Vikram Rana Investigates: Tales of Murder and Deception in Hyderabad

by Sharmishtha Shenoy

  ‘How come you could not leave him before but could leave him now? Who was that friend?’ Inspector Reddy asked.

  ‘Sir, desperate situations calls for desperate measures.If my friend Janaki had not helped me, I do not think that I would have had the courage to move out. Krishna and I initially lived in Uppal, close to my parent’s home. Janaki was our neighbour at that time. I actually knew her for a long time as she was my classmate. She also worked at Wonderphone. We shared a hostel room in Madhapur. Without her support, I could not have survived on my own after leaving Krishna.’

  ‘Did you not ask Krishna for financial support?’ Inspector Reddy asked.

  ‘Frankly I was too scared to even face him. I used to meet the children also in utmost secrecy. We were all very frightened of Krishna.’

  ‘Why did you not apply for a divorce or go to the police?’

  ‘Krishna was rich and powerful due to his association with Vamsi Rao. Nobody dared to support me. Karuna and his wife tried to help me but he threatened them with dire consequences and they did not dare to support me after that. I did not blame them, after all they were a peace-loving family. A divorced woman is never looked at in a good light. Anyway I was not planning to remarry – so why bother with divorce? It had been three years that we were living separately.’

  ‘So in the last three years were you hoping for reconciliation?’ Inspector Reddy asked.

  ‘No, Inspector. I knew that he would not be able to stay away from alcohol or women. And anyway I had taken as much abuse as I could tolerate. So living separately was the best option.’

  There was silence for some time as Inspector Reddy and Vikram tried to absorb and process the information provided. Vikram asked abruptly, ‘Are you still in touch with Bilas?’

  ‘Yes, Bilas still works as my driver,’ Mrs Dhavala responded.

  ‘Is he here now?’ Vikram asked.

  ‘No – he has Sundays off.’

  ‘We would like to talk to him if possible. Do you have his address?’

  ‘Yes I will give it to you – please wait.’ Kamini Dhavala left the room gracefully. She had an appealing, voluptuous figure and Vikram was gazing with rapt attention at her retreating form. Inspector Reddy noted his expression and gave him a wink. Vikram blushed and hurriedly averted his gaze.

  She came back with a piece of paper upon which the address was written in neat handwriting. As Devika Raju had mentioned, Bilas lived in 25A Kamalapuri Colony. ‘Thank you, Mrs Dhavala.’ Smiling, Vikram took the paper from her hand. Bidding her goodbye, the two men got into their car.

  Reddy looked at his watch and exclaimed, ‘Wow – just look at the time. It is 2:30 pm. No wonder I am famished. Let us go to Chinese Pavilion. It is nearby and I know you love that place. After that we will go and meet Bilas. Call him up to find out if he is available around 4:30 pm today.’

  While Reddy drove, Vikram called up Bilas. He answered his cell phone within two rings. It was as if he was expecting them to call. Had Kamini called and warned him? Vikram wondered. His voice had a slight slur as if he had been drinking, but Vikram thought he could be imagining that. He agreed to meet Reddy and Vikram in his home.

  ‘Well, what do you think?’ Vikram asked Inspector Reddy after he finished his call.

  ‘I notice that you are excessively sympathetic towards Mrs Kamini Dhavala. I admit that she is very attractive and comely, but do not be manipulated by her good looks, Vikram. I feel that she is quite a cold and calculating woman.’

  Vikram looked at Inspector Reddy coldly. ‘I am not naïve enough to be manipulated by a woman just because she is good-looking. What makes you think that?’

  ‘I was quite rude to her and suggested that she did not divorce Krishna as she hoped to get money from him. The way she did not react to the bait tells me that she is quite shrewd. I repeatedly insulted her – yet she never reacted. Only when I mentioned that she was into the marriage because of the money did she show a slight reaction, but there again she got herself quickly under control. She left the children at the mercy of an alcoholic husband who in her own words was indifferent to them. Only a cold-hearted mother could leave her children to build a new life of her own. Yet I am sure she kept a watch on Krishna’s movements by keeping in touch with her children behind his back.’

