‘You’re wearing a wire?’ Rohan laughed out loud. ‘Come on, Inspector saheb, this isn’t some Bollywood B-grader, where the hero walks up to the villain and casually gets him to confess to his most heinous crimes, then smiles and informs him that his confession has been recorded as he reveals the tiniest of microphones, while 200 police officers swoop in from everywhere and arrest the dumbfounded baddie. In real life, Inspector saheb, words such as entrapment, probable cause and high-priced lawyers exist, so I think you and I both know that this sting operation of yours will not even pass the first hearing in court. So why don’t you take the confession that you’ve just recorded and dump it in the trash can?’ Rohan smirked.
‘Confession? Who said anything about a confession? I wanted only your admittance.’ Hoshiyar smiled and then spoke on the microphone attached to the collar of his shirt, and asked his team to send ‘them’ in. As Hoshiyar said these words, the door to Rohan’s room swung open and in walked Sub-inspector Zagde, accompanied by two familiar faces, Bimal and Rushali, looking very much alive.
‘What the hell is this?’ Rohan exclaimed, visibly jolted by that sight.
‘Come now, Rohan. You must not believe everything you see on television. That little piece of breaking news was aired specifically for your benefit so that you were convinced that your adopted grandparents were really dead. And I must add that it was very sporting of the news channel to give in to our request when we told them that we needed their help in smoking out a killer. In fact, they even put in file footage from some other accident, just to make our story seem more authentic,’ Hoshiyar revealed.
‘I don’t understand. What’s the game you are trying to play?’ Rohan was in total disarray.
‘No game, I assure you, Rohan. Like I said earlier, from their telephone records, we knew that Mr and Mrs Seth were hiding at a farmhouse in Karjat and this information we received yesterday evening itself. Yet, we waited till nightfall to move in on them, by which time all the aspects of this case were known to us. But to put you away for murder, we needed their testimony, which they were unwilling to give, because in spite of everything, they still considered you their grandchild. So the only way I could convince them to testify against you in court was to prove to them, without doubt, that you hated them with all your heart and you were planning to kill them. And this they had to hear from your mouth,’ Hoshiyar said. He then turned to Dr Bimal and asked, ‘Now, will you testify?’
The husband and wife stared at Rohan in silence, their eyes red from lack of sleep, and face devoid of all emotion. Then suddenly, Dr Bimal began to speak, and when he did, the words flowed easily.
‘Rohan overheard us warning Mallika about Nikhil. He heard the whole story of Green Manor. After he killed Nikhil, he told us what he had done and showed us the Dreamer’s Dust that he had later found in Nikhil’s room, along with Nikhil’s laptop which contained the mail Nikhil sent ordering that drug. He broke down saying he was only trying to protect his mother, but had failed. He said that Nikhil deserved what he got, and at that point in time we were so angry at what that lunatic had done to Mallika that we agreed with Rohan and decided to protect him. It was I who told him about Tiwari’s outburst at Ishan’s farmhouse. I told Rohan that both Rushali and I had tried to talk him out of pursuing the matter, but he did not relent. I asked Rohan to keep a low profile and be discreet until the matter cooled down, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that he would go ahead and kill Tiwari. And when I confronted him about it, he said he had broken into his house to speak with him, but Tiwari attacked him and he killed him in self-defence, which was obviously a lie. He didn’t tell us anything about killing detective Mule and neither did he say that he was planning to fake an attempt on his own life. And when we asked him why he had pulled that stunt at Priya Bungalow, he told us it was only to throw the police off his scent and then he insisted that we leave for the Karjat farmhouse immediately so that the police could not question us.’
‘He was obviously setting the two of you up to be his next victims. He knew he couldn’t kill you where you lived, because your house had excellent security along with CCTV cameras, so he sent you to a remote, isolated place, not very far from Mumbai, which would have enabled him to slip out of the hospital at night, kill the two of you and be back before daybreak,’ Hoshiyar revealed.
‘He gave us Nikhil’s laptop to dispose of along the way to the farmhouse. He said it contained the messages he had sent himself, to make the police believe that someone had planned long and hard to kill him. He told us to toss it down some cliff. But we didn’t. I don’t know why, but we didn’t,’ Rushali said, as her voice trailed off.
‘The recovery of the laptop will only make the case against him stronger. Take him away,’ Hoshiyar turned to Zagde and said.
As Rohan was handcuffed and helped on to his feet, he looked at Hoshiyar one last time, then smiled in a peculiar way. ‘Tell me, Inspector saheb, in a Bollywood-obsessed country, where movie stars get away with murder, how long do you think the son of two superstars will get in jail? Five, maybe seven years at the most? Because, irrespective of how many people I have killed, the common man will always say, he did it for his mother. And who knows, they might even make a film on my life, and when I get out, I might become a reality TV star, because people’s sensibilities are so warped these days that murder is considered entertainment and those who entertain are superstars,’ said Rohan defiantly, as Zagde led him away, with the doctor couple following close behind. Hoshiyar chose not to join them just as yet. Instead, he stepped out into the adjoining balcony and gazed at the Arabian Sea. Although the good inspector had solved the case of the Bollywood murders, his mind was not at peace. Perhaps because he knew that in a Bollywood- obsessed country with movie-star dreams and warped sensibilities, whatever Manjeet, alias Rohan, had said, was a distinct possibility, for as they say in tinsel town, ‘Picture abhi baki hai, mere dost . . .’
Acknowledgements
A big thank you to the mad mad world of Bollywood. You are indeed my biggest joy and the root of all my maladies.
THE BEGINNING
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Murder in Bollywood Page 18