by Ravi Dabral
Seema was not affected by the apology and simply told me to stop acting. She further said that at present we should only concentrate on solving Suraj’s murder case. “Maybe, time will heal the breach in our relationship.” With this, she exited saying that as soon as she had the IMEI and sim card details, she would contact me.
As I stood there in the fading evening light, I vowed to myself, “One day I will prove my true love for you.”
Five days of constant vigil finally gave Seema the opportunity to copy the IMEI and sim card details from the editor’s mobile. She called me over to Doon Café and handed over a slip of paper with the details. Armed with the details, I contacted Arun. I also told Seema that now I would arrange a meeting with the editor Mr. Mishra, and meanwhile, with the help of Arun, I would duplicate his mobile sim. Then we would be able to track the editor’s calls and messages.
Next day as per the appointment, I went to the editor’s office in my police uniform. After initial greetings and queries about the welfare of the family, the editor congratulated me on my appointment as a police inspector. He then asked, “Vijay, what brings you here?”
I said, “Sir, I have a strong doubt that Suraj did not lose his life in an accident, but that it was a planned murder.”
The editor was shocked to hear this revelation but stayed calm outwardly. He controlled his emotions, and asked, “On what basis are you thinking so, and why are these thoughts coming into your mind suddenly?”
I told him that while I was shifting to another house, I came across certain evidence, which has prompted the reopening of the case. I said, “As you were Suraj’s boss, I thought maybe you could throw some light on this as Suraj might have told you about his findings.”
Mr. Mishra replied in the negative, saying that it must have been an independent news story of Suraj against the criminals, which must have still been in the investigative stage, and that he had no idea about that news story. But at the same time, he was all supportive of my efforts and whole-heartedly condemned such killing. He added “Suraj was like my younger brother and one of our talented journalists. If this was murder, then the truth should come out, and the accused should be punished.”
He then asked me to keep him posted on any further developments in the case.
After taking leave of him, I immediately apprised Seema and Arun about what had transpired during the meeting. I added that the editor had shown no discomfort outwardly.
As expected, I got a call from Arun within the hour, informing me that Mr. Mishra had made calls to three people to update them about the circumstances. Realising the danger of talking on the phone, a meeting had been fixed at a nightclub for 8:00 p.m. that evening.
14
The Conspirators
T he meeting between the quartet, the editor Mr. Anand Mishra, politician Mr. Kamal Kishor Rawat, businessman Mr. Devdhar Thapar and ACP Mohammad Nasim Siddique was held in a private room of a prominent nightclub. Being one of the owners, the politician had no problem in getting it booked at short notice. Once they were comfortable and had all their requirements fulfilled, they told the manager that they were not to be disturbed and began their meeting.
I was prepared for a similar situation, so I had come to the club an hour earlier. With the help of a waiter to whom I had given some incentive, I had hidden a microphone with a camera connected to Wifi in that private room to record everything on a mobile app on my smartphone.
I could, therefore, see the video and also hear the conversation. The first person to speak was the editor who said, “Suraj’s brother, Vijay, is investigating Suraj’s murder. This is why I had to call an urgent meeting.”
The politician said, “Mr. Mishra, you are worrying unnecessarily. Suraj was murdered without leaving any clues. It was a perfect murder.”
Having my suspicion proved brought tears to my eyes. Even Seema who had reached by now was moved. But soon my tears gave way to burning anger.
The businessman spoke for the first time, saying, “We still need to be cautious as Vijay is now a police officer and has the support of the investigative and legal machinery.”
The ACP butted in with his comments, “Whenever there is a murder, you need to find the motive, body and the murder weapon. Without these, no court of law will consider the case.”
I was so full of anger that I wanted to burst into the private room and shoot them all with my service revolver, thus ending the case once and for all. Seema managed to cool me down, reminding me of Guruji’s advice on using smart ways to investigate which included not taking the law into one’s own hands.
The politician spoke again in a disrespectful way calling Suraj an ant who thought of fighting an elephant. He said, “He challenged our business empire, forgetting that if he plays with fire, he will be burnt.”
He further said, “Thanks to the timely intervention of the editor and Sanjay, they had been able to counter every move made by Suraj. Otherwise, he would have gone to a news channel run by the opposition. Though Suraj suspected the editor, he had full faith in Sanjay, so he kept on confiding in him about his future plans, which kept us a step ahead of Suraj.”
Seema and I stood there completely shocked! We could not believe our ears. Sanjay who was a friend, and like a brother to Suraj, was a part of the conspiracy to take Suraj’s life!
The politician said, “Now Vijay is investigating this murder case. Poor guy, his fate is going to be similar to that of Suraj.”
On the other hand, Mr. Thapar requested the ACP to curb the investigation using his influence, but the ACP said, “There is no need to worry. Let him run around trying to find evidence for his satisfaction. In trying to curb him, we will raise suspicions. The best way to handle it is to stay unaffected.”
Mr. Mishra advised everyone to be careful on Sanjay’s front. He said, “He is a slippery eel and cannot be trusted blindly. We need to be wary of him.”