  ‘I think that you are being unnecessarily harsh with her. She left her children as she could not take his abuse anymore. She wanted to give them an upbringing and monetory comfort that she herself did not get in her childhood.’

  ‘Ah – but how do you know that Krishna really used to abuse her? And why did he suddenly start drinking? We have heard only her side of the story. It seems too convenient to me that Krishna turned against her for no reason.’

  ‘Well, you are thinking like a chauvinistic pig, I think. I think that it was pure luck that she has inherited the property,’ Vikram said bluntly.

  Inspector Reddy said, ‘Well, I think he died very conveniently for her. And what about Bilas? Why is he still continuing with them? I am sure she does not need a full time chauffer anymore as she is a stay-at-home mother.’

  ‘I think that for some reason you have taken a dislike to her. Why should she not keep a full time chauffer? Heaven knows she can certainly afford it.’

  ‘And I think that you are fooled by her sweet, innocent appearance. She gains the most in this case. You cannot deny the fact.’

  There was a stony silence between them till they reached the restaurant. They ordered chicken soup flavoured with coconut milk and Thai herbs, rice paper rolls, ginger honey prawns and Vikram’s personal favourite, Bamboo rice. Once they started eating, both of them seemed to thaw and to break the ice Vikram asked, ‘Are you satisfied with everybody’s responses? Personally I think they are all hiding one thing or another.’

  ‘Going by my past experience I would say that this is most certainly true,’ Inspector Reddy said. ‘Everybody has something to hide, but not necessarily because they are guilty of murder’

  Vikram asked, ‘By the way, did Krishna have a laptop?’

  ‘Yes, the police seized it. Currently it is with us. Our cybercrime department is inspecting it. I think they could login with his ID very easily. Do you know what his password was? It was password,’ Inspector Reddy said chuckling. But Vikram was looking thoughtful. He asked, ‘Can I meet the person who is in charge of the laptop tomorrow?’

  Inspector Reddy looked surprised, but said, ‘Why not? Come over to my office around 10 am. I will introduce you to him.’

  Vikram looked at his wristwatch and exclaimed, ‘It is already nearly four. We should hurry if we want to meet Bilas on time.’

  4

  Bilas, the Driver

  25A Kamalapuri Colony was an apartment house. A big square-shaped, well-maintained building. A security guard was sitting near the gate. Vikram wondered how Bilas could afford such an apartment on a mere driver’s salary. On seeing Inspector Reddy’s ID card, the guard saluted them and allowed them to pass on to the lift without any further comments.

  Bilas stayed in the second floor. They found his apartment around the corner. An isolated door at the end of a dim corridor. The television was blaring inside. Reddy dug his thumb into the bell and waited, Vikram standing next to him. The television was snapped off and the door opened suddenly. Bilas was dressed soberly but expensively in jeans, T-shirt and Nike shoes. He was quite good-looking, had a strong physique and looked well-groomed. But he was clearly nervous.

  He asked them to enter. The place smelt faintly of cigarettes and alcohol. So he had been drinking, Vikram thought to himself.

  Vikram asked, ‘Bilas, this is your own appartment?’

  Bilas said, ‘No. This is a furnished apartment that I have taken on rent.’

  Though the apartment was in a good location, the inside was quite dirty. There was dust everywhere and cobwebs on the wall as if Bilas rarely bothered to clean. There was a picture of Lord Venkateswara on the wall. Even that was dusty, as if no one had bothered
to clean the picture in a long time. His mode of living would horrify a monkey – Vikram thought to himself. The monthly rent of the apartment would exceed his monthly salary even if he was paid above the market rates of a normal driver. After that, there would be his living expenses and his clothes, which were pretty expensive. Someone must also be paying for his drinks. Vikram wondered where the money was coming from.

  In the meanwhile Inspector Reddy asked, ‘Bilas – how old are you?’

  ‘Sir, I am 35 years old.’

  ‘How long have you worked for Krishna Dhavala?’

