Sinner's Game: Karma will chase!

by Sandeep Sharma

Himanshu gave a cursory smile back and said, ‘Yes today I need a smoke! ’

  ‘So your favorite brand, Benson & Hedges?’

  ‘Yes what else and give me some mouth freshener as well. Just give me only one cigarette’

  The shopkeeper handed him mint along with the cigarette.

  Himanshu immediately handed money to the shopkeeper. Without bothering about taking change back, he quickly lit his cigarette and headed back to his car.

  Himanshu drove back with one hand on the steering wheel and cigarette in the other. The roads were empty. The heady rush of nicotine gave him a sense of freedom and power. He drove fast on the largely empty roads.

  The phone buzzed with a new WhatsApp notification. He did not bother to check the phone and missed the last message in ‘The Final Destination’ group.

  As he was about to turn right into the lane of his society, he noticed a truck in the wrong lane. Cursing the driver he slowed down, and pressed the brakes to let the truck go. That was when he noticed that the truck was heading straight towards his car. His quickly moved his steering to the left but could not avoid the incoming truck. He dropped the cigarette on his lap and his last thoughts were about his empty life, guilt for his affairs and the mistreatment of his wife, Aditi. It was too late to change now. Himanshu died on the spot.

  A bystander had informed the police about the accident. There were no eyewitness and nobody saw the driver of the truck. The police tracked Himanshu’s address and informed his society office. The Society manager called Aditi and informed her about the accident. As the news spread in the society, and since Aditi was in a state of shock, one of their neighbors called his office to inform them.

  By then, Vibhor had finally seen Himanshu’s multiple missed calls and his message. He read Himanshu’s message and called him. The police inspector, Ramesh, who had Himanshu’s phone, answered the call.

  ‘Hello Himanshu I just saw your message.’

  ‘Vibhor Ji. I am Sub Inspector Ramesh. Sorry to inform you but Himanshu has died in a car accident.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We are taking the body to Civil Lines hospital. If you want more details you can meet me there.’

  Vibhor was too shocked to hear this and did not know how to react.

  Many employees of Hailthy headed straight for his home for condolences. Monika called Akshay and informed him about the accident. Akshay was quite shocked with this second death in his office. As he grappled with the news, Vibhor called him,

  ‘Akshay sir you must have heard about Himanshu’s accident. I have something to share with you about this accident.’

  Akshay quickly said, ‘Yes we are all sad about this loss. If it is about Priya’s accident, then may be this is not the right time.’

  ‘No sir this is about Himanshu. I had met him after meeting you but he decided not to discuss anything with me. I found that odd as he was very close to Priya. Himanshu was married and was having an affair with Priya.’

  ‘Vibhor this is not the time to discuss office affairs. Get to the point.’

  ‘Himanshu had hidden his marital status with the office employees. You can check it yourself in the company’s records.’

  ‘Fine but what has that got to do with the accident?’

  ‘Sir, a few weeks after our meeting, Himanshu tried to contact me but I ignored him. He had tried to call me but I ignored his calls even today as I was pissed with his lack of support for Priya. He had sent me few messages. I read them just now and returned the call. It all adds up now. Someone was after them because of their affair.’

  Akshay was speechless and felt short of breath once again. Vibhor, let us meet and discuss this in person.’

  ‘Sure sir whenever you get free please call me.’

  After this conversation, Akshay became very tense. He called Tanuja to his room.

  When Tanuja entered his cabin, Akshay was standing by the window and looking outside.

  ‘Akshay do you want to come along to Himanshu’s home with us? We all are going together and I was about to leave.’

  Akshay turned towards her and walked to his seat. Tanuja asked, ‘Something wrong? You look so tense. I know it’s a tragic moment for all of us.’

  Akshay narrated his conversation with Vibhor to her. Tanuja listened to everything with full attention, and was anxious by the time he finished.

