by RV Raman
Chapter 24
Around the time that Nilay was poring over the supply chain details of the 37 sellers, Dhruvi was at her laptop, a few kilometres way, gnawing thoughtfully at her lower lip, which was already red from an earlier bout of chewing.
She was studying the reports Puneet’s friend in Mumbai, Ved Prakash, had sent. Puneet had made three calls to Ved the night he had been abducted – at 9.03 p.m., 9.45 p.m. and 10.29 p.m. The last analysis Puneet had done before he went missing was to compare a physical retail chain’s sales mix with MyMagicHat’s. And for that, he had used Ved Prakash’s reports. It was soon after this analysis that he had called his boss, Vikram Deswani, and informed him that he had something important to discuss – something apparently critical enough to warrant an immediate discussion.
Now open on Dhruvi’s laptop were half a dozen reports that Ved had sent her the previous weekend. Matters had moved so swiftly last week that she hadn’t had a spare moment to look at the reports. Sunday was a good time to catch up on the backlog.
As soon as she began skimming through the reports, Dhruvi noticed that they pertained to the Puraria Group. They were management information system reports or MIS reports of sales from the group’s distributorships and dealerships. The reports summarized monthly sales by category – electronics, kitchen appliances, apparel and so on – and provided details of how much was sold through Puraria Group’s 176 physical outlets and how much through e-tailers, including MyMagicHat.
Ved Prakash was employed with the Puraria Group in Mumbai. Being in the strategic planning department, he had access to information pertaining to the group’s entire distribution and retailing businesses. That was what Puneet had been examining just before he disappeared.
What was it that he had found?
After fifteen minutes of scrutiny, it was obvious to Dhruvi that the vast majority of the Puraria Group’s sales took place through the brick-and-mortar retail shops. The share of online sales, though growing rapidly, was restricted to single digits. Online sales were conducted by intermediaries such as Unique Enterprises and SM Retail, who resold on e-tailer websites. One of the reports detailed sales of each intermediary.
Gradually, she realized that she was looking at only half of what Puneet had been studying that night. The other half comprised similar reports of MyMagicHat’s sales, which she didn’t have at her disposal. Unless she compared both halves side by side, she would not be able to fathom the significance of what Puneet had discovered.
She was wondering what she should do next when the issue resolved itself – her phone rang. It was Nilay. He quickly summed up for her the facts he and Vibha had gleaned about the 37 sellers.
‘Excellent, Mr Adiga,’ Dhruvi replied enthusiastically. ‘So the stolen data file is the list of orders fulfilled by these 37 sellers in September?’
‘That’s right, Inspector.’
‘Why these 37 alone and no others?’
‘That’s something we are yet to figure out.’
A thought flashed through Dhruvi’s mind.
‘Tell me, Mr Adiga,’ she asked, struggling to contain her excitement, ‘you mentioned some sellers – Unique Enterprises, SM Retail, New Horizon Traders and Supreme Electronics. Can you tell me how much each of these sellers sold through MyMagicHat in September?’
‘Sure,’ Nilay responded immediately. ‘I already have that.’
Dhruvi’s face broke into a silent grin, as she pumped her left fist in delight.
‘Can I come over to your house right now?’ she asked. ‘There’s something I’d like to see.’
‘Certainly. Please come.’
In the next twenty minutes, a Royal Enfield bike cleaved through Bengaluru’s Sunday traffic, the rider and her vehicle turning a number of heads, as usual, as they went past. Some pedestrians actually stopped and gaped at the sight of a young woman riding a Royal Enfield motorcycle with a laptop bag slung across her torso.
Soon afterwards, Dhruvi was parking her bike and making her way up to Nilay’s flat, taking two steps at a time. Within five minutes, they had got down to work – Nilay and Dhruvi at their respective laptops, with Vibha looking on.
‘I have a report of how much Puraria Retail sold in September through Unique Enterprises, SM Retail, New Horizon Traders and Supreme Electronics,’ Dhruvi told Nilay. ‘I’d like to compare my figures with the corresponding figures on MyMagicHat’s systems.’
