He called Inspector Reddy’s extension. ‘Reddy Sir, I have opened Krishna’s Facebook page and in the message section I found that he planned to meet a Sonia Sinha there on the 15th of June, the evening he was killed. I will call you with more details soon. Bye.’
He turned to Rajat excitedly and said ‘Okay, let us now open Sonia Sinha’s page. Can you do that?’
‘Let me try, Vikram.’
While Vikram prowled around impatiently, Rajat fiddled around with the laptop. After half an hour he let out a delighted whoop. ‘Eureka – opened! But wait a minute – this page does not seem to be active – there are no friends in the friend list. She has deleted all the messages from the messenger. She also seems to be studying in NIT Warangal.’
‘Hmm, can we get some more information on this account? Like when was it created, the IP address of the computer from which this account oringinated and who owned that computer?’
‘Sure, Vikram. I will work on this and get back to you. I will update you by the evening.’
‘Now let us have a look at Urmila Seth’s profile.’
Rajat opened up Urmila Seth’s facebook page. ‘Hmm, she seems to be a call girl thinly disguising her activities as a party hostess. Seems to be operating from Jahanuma Area of Old Hyderabad.’
‘This is indeed a breakthrough Rajat – thanks a lot’.
Going over to Inspector Reddy’s desk, Vikram said, ‘I need your help to find out in which women’s hostel Mrs Dhavala was staying. Can you find that for me?’
‘Yes, Sir! I will do as per your command, but may I know why you need all this information?’ Inspector Reddy asked sarcastically.
‘Sir, I will tell you soon – but not right now. I need to check certain facts, and think some more on this before I get back to you. I will be in my office if you need me.’
Inspector Reddy let out a frustrated sigh, ‘The way you use the police team amazes me!’
When Vikram walked into his office, Murli was holding Radha’s hand earnestly explaining something to her. He dropped her hand like hot iron as soon as he saw Vikram. Vikram smiled paternally at both of them. Then asking Radha to send the office boy out for some coffee and sandwiches, Vikram went into his office.
Murli came in after a few minutes. ‘Vikram Sir, business has been a bit slow for the last few days.’
Vikram said, ‘So do one thing - try to find out more about an Urmila Seth. She seems to be a call girl operating from Jahanuma Area. Find out what she knew about Krishna Dhavala.’
Murli nodded his head and went out.
Inspector Reddy called and said, ‘Kamini Dhavala was working at Wonderphone BPO and sharing a room in a PG hostel near Madhapur. I’ve learnt she was initially sharing a room with her old school friend, Janaki.’
‘Yes, she did tell us that she accepted Janaki’s help when she moved away from her husband and was working in Wonderphone BPO. It is quite logical that they would share a room. But I need to think some more on this. I will update you with my progress very soon. By the way. I plan to go down to NIT Warangal tomorrow. Will you like to join me?’
Reddy said, ‘Why do you want to go all the way to Warangal? It’s so far.’
‘Tomorrow being a Monday, all the students will be back. So we can meet Pavel and Madhu’s teachers and friends to get some more information about them. I also intend to look for this Sonia Sinha, though I have doubts about her actual existence.’
‘Okay then, let us start early tomorrow. I will pick you up. I have heard that the early morning drive from Hyderabad to Warangal is very pleasant.’
After finishing his call with Reddy, Vikram sat down on the chair behind his desk, and put his feet up on the table. He started to think about all the people related to the case he had met so far. Most of them did not like Krishna Mohan Dhavala, maybe even hated him. But was that a sufficient motive for murder? Krishna was a land grabber, a murderer, a letch, a wife beater and a violent drunk who was not above blackmailing politicians to further his own agenda. So he had quite a few enemies. But who among them was desperate enough to kill him?
He made a mental list of all possible suspects:
1.Sonia Sinha – Who exactly was this person? Did she really exist?
Opportunity: Had she lured Krishna to the station and killed him or was someone else involved?
Motive: Unless her background was discovered, motive remained a mystery.
2.Vamsi Rao, the politician, whose power Krishna used to safeguard himself.