  Akshay finished his narration and looked at Tanuja. Tanuja anxiously asked, ‘What do we do now? How was your meeting with your IT friend? You never told me anything about it. I don’t know what to think about…..all of this. We need to…..’ She could not finish her sentences and started crying.

  ‘Tanuja, you need to calm down. I met my friend and he will help me. He found something wrong with my phone and is trying to find source of all these messages. Let me meet him again today.’

  ‘It is no more about WhatsApp messages. I am worried about the pattern. First Priya and then after a month Himanshu dies. Don’t you think that we are in a similar situation?’

  ‘That is precisely my point. Vineet is already helping us and other than that, I can only think of meeting Vibhor, Priya’s brother.’ said Akshay.

  Tanuja panicked and asked, ‘And reveal our relationship to him? Have you lost basic common sense?’ Before Akshay said anything, she quickly realized her harsh words. She continued, ‘I am sorry for what I said. I have my whole life ahead of me and I do not want to end up like Priya or Himanshu. Please think of something fast.’ Saying which she left the cabin.

  Instead of going with the office team, Akshay went home and asked Garima to join him for the condolences. Garima was surprised to see him early but read his tense expression.

  ‘What happened? Why are you looking so tense?’

  ‘One of our employees, Himanshu died today in an accident and we need to go to his home to offer our condolences. Please get ready. I am not comfortable meeting his family as I hardly know them.’

  ‘Oh my God! Just a month back Priya died and now Himanshu. How did he die?’

  ‘This is the sad part. He also died in a car accident. We do not know too many details at this point.’

  ‘I will get ready. Let’s go.’

  By the time Akshay reached for condolences, Himanshu’s parents had also reached. All employees were shocked to see Aditi and her son. Himanshu had hidden his marital status with everyone in the office. Akshay now knew about Aditi and went to meet her. Nothing came out of the postmortem. After completing the paperwork, Himanshu’s family decided to do cremation and related ceremonies in their home town.

  After Himanshu’s funeral, Aditi became reclusive and mourned for few days. She decided to leave her job and returned to her home town with her son.

  Vibhor called Aditi after few days but got very lukewarm response on his theory. Aditi had no interest in the link between WhatsApp messages and Himanshu’s death. For her this was a new beginning.

  The Evidence

  Vibhor didn’t know Aditi before Himanshu’s death. Vibhor and Akshay met again, few days after Himanshu’s death and Vibhor shared his plan of action. Akshay was quite supportive this time and returned Priya’s phone to Vibhor. With messages connected to Himanshu’s death, Vibhor now had more data to share with the police. He wanted them to reopen file for Priya’s investigation ASAP and went to meet Pradeep at the police station. Pradeep remembered Vibhor but was not in a mood to entertain him. This time he made him wait even longer. Vibhor had all the time in the world to wait for his turn.

  Pradeep finally called him and asked, ‘What brings you here again? The case has been closed now.’

  ‘Last time when I met you, I had no evidence for Priya’s case. Now her friend Himanshu recently died under similar circumstances.’

  ‘Who is Himanshu? I don’t have any complaint related to Himanshu. That must be a different police station so go and talk there.’

  ‘I have something to show you now; please look at these messages in Priya’s phone. I will also show you messag
es sent by Himanshu to me.’

  Pradeep took Priya’s phone from Vibhor and read her WhatsApp messages. After reading the messages he asked, ‘Who was sending these messages to her? Why did she join this group?’

  ‘Sir I don’t know who was sending these messages to her but there is some link between these messages and her death.

  ‘And you call this as evidence? I don’t have time for this bullshit. Any motive?’

  ‘Sir please look at these messages from Himanshu’s phone and get details of his accident. Both accidents are quite similar. If possible, please ask your counterpart to get Himanshu’s phone as well. Priya and Himanshu were together.’

  ‘Together?’

  ‘I mean Himanshu was Priya’s boyfriend.’

  ‘Ok show me your phone. Let me see the messages.’

