Accidental Inquisitors

by Ananth Gunasekaran

  ‘Not reachable.’

  ‘Maybe he’s in some place where the signal is weak. Geetha will be safe. Amba will be safe.’

  ‘I don’t know Arijit,’ said Raj, ‘I have to go. I cannot stay here like this.’

  ‘How will you go in this condition?' asked Arijit.

  ‘Help me Mitro.’

  Arijit sat next to Raj, rubbing his eyes beneath his spectacles. ‘I will go.’

  ‘No,’ said Raj abruptly, ‘I can’t put you in more trouble. Help me go there.’

  ‘Nobody there knows me. Give me Amba’s address and I’ll go visit casually.’

  ‘But if they are in danger, you could also be in danger’

  ‘Don’t worry about me Raj. I will go.’

  ***

  For the third time, Viki and Bala followed Gopi after the working hours. As he did the last two times, Gopi went up the building and came back to the tea shop with the short bald man. After a couple of minutes, two other young men joined them. After serving tea to the new comers in a plastic cup, the shopkeeper shut the shop.

  ‘I think they are going out,’ said Viki.

  ‘If they do, it might be the right time to raid their place.’

  A black scorpio arrived. Viki and Bala watched intently, ‘The shopkeeper is getting into the front seat.’

  ‘The bald man and the two new guys are getting in to the back of the car,’ said Bala, ‘poor Gopi is left out.’ The car began moving in their direction and the two began to walk casually. ‘Gopi is going his usual way,’ said Viki and Bala nodded.

  They took the stairs to the second floor. The shutter was left unlocked. Careful not to make noise, the duo raised the shutter just enough for them to crawl in and shut it behind them. After discussing for a minute, they decide to switch the lights on. They looked around the place. A lot of SIM cards, dish antennae, pre-owned computers and other accessories. There were two copier machines in one corner. Bala scanned the papers on the table. His expression turned into a serious one as he picked a paper and said, ‘Viki.’ Viki hopped over some antennae to see the paper.

  ‘It has the name TT Masala.’

  ‘I don't understand what it is,’ said Bala, ‘if you find something fishy, take pictures.’

  Viki was excited at the prospect. He began clicking away many papers. He went around the only desk in the room. There was a large chair and a dustbin under the table. Seeing some papers in the dustbin, he picked the bin and examined the pieces of paper. They had been intentionally torn such that they couldn't be put together again. Viki put all the pieces inside his pocket and dropped the bin where it was.

  ‘What was that?’ asked a startled Bala.

  ‘Just a dustbin.’

  ‘No, it’s something else,’ said Bala and walked around to where Viki stood.

  ‘It’s just one useless dustbin,’ repeated Viki. Bala stooped and knocked on the floor. The hard tiles gave out a very dull thud. He continued knocking around the dustbin and the sound became loud.

  ‘Is it a door?’ asked Viki excitedly.

  ‘I think the sound is echoing under the table.’ Bala was now examining the floor, kneeling.

  Viki laughed. ‘Okay get up. Let’s go.’

  Bala, who was on both his knees, lifted his right knee forward bringing his foot to the ground. The instant he placed his right foot along one edge of a square tile, it slid out of place. Bala, being alert, placed his hands on the floor and balanced his body before his leg slipped inside the hollow.

  Viki who was watching the spectacle, dropped his jaw. Bala moved the tile and cast light from his phone into the hollow.

  ‘There’s a ladder,’ he whispered as he lowered himself into the hollow, ‘I am going in.’

  Viki followed. They found themselves in a room stuffed with a lot of materials. Viki found a set of white uniforms with PMS printed on them.

  Bala found a diary on top of a stack of bills. TITGIC was embossed on in.

  ‘Viki,’ he whispered. Viki had a triumphant smile on his face seeing the diary.

  ‘We are getting somewhere,’ he said.

  Suddenly, they heard some footsteps outside.

  ‘Shit!’ Bala panicked.

  Viki quickly climbed the ladder and closed the opening above him with the tile. The shutter was pulled open and someone exclaimed, ‘Shit, I left the lights on.’

  ‘You don't have to come Ajay Anna,’ a man said, ‘we will handle it.’