Opportunity: Vamsi Rao obviously knew of Krishna’s womanising ways and could have used a sex worker to trap and kill him.
Motive: Krishna knew about Vamsi’s past and had been blackmailing him.
3.Mrs Karuna Raju, whose murdered husband had been Krishna’s business partner.
Opportunity: Here Vikram was feeling a bit flummoxed. Mrs Raju was a simple housewife who was not at all computer savvy. She probably did not even know what Facebook was. So how could she have created a fake Facebook profile and used it to lure Krishna to his death?
Motive: Though it was widely acknowledged that Krishna had murdered Raju, his guilt would have never been proven and he would most certainly have gotten away scot-free. Plenty of motive - Vikram thought. Revenge for killing her husband would be a very powerful motive indeed.
4.Pavel Raju, whose father was murdered by Krishna Mohan Dhavala.
Opportunity: He was present in Hyderabad on the day Krishna was murdered when he normally should have been attending classes in NIT Warangal. So he had plenty of opportunity to kill Krishna.
Motive: Same as Mrs Raju’s motive. Maybe the entire family was involved in this killing? But no one in the Raju family seemed the sort who could commit murder. Pavel himself seemed to be a nerdy yet deeply religious person. He was super sensitive and only seemed to crave a peaceful life for himself and his fiancée and mother.
5.Mrs Kamini Dhavala, Krishna’s wife.
Opportunity: Was separated from her husband, but knew his habits and proclivities, so would have been able to trap him easily.
Motive: Was fed up with Krishna’s violence and womanising. But she was already living separately, so why murder him now? She could have easily gotten rid of him when he was hospitalised. Instead she had nursed him and saved his life. Vikram also thought Mrs Dhavala would be hesitant to take such a drastic step as murder, particularly when she had not taken a lover in spite of being separated from Krishna. Given her beauty, Vikram was sure that there would have been no dearth of willing young men had she desired a lover. But as far as he or Inspector Reddy knew, there was no such person in her life. Or was there? What was Bilas’s role in her life? Vikram was sure that Kamini did not have enough work outside of her home to justify employing a full-time driver. Then why did she continue to employ him? And who was paying for Bilas’s expensive clothes and lifestyle?
6.Bilas the driver. Seemed to live well beyond his means. Was a kind of a narcissist and took unusual care of his looks.
Opportunity: Innumerable, as he knew Krishna’s schedule and all his other secrets, and was his constant companion.
Motive: Maybe he was blackmailing Krishna for more money and Krishna threatened to have him killed. But this was a bit farfetched as Bilas was the loyal bodyguard who had been with Krishna for over 15 years and had saved his life. He also said in the interview that he was happy with Krishna. And he was still was working for Kamini Dhavala and seemed to be quite devoted to her. But maybe he wanted to enjoy Krishna’s wealth along with Kamini, and thought that the best way of doing that would be to remove Krishna from their lives forever?
It was eight in the evening. Radha and Murali had already left. As Vikram sat thinking, his cell rang. ‘When will you come home?’ Veena asked. ‘Today Kamala has behaved very well. She played nicely all day long and now after I gave her a bath, she is sleeping peacefully.’
‘Great! What are we having for dinner?’
‘Oh, I am ordering pizza – your favourite cheese bu
rst ones along with chicken wings and choco lava cake. Now I am going to take a bath and we can have a nice quiet evening together.’
Pointing like a gundog, Vikram hurriedly locked the office and drove back home at top speed.
6
NIT Warangal
After an early breakfast, Vikram and Inspector Reddy drove down to Warangal. On the way, he updated Inspector Reddy about recent developments. They left at seven and reached the college by ten and went directly to the Principal’s office. Inspector Reddy showed his badge and introduced himself. He explained the background of Krishna Mohan Dhavala’s murder and that he wanted to learn more about Pavel and Madhusudan. The Principal said that he was personally not involved with these students but introduced them to the hostel Inspector, Mr Bagchi. Mr Bagchi knew them as they were staying in the hostel. Also, after the notoriety of Krishna’s murder, the two had become pretty well-known around the college.
