know, this Puneet boy is lying drunk or stoned somewhere. Or he may have met with an accident. We should know in a day or two. Do you even know if a crime has been committed?’
‘Well, sir, an office has been bugged. Someone has unlawfully placed listening devices. That is espionage, sir,’ she pleaded. ‘A crime has been committed.’
‘But the company hasn’t filed a complaint, has it?’
‘No, sir. That’s because they want to keep it a secret.’
The ACP slapped the edge of his desk with his palms.
‘Then how can you begin investigating?’ he demanded. ‘No complaint, no request for help – nothing! Besides, I don’t want the local police station complaining that you are interfering in their work.’
‘The sub-Inspector was happy to let me ask whatever questions I wanted to. I don’t think they will complain.’
‘Dhruvi, please understand. This can give someone an excuse to screw us. Our DCP has enough problems on his plate. I don’t want to give him one more.’
‘I understand that, sir. I was just…er…looking into it in a personal capacity. The missing person is kind of related to me.’
The hard lines on the ACP’s face softened.
‘I see… You’re trying to help a relative, is it?’
‘That’s how it started…when it was still a simple missing person case. But now it looks like the disappearance may have a white-collar crime behind it. That’s our area, sir.’
‘It may be our area, but only if the case is assigned to us.’
‘Yes, sir. But I’d like to look into it a little more, still in a personal capacity.’
The ACP stared at her for a long moment. Then he sighed, expelling a long breath. He removed his glasses and slowly placed them on the desk.
‘Listen, Dhruvi,’ he said in an avuncular manner. ‘I know you want to make your career in white-collar crime. I know this person is related to you. But you can’t do anything that will create problems for you, me or the department. You understand that, don’t you?’
Dhruvi nodded.
As one of the few female Inspectors around, there was constant pressure on her to perform, to not give her detractors the slightest excuse to say, ‘I told you so.’ While the system itself did not overtly discriminate against women, there were times when she wondered if she was being measured by the same yardstick that her male colleagues were.
‘Then what do you want to do?’
‘Spend a few more days on the case, sir.’
‘Not officially, Dhruvi. And I don’t want anything else to suffer.’
‘Can I take two days of comp off, sir?’
She had three days of compensatory leaves that would be lapsing soon.
‘Okay… We don’t have urgent cases right now. What do you propose to do?’
‘Just poke around a little bit…speak to some more people to see if I can f
ind anything concrete. I will be coming to office even when I’m on leave.’
‘Okay. Let it be clear that there is nothing official about whatever you do.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And, Dhruvi, don’t do something that will make me regret this, okay?’
Dhruvi nodded, suppressing a smile.
‘I don’t want complaints coming in from a police station or anywhere else, for that matter. And I don’t want the DCP on my back.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
Dhruvi quickly fled from the room, lest more constraints be imposed on her. When she reached her desk, she found Alex waiting for her.
Lanky, languid and listless, Sub-Inspector Alexander Jayaram looked very much the good-for-nothing paper-pusher he wasn’t. In all appearances, he was a nondescript, seat-warming government clerk who was content collecting his meagre monthly cheque while he waited for an honourable retirement.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
Alex’s links to the Bengaluru underground were rivalled only by his knowledge of the shady parts of the city and the strongmen who controlled them. These alone – even if his other talents were disregarded – made him indispensable to the CCB. He was said to be one of the few cops who could walk in anywhere in Karnataka without an armed backup. He was reputed to have walked alone into the den of one of Bengaluru’s notorious gangsters and handcuffed him, single-handedly arresting a man much of the police force had feared.
‘The last recorded connection with Puneet’s mobile was at 10.33 p.m., ma’am,’ he now drawled, addressing Dhruvi’s earlier query. ‘It connected with a mobile tower about half a kilometre from MyMagicHat.’
‘Is that in the direction of the hotel?’ Dhruvi asked.
Alex shrugged. ‘That’s difficult to say, as M.G. Road is a long stretch. Given how the traffic flows, he would have taken that direction to go to most places.’
‘That’s not helpful. What about the calls?’
‘One call to Vikram Deswani at 10.14 p.m.,’ Alex read out from his notepad. ‘Three calls to a Mumbai mobile number at 9.03 p.m., 9.45 p.m. and 10.29 p.m. And two calls with a local prepaid number – he received a call at 9.51 p.m. and made one at 10.18 p.m.’