  ‘You said the same thing last time and you came back with a knife on your face,’ said the first man, ‘I won’t be peaceful till this is over. I will at least be occupied if I come along. Had we got Raj that day itself, we wouldn't have to deal with these idiots now.’ Viki heard pieces of iron being dragged.

  ‘We took that boy and girl lightly,’ said a third man, ‘don’t worry Ajay Anna. Today it will be over.’

  ‘They will be over,’ said Ajay, ‘they have the guts to go to the police.They should be over today.’

  Viki then heard the shutter being dragged down followed by a voice that said, ‘Anna Lock?’

  ‘Sudir is in the shop only. He will watch out.’ Bala heard the sound of footsteps descending.

  ‘I think they are going to kill Raj and his colleague,’ said Viki and pushed the tile aside. Bala followed him, carrying the diary

  ‘I think the shopkeeper is watching the building’ said Viki, as he took the stairs to the terrace. Bala followed, keeping pace. The duo jumped to the terrace of the adjacent building and hurriedly climbed down. The black scorpio was moving at a distance. Viki and Bala sprinted after it. When they reached the main road, they got into an autoriskshaw.

  Viki and Bala kept the Scorpio in their sight and directed the autoriskshaw driver accordingly. Neither of them asked the driver to follow the car.

  ***

  ‘Finally,’ said Jainika when she received an e-mail from the Head of Compliance . She had to raise a request to the compliance team of the bank through the compliance team of TITGIC since her boss was unavailable. Many question were asked but she maintained that it was a document required for the sake of audit. The Head of compliance did not understand why the details that Jainika asked mattered but he did it anyway.

  She printed all the attachments. Complete details of forty-two accounts. The last printout was the picture of Mr. A K Babu. At first glance the person looked familiar. She thought hard but could not remember him.

  She began collating the statements. Mr. A K Babu had paid a sum of one thousand rupees into the accounts of each of the forty-one people within twelve months of their respective deaths.

  Who are you Babu? Jainika looked at the picture for a long time before the guard asked her to leave. It was ten in the night.

  ***

  Arijit arrived at the Majestic bus terminus past midnight. He had brought his mobile phone with him after persuading Raj to use the landline to contact Jainika. During his train journey from Mysuru to Bangalore, he had looked at the pictures of the five imposters that were sent by Jainika. Why do people do such things?

  He had to board a bus to Chennai. He bought a ticket for a semi-sleeper and headed towards a line of shops. He had twenty minutes before departure.

  When he stepped out of the shop, the face of the man standing under a street light across the street caught his attention. He seemed familiar.

  Arijit went to get a closer look. The man was standing idly not looking anywhere in particular. He woke Khakhi shirt and trousers.

  Arijit shook his head and walked past the man. He was guided to the bus by an attendant. The man in khakis occupied his thoughts. Depositing his bag in the rack above, Arijit settled on a seat, the window to his left. He could see the man and the latter had not moved.

  The bus began to move. The direction of the bus was such that the man appeared to the left side of the bus. When the bus turned left at the junction, Arijit craned his neck to see the man one last time and what he saw made
him jump. ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ Arijit pulled his bag out of the rack. The bus came to a halt and he jumped out.

  The driver abused him in Kannada. Arijit was happy he hadn't learnt the language.

  He pulled his phone out and opened the gallery. After a few swipes, he arrived at the picture of the man standing at the junction.

  ***

  The Scorpio stopped outside an apartment. The autorickshaw stopped at a distance. Four men had gotten out of the Scorpio and were walking inside the building. Viki and Bala waited for a few moments and followed. When the duo didn't find the troop in the ground floor, they stealthily walked up to the first floor. They heard a bell ring on the floor above them. They inched their way up the stairs and on arriving at the second floor, Viki saw the four men standing outside an apartment with their back to him. One of the four men turned and saw Viki. Viki continued walking to the third floor.

  ‘What is it?’ Ajay murmured.

  ‘A boy. He went upstairs.’

  ‘Ignore.’

  Viki stopped when he was out of their sight. Bala was still on the stairs between the first and the second floor. Viki stealthily looked at Bala gestured. What to do?