‘Sure,’ Nilay said with a nod.
‘Let’s start with Unique Enterprises.’
Ten minutes later, Dhruvi was experiencing a vague sense of disappointment. The figures largely tallied, even if there were minor differences.
‘Small differences are not unusual,’ Nilay explained. ‘What was a September transaction for MyMagicHat may become an October transaction for PRL.’
‘How does that happen?’ Dhruvi asked.
‘Let’s take an order that was placed on 30 September on MyMagicHat. It may take a couple of days to reach Unique Enterprises and then to PRL. By that time, the date would be 2 October. In our systems, it will show as a September order and will reflect in our September report. But in PRL’s systems, it will be an October order and will not reflect in the September report you have.’
‘Okay. Let’s ignore minor differences. Would you then say that my report on Unique Enterprises tallies with yours? More or less?’
Nilay nodded. ‘It should tally, shouldn’t it?’ he asked.
‘I…guess so.’
‘Were you expecting it not to, Inspector?’ Vibha cut in.
‘Well…if it hadn’t tallied, we would have had something to work on.’
‘I see what you mean.’ A smile blossomed on Vibha’s face, making her dimples magically appear. ‘But Unique Enterprises doesn’t figure in the stolen data file. So I guess everything is fine there. That’s perhaps why the figures tally. Let’s look at some other sellers.’
Dhruvi smiled back at her. She had taken a liking to this young lady with an infectious smile.
‘Let’s do that,’ she said. ‘New Horizon Traders. How many TVs did they sell in September?’
Nilay’s fingers sped over the keyboard.
‘New Horizon Traders…’ he said, ‘sold 1,847 TVs in September.’
‘1,847?’ Dhruvi repeated. ‘Sure?’
‘Yes. What figure do you have?’
‘919. That’s half your number. What about fridges?’
‘Fridges…2,112.’
‘I have 1,047. This, too, is half your number. Washing machines?’
An hour later, they had finished comparing the September sales figures for all the 37 sellers. In every case, the figures in Dhruvi’s reports were considerably lower than those on MyMagicHat’s systems.
‘You do see what that means, don’t you, Inspector?’ Vibha asked breathlessly. ‘PRL is under-reporting sales and, therefore, under-reporting income.’
‘Aren’t you jumping to conclusions?’ Dhruvi said. ‘I’ll concede that one of the numbers – either MyMagicHat’s or PRL’s – is incorrect. How can you tell which one?’
‘Because MyMagicHat has received money for the entire sales.’ Vibha was beside herself with excitement. ‘In each and every case, the customer paid for the product he or she bought. That cannot be an error!’
‘She’s right, Inspector. Every order in MyMagicHat has been paid for and delivered. No customer would keep quiet if what he had paid for wasn’t delivered. Besides, these payments match with our revenue numbers and can be reconciled with other financial data.’
‘And,’ Vibha cut in irrepressibly, ‘it’s far easier to suppress transactions than to fabricate them.’
Dhruvi sat back and considered what she had just heard. What Vibha said made sense. It was so much easier to delete transactions than to create them. If they were fabricated, how could MyMagicHat match them with the financial and bank records? Each one of the million would have to match. That would be a Herculean task, if not an impossibility. Even if MyMagicHa
t had somehow fabricated these transactions, where could the money for the payment have come from? That would require hundreds of crores of rupees.
Therefore, it stood to reason that someone had deleted half a million transactions after the orders left MyMagicHat. An obvious thing to do next was to investigate PRL. But first, there was something else she needed to do.
‘Mr Adiga,’ she said softly, ‘You’ve done your bit of investigation. I suggest you stop here. Whoever is behind this has already killed one person and abducted two others. We don’t want word of your investigations reaching them.
‘I, therefore, suggest that you not talk about this to anyone at MyMagicHat or elsewhere. We don’t know who may be involved and who may spread the word. Am I right in saying that everyone in the management team, apart from you, has been with the group for long?’
‘Yes.’ Nilay nodded.
‘Let me take it from here –’
‘I can help too,’ Vibha intervened breathlessly.
