by UD Yasha
Dr. Barve continued. ‘Wherever this pollen was found is a ripe place for worms. I noticed their faeces on it.’
‘Where do you normally find them?’
‘Mostly on lands undisturbed by humans. And yes, they are normally found underground.’
Deserted area and underground. I did not like the sound of that. I imagined the pollen to have been buried at a place far away.
‘And this isn’t the analysis on the pollen grain,’ Dr. Barve said. ‘This is just what I found on it. I’ll be able to give you the exact location once I get a match for it against a recorded sample.’
‘Can you tell how old the faeces of the worm are?’
‘I found both old and new samples. I’d say the pollen has been from where it was picked for at least a year.’
‘Alright, thanks,’ I said and hung up.
I returned inside, thinking about the innumerable places that could fit Dr. Barve's findings. Zakkal had given the pollen for a specific reason. He was directing us to some place through the pollen so he expected us to find it. I reckoned it was only a matter of time before Dr. Barve found the place. Something buried…wondering what it could be, gave me chills. I reminded myself that what Zakkal wanted us to find did not have to be buried and that just the pollen was buried.
I wondered who Dhruv Kataria could have passed the pollen grain to. He could not have met Zakkal on his own. The other possibilities I had thought of earlier came to my mind. Either it had to be routed to Zakkal through someone who was already in jail or he would have had to leave it in an area where Zakkal was allowed.
I called Rathod.
‘What places is Zakkal allowed to visit in Yerwada?’ I said.
‘Just two. His cell where he spends most of his time and an open area within the jail premises where he is allowed to get sunlight once a week for ten minutes.’
‘Is he alone then?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did Dhruv Kataria get the access to the same open area?’
‘Yes. All violent inmates are. They are let out individually.’
‘How often?’
‘Every day.'
Silence.
‘The most violent ones are allowed in once a week.’
‘At the same time as the others?’
‘No. They have separate times.’’
‘How is the security there?’
‘Tight. But fights still break out. The guards break it and detain the participants according to their role in it.’
‘I want to know if there’s a possibility that Kataria left the pollen behind and then Zakkal picked it up.’
‘I cannot deny the possibility.’
‘Is the area searched regularly?’
‘Technically, it is monitored every second anyone is out. But with more than a hundred inmates present at the same time, it can get tricky.'
‘What about afterwards?’
‘It is supposed to be cleaned.’
‘But it doesn’t always happen.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Just like there aren’t enough doctors or hospitals in India, there aren’t enough guards to man the jails. Both are problems present across the world.’
I had got my answer. ‘One quick question. Who all did Zakkal meet in the jail during the past six months?’
‘I’ll send you a list after getting it from Warden Shetty right away. The ACP is putting pressure on him to cooperate as possible murders happening under his watch along with a murder communicating with a serial killer from his prison are not the certificates he wants against his name.’
‘Thanks,’ I said and hung up.
I returned to the dining table to join Rahul in continuing our effort to read letters. My mind remained distracted. I tried to fight through it and concentrate but I gave up after half an hour. It was almost seven and the sun had set. My phone buzzed again, drawing me out of the spiral my mind was going into.
A text message. It was Rathod.
Dr. Sonia said she’ll give her autopsy report in half an hour. Come to the CID office.
I peeped into Radha’s room and told her we had to leave. We went downstairs. Shadow sensed from my gait that it was time to go. He rushed towards me with his leash in his teeth.
Rahul looked up from the table. ‘CID? he said, getting up.
‘Yes,’ I said and took the car keys as Radha emerged from the stairs.
Chapter Twenty-Six
We were inside the car in the next five minutes and at CID’s office in the next twenty. Like in the morning, Radha, Rahul and Shadow stayed in the waiting room while I went to the morgue in the basement. Dr. Sonia was already waiting. ACP Shukla was next to her with his arms folded.
Dr. Sonia smiled at me in acknowledgement. ‘We're waiting for Rathod. He should be here at any moment.'
On cue, Rathod’s lean figure emerged from the stairs with heavy steps. Sonia turned around, beckoning us to follow her, as she went to the morgue. She stood next to a body that was again covered up to its neck with a white sheet.
‘The victim’s name is Tarla Raheja. She died from strangling. The marks on her neck and the pattern of fracture was similar to that I found on Supriya Kelkar’s neck. I can say with reasonable accuracy that the size of the hands on both was similar as well. There’s no other injury on Tarla’s body. There’s also no other evidence at the crime scene. No prints of any nature and no DNA. Like Supriya, even Tarla’s vagina has evidence of post mortem sex. A similar kind of condom was used again. Based on the food in her intestine and the state of her body when we found her, Tarla Raheja was killed between twenty to twenty-four before we found her.’
‘So, on Monday morning,’ Rathod said.
‘One day after he killed Supriya Kelkar,’ ACP Shukla jumped in.
‘That means he was stalking both the women at the same time,’ I said.
‘That’s right,’ Sonia said.
‘He’s moving fast. Faster than any serial killer I’ve personally investigated. Normally, the more a killer kills, the more confident and efficient he gets, thus prompting him to kill quicker.’
‘True. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has already narrowed his next victim,’ Sonia said and paused. ‘It seems strange to me that the Bedroom Strangler is so efficient. There were no other marks on both the women he killed. The strangling was clean each time. Normally, there are bruises on a victim’s body as they try to resist.’
‘What are you trying to say?’ I said.
‘It’ll be unwise for me to make an assumption.’
‘We’ve nothing else going for us,’ Rathod said.
Sonia turned to the ACP. He nodded his head. ‘Go on. What are you thinking?’ he said.
Silence.