  Bala punched into the air. Fight!

  Viki nodded dissent and signalled they have weapons.

  Bala signalled. We’ll shout!

  Viki nodded assent and signalled back. Cover your face.

  They quickly lied kerchiefs to their faces. Viki began counting with his fingers, ‘One…two…three!’ and both of them jumped to the second floor screaming their lungs out.

  This startled the four men. One of them dropped a weapon.

  ‘I will call the police.’ Bala his phone out.

  ‘Help! Help! Murderers!’ Viki screamed.

  The four men panicked.They charged at the two. One of the doors unlocked loudly and Ajay shouted, ‘Run!’ and the gang ran down the stairs.

  ‘What's happening?’ came the voice of an elderly man. Viki and Bala quickly pulled down their scarves, turned and told him that four people with weapons had just fled. He pointed at the knife lying on the floor.

  ‘I am calling the police.’

  ‘Please do sir,’ said Bala, ‘they were about to hit us.’

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘We were walking along the road,’ said Bala, ‘we saw a car stop and four armed men get out. We didn't know what to do. So we hid behind them and shouted.’

  The man was convinced, ‘Did you note the car number?’

  Viki shook his head. The man began talking on his phone.

  Bala walked up to the door in front of which the four men stood. He said in a low voice, ‘Hey! Who are you?’

  Viki stood close behind him.

  ‘Priyanka?’

  Pause.

  ‘Raj?’

  He stepped back hearing the door unbolt. When the door swung open he saw the teary face of Geetha. Bala was thrilled. Geetha lunged forward and hugged him. She then let go and hugged Viki tightly. Amba stood behind the door with a confused look on his face.

  ‘Hey boys,’ the elderly man called and grunted seeing the girl hugging Viki, ‘can you identify those people?’

  Viki saw Bala opening his mouth to answer and butted in, ‘They wore scarves to cover their faces.’ The elderly man grunted again and shut his door.

  ‘Are these the school kids that helped you?’ Amba stepped outside.

  ‘Who is he?’ Viki was visibly upset for being called a school kid.

  Geetha told them who Amba was.

  ‘We should leave now,’ said Bala.

  ‘Leave and go where?’ retorted Amba.

  Viki and Bala took turns to narrate what had conspired since the time the gang collected weapons and started in their Scorpio. Amba didn’t protest anymore.

  The four were out of the apartments in the next three minutes. They walked to the main road and took an auto rickshaw to Viki’s uncle’s place. It worked in their favour that his uncle’s family was abroad.

  ***

  He walked close to the man who was oblivious. Arijit judged the person to be an Assamese. It wasn’t very difficult to get into conversation.

  ‘Is this the bus stand?’ asked Arijit in Bengali. The man’s eyes brightened. ‘You speak Bengali. God heard my prayers. I need your help sir.’

  ‘Calm down. What happened?’ Arijit kept his usual calm.

  ‘I am working in PMS sir,’ said the man pointing at the badge on his left shoulder, which had become clearly visible to Arijit when the bus turned and had made him jump out.

  ‘I was contract employee in TT company. My friends were killed sir.’ The man began to cry.

  ‘I don't have money to go home sir. Police beat me and threw me out of the railway station.’

  ‘Your friends were killed?’ Arijit masked his shock.

  ‘Yes, sir. I beg you sir. Please buy me one ticket. I will definitely pay you back sir.’

  ‘How many people were killed?’

  ‘Four sir. I escaped,’ the man began to plead, ‘please help me sir.’

  ‘I will buy you the ticket. Don't worry,’ said Arijit and the man’s face showed relief. ‘Why didn't you go to the police?’

  ‘Sir, I don't know who is good and who is bad sir. I don't want to go to police. I want to go home sir.’

  ‘Okay. Listen to me for a moment. Then decide.’ The man looked at Arijit blankly.

  ‘Were you with them when they were killed?’

  ‘Yes, I was nearby’

  ‘How were they killed?’

  ‘They were hit by a vehicle sir.’

  ‘If you run away now, the killers will say that you killed your and ran away. Wherever you go, police will catch you.’ Drops of sweat appeared on the man’s forehead. ‘What should I do sir? God has really heard me. That’s why he sent you to me.’