‘In what way?’ Dhruvi asked. ‘We don’t want you courting danger either.’
‘As a database administrator, I have unfettered access to every server at the data centre.’
‘Okay. So?’
‘I can access data outside MyMagicHat’s systems too…including PRL’s.’
‘No, Mrs Adiga, no! What I just said to your husband goes for you too. Do not invite danger. A young lady disappeared just yesterday.’
‘But PRL is headquartered in Mumbai!’ Vibha protested. ‘There’s nobody here to watch me.’
‘That’s all very well, but I stand by what I just told you. You and your husband have run enough risks. Let the police take it from here.’
■
Dhruvi hurried out of Nilay’s flat and jumped on her bike. She had better hurry to the guest house where Puneet was staying if she were to catch Mamata, his girlfriend, and Ved Prakash, before they left. They had come down by the early morning flight to see Puneet and were scheduled to return that very evening.
She found them both with Puneet, who was now looking much better as he laughed and joked with his two friends.
‘You look well, Mr Kaul,’ Dhruvi smiled. ‘And more comfortable in your own clothes! I suppose your mother brought them down from Mumbai?’
‘Yes, Inspector,’ Puneet laughed. ‘There’s no better feeling than being in your old clothes.’
‘With a ring to boot!’ Dhruvi had noticed a glint on Puneet’s finger. ‘Mothers think of everything, don’t they?’
An unfathomable expression passed over Puneet’s face and his eyes darted to Mamata. An instant later, it was gone. Glancing at Mamata, Dhruvi noticed a vague bewilderment on her face. She too was staring at the ring on Puneet’s finger.
‘So did you manage to recollect anything else, Mr Kaul?’ Dhruvi asked.
‘I’m afraid not. I did have flashes of memory yesterday, where I saw myself walking down a road and riding in the back of a truck. The picture seems to be getting a little clearer, but nothing new has come up.’
‘Could you describe those memories for me, please? The doctor did tell me about them, but I’d like to hear your first-hand account of them.’
Over the next ten minutes, Puneet described all that he could recall, with Dhruvi and Mamata frequently asking questions. At the end of it, Mamata had tears in her eyes and Puneet was trying to comfort her.
Dhruvi turned to Ved, who was sitting beside her.
‘You followed my instructions?’ she whispered.
Ved nodded.
‘Fully?’
Ved nodded again. ‘I haven’t said anything about the reports or the calls he made to me.’
Dhruvi nodded and turned to Puneet.
‘Mr Prakash has been most helpful, you know,’ she said. ‘He shared with me the reports he had sent you on the day you went missing. You had received them that morning, remember?’
‘Yes,’ Puneet nodded, his eyes darting from Dhruvi to Ved. ‘I remember glancing at them.’
She held out a few sheets to Puneet, who took them from her. ‘This is one of them. Have a look.’
Puneet studied the report for a couple of minutes, flipping through the pages, but his eyes remained blank. Eventually, he shook his head slowly.
‘It doesn’t ring a bell,’ he said helplessly, handing the papers back to Dhruvi.
‘This was one of the reports we discussed,’ Ved told him.
‘Was it?’ Puneet looked miserable. ‘Why did we discuss it?’
‘All I know is that you were doing the DD and pestered the hell out of me for this information.’
When another few minutes of reflection resulted in no further recollection, Dhruvi rose and went to the hall where Puneet’s mother was watching TV.
‘Your son seems to be recovering well,’ she said, sitting down beside the kindly-looking older woman. ‘He’s back in his own clothes and with his friends.’
Puneet’s mother nodded pleasantly.
‘Trust a woman to notice,’ she said, smiling. ‘Even a young one like you. It always helps to be in your old clothes when you are ill, you know. I know exactly which clothes he needs.’
‘You’ve brought him a ring to wear too, I noticed. Is it an auspicious one?’
‘No, Dhruvi. He’s been wearing it for over a year now. I didn’t bring it.’ She lowered her voice conspiratorially. ‘He says he bought it, but I know it’s Mamata’s gift. He thinks I don’t know, the silly boy. A mother always knows. Of course, his father doesn’t have a clue. Nice girl, Mamata.’