  ‘Sir, around fifteen years. When Krishna Sir bought his first car, he employed me and since then I have been with him.’ Though he was speaking in Hindi to them, he used English words liberally in his phrases.

  Vikram asked, ‘How far have you studied?’

  ‘Sir, I completed my twelfth. I have studied in English medium school. I was a bright student, but due to money constraints I had to look for work.’

  ‘So you were his bodyguard and driver? Do you carry a weapon?’

  ‘No, Sir. I do not carry a weapon. Krishna sir had employed me as his driver. Once he was drunk and returning late from a party around eight years back. He had been involved in a land dispute and the owner of the land hired goons to kill him. On a lonely stretch of road, they made me stop the car and attacked him. They hit him with iron rods. But I am an amateur boxer and was quite strong, so I wrestled the iron rods from them and then I hit them. They could not cope with me and ran away. I quickly drove Krishna sir to a hospital and ensured that good doctors were taking care of him. Then I went and informed madam. Since that time Krishna was grateful and always took good care of me and my family. After that, there were other small incidents when people tried to harass him, but I have always been able to handle them.’

  Inspector Reddy said, ‘So you were a kind of unofficial bodyguard?’

  Bilas smiled and said, ‘Well Sir, I would have done anything to help Krishna Sir as he used to take good care of me.’

  ‘Are you married?’

  ‘No, I am not married. My parents live in a village near Guntur. I stay alone in Hyderabad. But they are looking for a suitable wife for me now.’

  ‘So now you are working as Mrs Dhavala’s driver?’

  ‘Yes, Sir. Madam also takes good care of me and pays me well.’

  ‘Okay, we are finished for now. But stay in Hyderabad. We might need to talk to you again soon,’ Inspector Reddy said.

  Inspector Reddy and Vikram came out of the building. It was 5:30 pm.

  While driving back to the police station Reddy commented, ‘I will bet that the apartment was owned by Krishna. I will need to do some digging.’

  ‘Yes. I am sure that the rent of the apartment would be far more than a normal driver’s salary. He is clearly living beyond his means. I wonder who is funding him?’

  Inspector Reddy left Vikram at his home around 6 pm. The neighbours, who used to look the other way before Vikram became a minor celebrity, nowadays fell over themselves to talk to him. As he was opening the gates of his house he was stopped by two of his neighbours for small talk. When he went in, Veena was sitting in a rocking chair with Kamala on her lap. She used to work in a multinational company and was somewhat bossy and ambitious, but she had taken a break from her work after Kamala’s birth. Now she was determined that Vikram should become a well-respected and famous detective with a hundred percent success rate in all his cases. So she took a lot of interest in his work. Vikram was not used to this kind of interference. But as he did not want to offend Veena, he bore her comments stoically and tried to agree to whatever point she made regarding his cases. And sometimes she made some excellent observations – he admitted to himself.

  He kissed Veena and asked, ‘How is Kamala today?’

  ‘She is sleeping.’

  Vikram cheered up. He gently picked up Kamala from Veena’s arm and laid her down in her cot. Then he turned towards Veena and said, ‘How about some masala chai ?’

  ‘Vikram, I am dead tired. I cannot make tea now.’

  ‘Yes, tough. I also had a very hectic day. Maybe I will have a bit of the chocolate cake that you bought yesterday.’

  ‘Oh Vikram – I just shared the chocolate cake with a few of my friends who came to visit us today.’

  Vikram was tired and hungry after such a long day. He was also looking forward to eating that cake. He lost his temper and made a noise like a pneumatic drill.

  Veena was startled. ‘What was that noise?’

  Then she said coldly, ‘You are behaving like a spoilt child. And our daughter will wake up.’

  Vikram closed his eyes and finally got control of himself.

  ‘Yes, that is right, I will forget the cake. Maybe you can get me a cup of tea?’

  ‘You think too much about food. Now listen to me. The other day I was watching a detective serial in Sony. There they show the murderer to be the driver of the house. I am sure in this Krishna Dhavala case the driver is the murderer.’

  ‘Is that right? I think you watch too many serials. Leave the detecting work to experts like me,’ he added loftily.