The politician gave an ultimatum, “For the time being, don’t tell him anything but keep a watch on him, and in case he looks like causing trouble, he should be eliminated too.”
From here on, the tone of their conversation took on a lighter note. With decisions taken, they seemed to relax, and the conversation shifted to other topics such as the upcoming elections and strategies to be implemented, tricks and tactics to con the voters, the rumours to be aired on news channels about opposition leaders, gossip on their illicit relationships and how to keep their illegal businesses and other activities flourishing.
That night was one of the darkest ones for me. I could not sleep a wink thinking of the conspiracy to silence an honest journalist and Sanjay’s role in it. Sanjay’s involvement was the information that haunted me most. As soon as the first gleam of morning light was visible, I called Seema and said, “I have to confront Sanjay and get the details of the conspiracy.” Seema agreed with me but told me that Sanjay could be a hard nut to crack. One needed to act tactfully to extract any information from him.
In the morning, the first stop that I made after leaving my police quarters was at Sanjay’s house. Luckily, Sanjay was still at home. He pleasantly asked, “What a surprise! Since the last meeting, no phone call, no news, and now you suddenly pop up. Is everything fine?”
Controlling my emotions and anger, I replied in a very soft tone that things were fine in the workplace, but that I was missing Suraj a lot. Sanjay hugged me warmly and said, “Consider me in place of Suraj. Whenever you miss Suraj come to my home. He was a constant source of inspiration for me. His ethical values help control my obstinate behaviour.”
I poured out my heart as I told Sanjay that I liked Seema a lot and could not imagine life without her. I told him that I needed his help to convince Seema’s father of my honourable intentions. Sanjay became emotional and hugged me again and said it was a privilege to be given Suraj’s role to him, as an elder brother. He further asked me when I would like him to accompany me to Seema’s house. My eagerness was apparent as I said, “Right now, I don’t want to
wait anymore as I now have a decent job as well as an official accommodation.”
Sanjay smiled and asked for some time to freshen up.
Within ten minutes, Sanjay was back, suitably attired, in a suit and tie. We went on my motorbike to a farmhouse outside the city limits. Sanjay asked in a surprised tone, “Prof. Bhatt lives outside city limits? I thought he lived in Vasant Vihar.”
I responded by telling him that though his main residence is in the city, he has an ancestral farmhouse here which he visits from time to time. Sanjay was impressed by Prof. Bhatt’s wealth and jokingly said, “Even I am looking for such a rich girl, but have had no luck till now.”
On reaching the farmhouse, I requested Sanjay to make himself comfortable as Prof. Bhatt and Seema would be arriving in a few moments. They had gone on a round of the farmhouse. As Sanjay sat in the drawing room, he looked at the furniture and other antiques, mentally putting a price tag on all the items. He must have envied the life led by rich people. While Sanjay was observing his surroundings, Seema also reached the farmhouse.
Quickly, within a fraction of a second, without giving Sanjay a chance to react on the absence of Prof. Bhatt, I picked up a rope kept handy and tied Sanjay’s hands and feet tightly to the armchair on which he was relaxing. Sanjay was enraged and started shouting, “What are you doing? Why are you treating me this way? Where have you brought me?”
Angrily I asked him, “Why did you kill Suraj? Tell me why? You were his best friend. He had a closer relationship with you than with me.”
Sanjay was shocked and surprised! He said, “Have you gone mad? How can you even think of such a stupid thing, which is unimaginable to me? Somebody has been feeding you lies, and like a fool, you have believed them instead of asking me for clarification.”
Seema stepped in and told Sanjay to calm down. She told him to watch a video recording which we were going to show him and then he could say whatever he wanted to, in his defence. After this, Seema played the video recording taken at the nightclub the previous night. Sanjay still tried to pretend ignorance by saying that his name had been taken intentionally to derail our investigation. He had no role in this conspiracy.
By this time, I had lost all patience, and I told Sanjay to come clean, or I was not against using third-degree interrogation tactics of the police force. I also told him that as it was not a police station, I was under no obligation to follow the laws, nor would Sanjay be allowed to call a slick lawyer, who could extract him from this sticky situation.
“At present, I have murder on my head, and I want to assassinate all the five conspirators,” I said. “You are going to be the first one among the lot.”
15
Backstabbing
S oon Sanjay realised that I was in a fit of rage, and as I had a service revolver attached to my belt, I could act on my threat without giving a second thought. He started speaking, “Suraj and I got our qualifications from the same college. We even joined the same news channel. But Suraj, because of his hard work, sincerity, ethical values, and helpful nature got praised more. His investigative journalism skills soon earned him a promotion, while I was chosen to assist him. This gave rise to jealousy in my mind.”
Sanjay continued saying, “Suraj had no idea of this jealousy or enmity; he continued treating me as his best friend and confided in me on all matters. Suraj and I had done a series of sting operations to denude some hotshot names involved in drug dealings and human trafficking, but our editor Mr. Mishra was not giving due weightage to our efforts. I saw this as a golden opportunity. I supported Suraj in giving the information to another news channel, and I went behind his back to Mr. Mishra and informed him about Suraj’s intentions.”