The door to Puneet’s room opened and the three friends emerged.
‘We’re leaving for the airport now, Aunty,’ Mamata said, addressing Puneet’s mother. ‘Is there anything you need me to do in Mumbai? You may be here for a few more days.’
‘No, beta. Thank you,’ Puneet’s mother replied. ‘Puneet’s already looking so much better after seeing you –’ she paused for a fraction of a second, then added, ‘– and Ved.’
Mamata blushed furiously and the two boys didn’t know where to look. Ved was overcome by a sudden fit of feigned coughing. Soon afterwards, as they left the guest house and descended down the stairs, Dhruvi was there to accompany them.
‘The old lady seemed to know,’ Dhruvi laughed, patting Mamata on the shoulder.
‘So it seems.’ Mamata reddened again. ‘She’s really sharp!’
‘She thinks you gave Puneet the ring,’ Dhruvi continued.
‘She does?’ Mamata’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh my God!’
‘Did he give you one too?’
Mamata extended her left hand and showed Dhruvi the small diamond ring she was wearing.
‘Nice ring!’ Dhruvi commented. ‘When did you exchange them?’
‘August.’ It seemed that Mamata just couldn’t stop blushing. She had gone pink again.
Five minutes later, Ved and Mamata had left for the airport and Dhruvi was busy with her phone. She flipped through several photographs and paused at one. It had been taken just after Puneet turned up at MyMagicHat and was being led to a meeting room. It was a frontal shot that showed him and Nilay quite clearly.
Dhruvi expanded the photo with her fingers and stared at Puneet’s hands. They were both bare of adornment, the fingers ringless.
■
Elsewhere in the city, when darkness had enveloped the metropolis, a lone man sat deep in thought. He had spent the greater part of the day listening in to bugged conversations. Matters were coming to a head far too rapidly for his liking.
He had imagined that by abducting Nitya – the sole remaining link to him – he had solved the problem. But now, another confounded woman who had been poking around in matters that didn’t concern her had found out far too much for his comfort. Now she too had to be dealt with.
Cursing all womankind, the man reached for his third mobile phone, the one he always used for a specific purpose, and dialled a number.
Eighty kilometres away, off the Bengaluru–Mysore highway, be
tween Channapatna and Mandya, a mobile phone rang. The three men who were lounging and drinking in the room fell silent and one of them rose to answer it. As instructed, he picked it up after the fifth ring and answered.
‘Hello?’
‘Is the girl okay?’ the voice at the other end asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Secure?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is she giving any trouble?’
‘No.’ The man laughed unpleasantly. ‘I have dealt with her. She’s frightened now. Badly frightened.’
‘Good. She had it coming, the arrogant bitch. But don’t become overconfident. I don’t want her escaping the way the boy did.’
‘Not this time. We’re making sure that she doesn’t have the strength to escape.’
‘Okay. I have another job for you. There is a woman who has to be silenced. Two of you will be needed for the job.’
‘When?’
‘Tomorrow evening. I would have liked to have done it sooner, but that won’t be possible.’
‘Will she be drugged?’
‘No. This won’t be as easy as the last time. You’ll have to use your brains. Use a dagger. I don’t want any noise. Be careful – this woman is sharp. Do it quickly and get away, like you did with the Muslim boy.’
‘Who is this woman?’
‘Vibha Adiga.’
Chapter 25
Daniel Paul of the EOW – Economic Offences Wing – sat across the table from Sanjay Khanna, his friend and a senior partner at CBS & Co., a global audit firm. Daniel and Sanjay, now in their fifties, were friends from school. They had sustained their relationship through the years despite having chosen entirely different professions. It was on the strength of this friendship that Daniel had been able to convene a meeting at such short notice.
The DCP to whom Dhruvi’s boss reported had called Daniel on Sunday and spoken about MyMagicHat and Dhruvi’s latest findings. He had requested Daniel’s help in conducting a quick inquiry into Puraria Retail Limited. There was nothing official about it; at least, not as yet. He simply wanted Daniel to have an informal conversation with the concerned individuals.