  ‘Go to the police and file a complaint. Tell exactly what happened. The complaint will be a record that you informed the police. If you run away now, they will not believe you later. They will say you killed your friends and ran away.’

  ‘Will you come with me sir?’ Arijit saw fear in the man’s eyes.

  ‘I will come,’ said Arijit assuringly and they headed to the police station.

  ‘You should tell them everything.’

  ‘I was supposed to be dead sir. You are saving me. I will do as you say sir.’

  ***

  ‘Tell me everything you know.’ Amba initially exuded dominance over the other three.

  Viki began narrating everything that happened from the time Geetha had left the school.

  The principal’s open threat, the school’s search for Gopi who bought the SIM, Bala’s visit to the TITGIC office, three nights of following Gopi that lead them to Amba and Geetha. All this while, Bala was sipping a large glass of grape juice, sitting on a bed with the diary he had picked up.

  ‘We really thought it’s going to Raj and Priyanka,’ said Viki, ‘Gopi is related to the company. This goon is related to Gopi. And the goon lead us to you’

  ‘If they know my address,’ said Amba, thinking, ‘the police must’ve given it to them’

  ‘Yes,’ said Viki, ‘they said it. The guy called Ajay said, “They have the guts to go to the police, I will finish them.”’

  ‘This seems to be a bigger than I thought,’ said Amba, ‘it gives me a feeling these guys have harmed Raj and Priyanka.’ Geetha looked at him with concern in her eyes.

  ‘I don’t know about Raj,’ said Bala, startling everyone, ‘but they sure have caused harm to Priyanka.’

  ‘What?’ Viki walked over to look at the open diary. Amba and Geetha followed. ‘This is Priyanka’s diary and I found it at Ajay’s place.’

  There was one entry dated 28 March. The time of the entry was scribbled. 9 PM.

  ‘That’s the day both of them disappeared.’ Bala held the diary for the others to see.

  ‘Shit man’ Amba put his
hands on his head, ‘Raj, what have you gotten yourself into?’

  Geetha seemed perturbed, then said, ‘I don't know.’

  ‘Do you still think they eloped?’ Amba grew restless.

  Geetha’s eyes were distant for a while, ‘These people could have helped Raj and Priyanka elope.’

  ‘What?’ asked Bala, shocked at Geetha’s comment, ‘You believe that?’

  ‘Geetha, are you in your senses?’ Amba pointed at the open diary, ‘this was found with the guys who tried to kill us.’

  ‘She could have left it with them,’ said Geetha, ‘see what she has written. She loves him and wishes she had met him before he had met me.’

  ‘This is ridiculous. Are you saying Viki’s friends tried to attack us today?’

  ‘Can you be sure they are not his friends?’ asked Geetha, furious.

  ‘I am damn sure,’ Amba clutched his fist.

  ‘Based on what?’

  Amba searched for words. ‘Based on what do you say they are his friends?’

  ‘Till some time back it was only my intuition, but now I am sure,’ said Geetha, shaking. ’The SIM card Raj sent to me was purchased in the name of Gopi. And Gopi’s friends are the ones who tried to attack us today. And that day at the railway station also. And this diary was found in their place because they left their belongings with their friends.’

  ‘You are saying Raj is trying to murder us.’ Amba said in a whisper.

  ‘If he is capable of betraying me,’ said Geetha, ‘he is capable of murdering us.’

  ‘Geetha,’ Bala interrupted, ‘you are just overreacting.’ He then looked at Viki, who did not meet his eyes.

  ‘Viki, what happened?’ asked Bala, concerned.

  ‘I don't know. But we cannot ignore what Geetha said.’

  ‘Man! Raj is my friend,’ said Amba, ‘he cannot do such a thing.’

  ‘And I am his girlfriend,’ said Geetha, ‘he’s too ambitious. He’ll do anything to get what he wants.’

  Amba helplessly looked at Bala who was equally helpless. Just then Bala’s phone vibrated. He looked at it for a moment and his face screwed. He immediately sat down on the sofa. Geetha saw embarrassment on his face.