  Pradeep read the last message sent to Vibhor by Himanshu and thought for a while. ‘Even if I believe you, I can’t take any action. There is no person to chase and there is no motive. How will I find the owner of this WhatsApp group?’

  ‘Two people in a relationship have died and the date of death coincides with the last message they have received in the WhatsApp group. There is some link for sure Sir. There could be a bigger scam going on to scare people for extortion.’

  Pradeep replied, ‘Ok, deposit Priya’s phone here as evidence and tell me the area of Himanshu’s death. I will contact the local police station.’

  ‘Himanshu died in South Extension, New Delhi.’

  ‘I will contact the SHO of the South Extension police station and get all the details. I must tell you that such things take time. Only the Cybercrime cell can solve such cases. We do not have technology to understand source of WhatsApp messages.’

  Vibhor was delighted, ‘Sure sir, Thanks a lot! I will leave Priya’s phone here with you. Please let me know other formalities.’

  After Vibhor left, Pradeep contacted the SHO South Extension, Harpal Singh. Harpal picked his phone and said, ‘Harpal Singh here. Who is this?’

  Pradeep introduced himself, ‘This is Inspector, Pradeep from Sushant Lok, Gurgaon.’

  ‘Hi Pradeep How can I help you?’

  ‘This is related to an ongoing investigation for an accidental death in Gurgaon. There is similar case in your area under the name Himanshu. He died in a car accident recently.’

  Pradeep narrated the sequence of events leading to Priya’s death along with details of his recent interaction with Vibhor.’

  After listening to the details of Pradeep’s interaction with Vibhor, Harpal said, ‘Yes we also have a similar case here but there is not enough evidence to take this forward. You know how things are. If you want to spend time, I can arrange Himanshu’s phone for you. Frankly, I have too much on my plate right now. If you are convinced, better take this to Cybercrime Dwarka.’

  ‘Harpal I told Vibhor the same thing but he is adamant now. I am also busy these days and because of upcoming elections, police force is extra busy here. If Vibhor calls me, I will tell him that the file is with Cybercrime. Thanks Harpal!’

  ‘Sounds good to me. Ok Pradeep. Bye.’

  The Karma Link

  Himanshu’s death had left a deep imprint on Akshay. This was a cruel end to a young person’s life. He was now worried about his own life now and decided to meet Vineet again. They met at a bar in Cyber Hub a day later.

  ‘Vineet, how are you? I hope you have some good news for me. My life is not looking under control anymore. I am extremely tense. Let’s order drinks. What will you have?’

  ‘It is too early for me Akshay but I don’t mind a beer.’

  After the order was placed, Vineet said, ‘Yeah there is some progress; I could trace similar requests to a single IP. This IP belongs to a company called Yama Shama Pvt Ltd. Someone named Vyom is its owner. We can go to police and expose these activities but looking at speed of Cyber Crime investigation, I would not recommend it.’

  ‘What? The name itself is quite weird and now they are doing all this stuff in a place like Gurgaon! Let me think about what to do with Vyom.’

  In reality, Akshay did not want Vineet to investigate this any further and decided to do this on his own. He did not want to risk exposing his relationship with Tanuja at any cost. Akshay was not aware of the investigation being done by Vyom on Garima’s behalf.

  ‘Cheers to the progress! Thanks Vineet! We now have a name to pursue!’ Akshay said as they started drinking.

  ‘Cheers to a good life and happiness.’

  Akshay said, ‘I think I will involve a good friend of mine in CBI for the same. He had helped me in the past too. We need to find the culprit behind all this.’

  ‘Sure, Akshay, If you want my help, I can tap my network as well. You should dump this number and also buy a new phone. Just change everything. Be very careful with unknown links. Many people have lost a lot of money and information in such phishing attacks.’

  ‘Sure Vineet. Makes sense.’

  After this meeting, Akshay researched on his own and discovered that Yama Shama Pvt Ltd was a company involved in investigations and detective work. He called the company for an appointment with Vyom. The receptionist connected him to Vyom, who agreed to meet him at his office.