Extreme hatred filled Seema’s eyes and mine too, as we heard Sanjay narrate his actions. I was keeping my anger under control with great difficulty; in fact, it was the presence of Seema that kept me sane.
Seema asked, “But what was your main motive, just jealousy or something else?”
Sanjay concluded by saying, “I had a twin motive. One, removal of Suraj would land me the post of the senior-most journalist on the channel, and secondly, I would have had my revenge.”
I was astounded and asked, “Revenge for what? Suraj never ill-treated you.”
Sanjay started laughing like a crazy person as he said, “I loved Anjali. Yes Seema, I am talking about your elder sister. I had asked Suraj to help me in my mission.”
As both of us were already aware of this fact after reading Suraj’s diary, Seema said, “But she refused your proposal.”
Sanjay kept laughing like a maniac, “Your knowledge is confined to Suraj’s diaries, but that is half the truth as I never told the other half to Suraj.”
Our curiosity aroused, we asked Sanjay, “Which half are you talking about?”
Sanjay said, “I was greatly disturbed by Anjali’s rejection and asked my contact Renu to at least give me a reason for the rejection. Renu contacted me a couple of days later to inform me that Anjali already loved someone and could not replace that person’s image in her mind. Hearing this, my anger increased ten-fold as did my jealousy. I wanted to know the name of the person who was responsible for crushing my dreams. When I came to know the truth, it was all the more devastating as it turned out that Anjali loved Suraj.”
Seema and I were both astounded at this revelation. Though Anjali and Seema had been very close right from childhood, this was one aspect of her life that she had never disclosed even to Seema.
Sanjay further said, “After this revelation from Renu, I realised Suraj betrayed me because of his silent love for Anjali, and that was why he was not helping me. Renu requested me not to reveal this secret to anyone as Anjali’s attraction was one-sided, and Anjali realised that with all the commitments and values, Suraj would not even think about such personal commitments before getting settled in life. Also, she was focussed on her career and did not want any disturbance before completion of her studies.”
“This only served as a slap on my face,” said Sanjay. “Here was I trying to impress her with my physical build and personality, as I firmly believed that showing off these features influences the opposite sex. But Anjali had lost her heart to Suraj for his inner beauty, bloody ethics, values, sanskar, and control over his desires. I thought that the best way to take revenge on Suraj was never to tell him that Anjali loved him. If I did not get Anjali’s love, neither would Suraj. I was not about to provide them with the joy of getting to know that the love arrow of Cupid had pierced both their hearts.”
Seema looked at him, her face full of hatred, “I really hate you Sanjay. You had a sincere and good friend in Suraj. Instead of taking a leaf from his book and improving your virtues and abilities, you made friends with the devil and became a partner in crime.”
Sanjay tried to justify his behaviour by saying, “There is a rule of human nature that in some people virtues are predominant and in others vices. The devil inside me forced me to be jealous of Suraj. The Anjali episode only added fuel to the fire. This was compounded when both of us joined the same news channel, and Suraj was promoted. It’s not me, but the devil inside me that killed Suraj.”
I asked, “What happened next?”
Sanjay said, “Once I had told Mr. Mishra everything, that Suraj was planning to give the CDs to a rival media house, it was no longer a secret, as they were all part and parcel of the same nexus. Very soon the news was shared by Mr. Mishra with the politician Mr. Rawat, businessman Mr. Thapar, and ACP Siddique. I had no idea of the gravity of the situation or the problem I was exposing Suraj to.
Mr. Mishra was nothing but a tout of the media company owner. His role was to forewarn these people about any breaking news and sting operations against them. To survive in the cut-throat business of media, it is essential to be in the good books of ruling party politicians.”
I asked Sanjay, “Now please stop beating around the bush and describe the events as they unfolded.”
16
Angel
and Devil inside Us
S anjay unfolded the events and said, “A game plan was made, and Mr. Mishra apologised to Suraj about his reaction in the previous meeting. Suraj thought that my intervention on his behalf had resolved the issue. During the meeting, Suraj was served juice in which a sleeping tablet had been dissolved, and he became unconscious after drinking it. In this state, from the back door of the editor’s room, he was transferred to the nightclub in the ACP’s police car. We tied both his hands and legs to the back of the chair. The moment he woke up everyone in their own way started threatening him and asking him to hand over the original set of sting operation CDs.
The shock on Suraj’s face made me smile as he said, ‘You too, Sanjay! You are a part of this nexus! I had already started suspecting Mr. Mishra, but you are my best friend.’ I gave an evil smile and said, ‘Good friends are tested only when there is a trouble situation. Other times, friendship is just for fun. You are under a misconception. I was never your friend. I considered you my nemesis. For big achievements in this materialistic world, one has to take shortcuts, I have done just that.’ The look on Suraj’s face said more than any words could have expressed. He was deeply hurt.
In spite of continuous grilling and even being beaten by us, Suraj refused to divulge where the original CDs were hidden. I told them ‘Suraj is an adamant person. His morals, values, and virtues are like shields for him. He is not going to reveal anything.’
After a lot of discussion, it was decided that we had no option but to end Suraj’s life and thus end all fear of exposure along with it. I rejoiced at this opportunity of being free of my enemy.