Mr Bagchi took them to his office, where they could talk in private. He was fat and seemed to be a jolly and helpful kind of person.
‘So Mr Bagchi, please tell us something about Pavel. Do you think he is capable of premeditated murder?’
Mr Bagchi said, ‘Pavel is brilliant, works very hard and focuses only on his studies. However in the last month, he has been frequently absent from college. He has not come in even today. But he is really a gentle soul and I cannot imagine him killing anybody. Krishna Mohan Dhavala was stabbed to death, if I remember the news correctly. I think Pavel is incapable of such extreme violence. But I will introduce you to his roommate, Vishy, who can give you further information.’
Vikram nodded in agreement. Mr Bagchi’s assessment tallied with his own impressions. ‘What about Madhusudan?’ he asked.
This time the hostel Inspector mulled over the question before responding. ‘Madhu is a deep one; no one knows exactly what he is thinking. But he is also very hardworking and I think he is very close to his mother. Mrs Kamini Dhavala comes down quite often to meet Madhu and you can easily see that they are quite close to each other.’
‘What about his father?’ Vikram asked.
‘I only saw his father once when he took admission. After that I did not see him. But his mother comes down quite often’
‘Do either of them have a girlfriend?’
Mr Bagchi said, ‘No, at least neither has a girlfriend within the campus. I would not know about their personal life beyond this campus.’
‘By the way, do you know anyone by the name of Sonia Sinha? Is she studying here?’
‘I do not know anything about the girl students, sir. You can meet the administrator. He will know about the female students studying here.’
He then sent for Vishy. Once Vishy came in, he let himself out of the room, citing pressing work.
Inspector Reddy looked at the slightly nervous young man and asked him to take a seat.
He then said, ‘We are investigating the murder of Pavel’s father. I believe that Pavel is your roommate. Can you tell us something about him?’
‘Pavel is normally a very peace-loving and a deeply religious guy. He has photos of Gods and Godessess in his dorm room. He never goes anywhere without touching their feet and saying a small prayer. He also obsessively clean. Particularly he will clean the photos everyday with a special cloth he keeps for this purpose.
‘He was initially ragged for stuttering and being overly religious and overly sensitive. But he can turn quite violent when goaded beyond endurance. I once saw him fly into a rage. He tried to beat up the guy who had insulted him. But he ended up being badly beaten himself. But everyone became slightly wary of him after that.’
‘Did Pavel have a girlfriend?’
‘I believe that he had one. But we have never seen her. Some of us thought that he made up a story about having a girlfriend to sound cooler than he was.
‘Do you know a Sonia Sinha?’
‘Hmm.. interesting name, but I have never heard of her. But why are you asking me about her?’
‘We have reasons to believe that she studied in the college here,’ Inspector Reddy said.
‘Really? I do not think so. I have never come across a Sonia Sinha here.’
When Vishy was asked about Madhu, he said he did not know him at all. After finishing their chat with Vishy, Vikram and Inspector Reddy walked to the administrative building. The administrator was quite cooperative. He took out the register and looked through all the names of the students. But he could not find Sonia Sinha. He also searched into the database but could not find the name.
Inspector Reddy and Vikram looked at each other. After thanking the administrator, they started to walk back towards the visitor car park where they had parked Vikram’s car. Vikram was looking excited. ‘I told you that Sonia Sinha was a fake profile.’
‘Yes Vikram, but then how do we find this Sonia Sinha now?’
‘I am trying to get the IP address and from that, the owner of the machine from which Sonia’s Facebook profile was operated. Once we find that, I think we will have our murderer.’
By the time Vikram and Inspector Reddy arrived back at Vikram’s house, it was already 8 pm and they were famished. They had been so busy interviewing various staff members at the college that they did not have any lunch. ‘Sir, you must have dinner with us today. I had already called Veena and asked her to prepare some good non-vegetarian food for us.’
‘That sounds really good, Vikram. Your invitation is Godsend. My wife and kids have gone to her parent’s place and I do not feel like cooking anything today.’