  Veena pounded her knees with her fist. Sometimes she could be as dramatic as Vikram.

  ‘Can’t you see, you fool that in this case I am right? I am sure that the driver is the murderer! The feminine intuition inside me tells me that I am right.’

  ‘Did you call me a fool?’ Vikram said drawing himself up.

  ‘Did you hear what I am saying?’ Veena blazed, her eyes flashing.

  ‘I heard you calling me a fool. I am going to take a shower. If you can kindly make me a cup of tea, I will be much obliged.’ And he stalked off to the bathroom.

  Feeling refreshed after his shower, he came out in a better mood. Veena was waiting with two fresh cups of tea.

  On seeing Veena with the tea, Vikram smiled. ‘Masala Chai ?’

  ‘Oh God, yes!’

  He kissed her and then said, ‘You relax. Today I will make khichree for you.’

  5

  Sonia Sinha and a List of Suspects

  After an early dinner, Vikram felt very sleepy from such a long day. Feeling some satisfaction that he had set the ball rolling, Vikram went to bed. But though he felt tired, he could not sleep. Snatches of conversations from the day’s meetings crowded into his mind.

  When he eventually did fall asleep, Vikram dreamt that Pavel was sinking in quicksand in the marshy lands of Sundarbans, and Kamini was looking at him and laughing hysterically. She was also chanting, ‘Take him, my quicksand. Take him.’ Bilas was also lurking around and then Bilas transformed into a man-eating tiger and attacked Kamini.

  Vikram woke up at this point, his whole body drenched with sweat. He looked at his watch and found that it was already five in the morning. He quickly showered and dressed. He left a note for his wife and went for a walk by the Hussain Sagar. He walked through the Necklace Road at a fast pace and taking an auto, soon reached the nearby Anderson Swimming Club, where he was a member. Within ten minutes of reaching the club he was in the pool. He swam for an hour and then feeling refreshed, he slowly walked back home.

  At 10 am, Vikram was sitting at Inspector Reddy’s desk. Inspector Reddy took him along to the cybercrime department and introduced him to Rajat, a friendly and cheerful-looking young man. Rajat said, ‘Nice to meet you, Vikram. Tell me what I can do for you.’

  Vikram said, ‘I want to understand Krishna’s dealings with young women. I am sure that he used to chat them up on Facebook. Many lecherous middle-aged men tend to use social media for this purpose. So I am thinking that by reviewing his Facebook activities, we might find some more clues regarding his murder.’

  Rajat said, ‘That is a good idea. I can login as Krishna. He saved most of his passwords – so I should be able to open his Facebook account easily.’

  ‘So why did you not check this earlier?’ Vikram asked.

  ‘Cool down, man!’ Rajat exclaimed. The laptop wa
s seized by the Banjara Hills police department. They do not have a cybercrime cell. So they sent it to us. We are overloaded and on top of that two of our key resources are on vacation. But still I am doing my best.’

  ‘The way you work in the police department is moronic. You need to be more proactive.’

  ‘Look Vikram – do not teach us our job. Because you are an ex-colleague, I am going out of my way to help you!’

  Vikram smiled ruefully and said, ‘Yes, you are right. I am sorry. Who am I to judge? But my only point was that we could have looked into Krishna’s facebook account a little bit earlier. But never mind – better late than never.’

  While Vikram waited, Rajat fiddled around with the laptop. Once Krishna’s Facebook page opened, he handed the laptop over to Vikram and said, ‘I am going for a tea. Please look over the account. I will be back soon.’

  Coming back after fifteen minutes he asked, ‘Did you find anything?’

  ‘Yes. I was browsing through his messages. He seemed to be friends with a lot of sleazy girls. Before meeting Sonia, he was friendly with some Urmila Seth. They had exchanged a lot of dirty messages and met a number of times, but the last message that he exchanged was with Sonia Sinha. They planned to meet near Necklace Road MMTS station on June 15th at 8 pm. Now wait a minute – he was found dead on June 16 near Necklace Road MMTS station, was he not?’