  Vyom recognized Akshay as he had tracked both Akshay and Tanuja in the Mumbai hotel. However, Vyom was not sure about reason of this visit so he decided to listen to Akshay first.

  Vyom said, ‘how can we help you, Akshay?’

  ‘Hi Vyom! Can we discuss this in private?’

  ‘Sure Akshay let’s go inside to our boardroom. Would you like tea or coffee?’

  ‘No thanks! A glass of water would be fine.’

  ‘What brings you here?’

  ‘I am the founder and CEO of Hailthy. Recently two of our employees have died in separate accidents.’

  ‘So sorry to hear that! My condolences to their families. Please go on.’

  ‘First Priya died in a freak accident during our office party last month and some days back Himanshu also died in a similar accident near his home.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘What is strange is that they were both part of a WhatsApp group called ‘The Final Destination Group’ and were receiving similar messages related to Karma, sins and something related to the final destination. It is tough to explain but I can show the messages to you.’

  ‘Sure but how is this connected to me? Do you want me to investigate this?’

  ‘Yes and no. My friend Vineet is a specialist in network security and a tech wizard. Someone from your company is involved in all this.’

  ‘How could that be possible? We are not in this business of harassing people or anything like that. I run a well renowned detective agency.’

  Akshay showed him the IP address on his phone. ‘Is this not your company’s IP address?’

  Vyom looked at the IP address and said, ‘Let me check it right away.’

  It took Vyom few minutes to ping his servers and realized that Akshay was right. The IP belonged to his company.

  ‘Akshay, I think you are right this is our IP address. We will definitely investigate this incident but I need some time for that. I would also like to meet your friend Vineet in our next meeting to understand this better. We undertake various assignments for our clients but there is no reason for us to send frivolous messages to anyone.’

  Akshay then showed his WhatsApp messages to Vyom.

  Vyom looked at them and said, ‘These messages are surely irritating and also alarming. I would say once again that these are not from us. I do not know how your friend tracked these messages to our company’s IP. I will definitely investigate this with help of my IT team. You can leave your number with me and I will get back to you on this soon.’

  ‘This is a serious matter Vyom. I could have easily gone to police but that would have caused you more pain. If I link these messages to the death of Priya and Himanshu then the police would be more than happy to investigate. It would be better if we can resolve this w
ith your cooperation.’

  ‘You do not have to worry at all, Akshay; I will take care of this. If this is linked to our office in any way I will trace the culprit.’

  After Akshay left, Vyom got curious about the messages that Akshay had shown to him. He immediately went to his server room to check its IP address. There was a perfect match and someone had sent these messages sent from his office servers. He looked at the server log and all the messages had originated from his new server where he had installed software for hacking WhatsApp messages. He had not shared password of this server with anyone else in his office.

  He logged into the server and opened the software that he had illegally purchased from the dark web. He went to the menu and looked at the link for the connected devices. There were hundreds of devices now connected to the software. There was no option to disconnect these devices. His only option was to shut down the server to avoid any future messages. He was regretting buying the software from the dark web.

  Vyom wondered, ‘How is all of this happening? The software clearly has its own intelligence and this TFD never shared anything related to this. What can I do? I can’t sue anyone selling in the dark web as my purchase itself was not legal. In any case, who would listen to me? I hope that it is possible to stop these messages without causing any more harm to others.’

  There was no search feature for tracking the activities of the software but he was sure that machine had already caused enough damage and he had to contain it fast. He quickly disconnected internet connection to the computer and initiated the shutdown.

  What Vyom did not know was that the software had already replicated itself in all of all of his office computers.

  It was then Vyom remembered that he had not updated Garima about the progress in her case. Vyom called her, ‘Garima I need to update you on the progress of your case. Can we meet in the evening at my office?’

  ‘Sure Vyom let’s not talk on the phone about this. I will meet you at your office around 7:00 pm. Most of your staff would have left by then and I will be more comfortable.’

  ‘I am fine with any time. See you then.’