After a sumptuous dinner of mutton kofta curry and rice, Vikram called up Rajat.
‘Rajat did you get the IP address and the owner?’
‘Yes, Vikram. The IP address is 59.94.87.54 and the owner is a Mrs Janaki Papula.’
‘Oh great job, Rajat. Thank you so much.’ Putting down the phone, he turned to Inspector Reddy excitedly and updated him. ‘Let us now summarize the information we have gathered so far. As you know, this morning I looked into Krishna’s Facebook page and found in Facebook messenger that he was chatting with a Sonia Sinha who planned to meet him on the day he was murdered. They were scheduled to meet near Necklace Road MMTS and that is exactly where his body was found. I think that Sonia Sinha was the murderer who had created the Facebook account and posted the picture of some girl in revealing clothes. Sonia Sinha was a honey trap. This means the murderer was someone who was very well acquainted with Krishna’s weakness for pretty women. We also now know that Sonia Sinha’s profile was created on Janaki’s laptop. Janaki was a good friend of Kamini and also knew Krishna very well. We know that he went to meet Sonia and this explains why he was alone in the car and did not have Bilas with him as usual.’
Inspector Reddy interjected excitedly. ‘Really well done, Vikram! Oh, this is a real breakthrough! At last a common link. Let us go and meet this Janaki first thing tomorrow morning- I am sure that she created this fake profile of Sonia Sinha and that means she must be the killer. But what was the motive?’
Vikram reacted saying, ‘Or it could be that Kamini created that Facebook profile. Remember, they shared a room and she had access to Janaki’s laptop. In fact, Kamini has a hell lot of motive to kill Krishna as she gained the most when Krishna was killed. But we will know more once we meet Janaki tomorrow. Let me drop you back to your home, and tell me as soon as you get any additional information.’ As they walked back towards his car, Reddy said, ‘Be ready by 7 am tomorrow. We will go and arrest her first thing tomorrow morning. Uff…At last a breakthrough. We will grill her thoroughly. Bye, Vikram.’
7
Mrs Janaki Papula
The next day was a Tuesday. Vikram and Reddy arrived at the PG hostel near Madhapur. They asked for the hostel Superintendent, Mrs Arti Rao. She seemed to have been expecting them and upon seeing them exclaimed, ‘Thanks for coming over so fast. The body is in the hall.’
Inspector Reddy and Vikram looked at each other in surprise. Then Inspector Reddy as
ked, ‘What body?’
‘Why, Janaki’s body of course.’ Suddenly she realised something was amiss. “Are you not from the Madhapur Police Station? I called them up regarding Janaki’s accident.’
‘We are from a different police station and had come to meet Janaki. What has happened to her?’
‘Why, Janaki is dead, of course. Hit and run case. I called up the Madhapur Police Station immediately.’ The woman was clearly in a state of shock.
‘Oh no!’ Vikram said despairingly, ‘Did anyone see the car that hit her?’
‘Sir, this is a small lane and quite deserted around midnight when Janaki generally used to return from working her late night shift. A gentleman who had gone for early morning walk found her, discovered my address in her bag and informed me.’
Vikram asked, ‘Did you call her relatives?’ Arti looked a bit harassed. She said, ‘Sir, I have only come to know of this myself, fifteen minutes back. I have informed the police. I am about to call her mother now.’
Vikram said, ‘That is alright. We will personally go and inform her.’
Inspector Reddy asked, ‘What was your impression about Janaki?’
‘Sir, Janaki was a very reserved woman and minded her own business. When she was not working, she returned to her room. She did not encourage friendship with other tenants in the hostel and pretty much kept to herself.’
Vikram asked, ‘Did she have a laptop?’
Arti said, ‘She initially had a laptop in her room. But recently there had been a spate of thefts in the hostel. So we had been advising the inmates not to keep valuables in their rooms. So she had taken the laptop back to her home in Uppal and kept it there.
Vikram Rana Investigates: Tales of Murder and Deception in Hyderabad Page 12