Sonia pursed her lips. ‘As I said, it’s just a theory based on very little evidence. I could very well be wrong,’ she said and paused. ‘I feel the Bedroom Strangler is experienced. He has killed women before Supriya Kelkar.’ Another pause. ‘Or he’s just extremely efficient.’
My mind wandered. I made a note to speak to Dr. Ranjit Kadam about it. Another thought came to me. I said, ‘He said hello again in his first note. He said again. Again, implies repetition.’
‘You’ve a point,’ Sonia said.
‘Either that, or we’re reading too much into the situation,’ ACP Shukla said. ‘There’s only one way to find out.’ He turned to Rathod. ‘You would’ve looked already. But have similar crimes been committed in the past?’
‘And not just in Pune, but across India,’ I added, thinking back to Zakkal’s method of killing.
‘Strangling is the third most popular way to commit murder. There are innumerable cases in India,’ Rathod said.
ACP Shukla shook his head in frustration. ‘Have we been able to find a link between Supriya and Tarla?’
Rathod said, ‘They were both around the age of thirty. They were alone at home for extended periods of time. They were fairly attractive. Those are just characteristics. Nothing about their profiles exc
ept their age and gender are common.’
‘So, we have nothing?’
Rathod shook his head.
‘What did Tarla do for a living?’ I said.
‘She was a software programmer. She worked from home. She has her own company called Bit By Byte. Her laptop was her office. She did freelance work for various clients. Most of them were based out of India based on her bank inflows. We spoke to several of her clients. They said she was dependable.’
‘What was her routine like? That might give us an idea of when the Bedroom Strangler started to stalk her.’
‘No one apart from her therapist has seen her in a long time. One of her neighbours is nosy. He’s an old man, north of eighty. Even he hasn’t seen her go out apart from the times she had an appointment with her therapist. We checked her digital wallets and debit and credit cards. She predominantly used her debit card to make online transactions. She ordered clothes, electronic gadgets, grocery and food online. The last time she used it for anything outdoors was a month back when she got her monthly medicines right after meeting her therapist. In fact, that’s the only place she bought anything outdoors.’
‘What did her therapist say when you told her about Tarla’s murder?’
‘She was shocked. She had said Tarla had just started making some advancement. She said she had started sitting in her balcony for an hour every day.’
‘Maybe the Bedroom Strangler saw her there,’ ACP Shukla said.
‘Or while she went to her therapist every week,’ Rathod said.
I joined my palms at my forehead, trying to create a timeline. I said, ‘The world wouldn’t have known that Tarla Raheja had died had it not been for her therapist, right?’
Everyone in the room nodded their heads.
‘We found her today morning. Ninety minutes after she missed her appointment. We know he stalks his victims. So, he would have known about her appointment. That means the Bedroom Strangler wanted us to find her today. He would have known that her missing the appointment would create some interest and lead us to find her dead. If you think about it, the Bedroom Strangler could have easily killed her after today's appointment. But that would've meant we would have only found her a week later. He wanted us to find her today itself. He's a step ahead of us. He's calling the shots and dictating what we do.' I turned to Sonia. ‘You're probably right. He's already narrowed down his next victim. If the first two murders, at least those that we know, are examples, he would kill again between tonight and tomorrow morning.'
‘If you’re right, we’re already too late,’ Rathod said.
Silence.
We all went up to the first floor. ACP Shukla led the way into CID’s main office. Two more officers were present upstairs. We gathered around the large centre table. A murder board was erected to the right. So far, we had three suspects. Anil Verma of Smart Tech and Zakkal’s two pen pals—Manoj Bedi and Shaam Pundlik. There was one person of interest—Karve, Zakkal’s lawyer.
ACP Shukla turned to two officers whom I did not recognize. ‘Do any of our suspects have an alibi for the second murder?’
‘We still haven’t found Shaam Pundlik,’ the thinner officer said.
His colleague, the stouter of the two, stepped forward. He said, ‘Karve is untouchable. Anil Verma said he was alone at home in our interested time frame. His wife and kids are still away so there’s no one to confirm that. We only spoke to him today morning. Manoj Bedi did not have an alibi for the first murder. I called him ten minutes back to ask him about his whereabouts in our interested time frame, and even he doesn’t have an alibi. He said he was at his home at night. He lives alone so there’s no one to vouch for that.’
ACP Shukla kept his hands on the centre table. He leaned forward. ‘Essentially, that means all three of them could be our killers.’
‘Or someone else entirely,’ Rathod said.
‘Does Anil Verma have any connection to Zakkal or the Shirole gang?’ I said.
Rathod shook his head. ‘The only common factor between Anil Verma and Zakkal is that they appear normal. They are both married with children, have decent jobs and people who know them say they are kind.’
‘And yet Zakkal abducted seven women and killed one, from what we know.’
Silence.
I turned to the ACP. ‘Can we have round the clock surveillance on our three suspects and Karve?’
The ACP considered the request. ‘We can put one man on the three suspects. We already have three other officers trying to find Shaam Pundlik.’ The ACP inhaled deeply and paused. ‘Okay, we’ll try for a day. Let’s see how it goes. We cannot get near Karve though. He’ll take us to court for harassment and intimidation.’
We dispersed within the next two minutes. It was almost ten in the night. I sat by myself by the reception before heading to the waiting room. I felt helpless to not have a working clue. I was waiting for the Bedroom Strangler or Zakkal to make a mistake. I was also waiting for Dr. Barve to find where the pollen grain came from. I felt dreadful, thinking about a woman somewhere being in grave danger, unaware that she is being stalked by a perverted killer.
An apprehension swept over me. The tips of my fingers tingled. I wondered if I was still good enough. I had not been in the field for over three years. Has that made me rusty? I thought back to the mistake that had changed everything. Kunal Shastri's case was my last investigation. I had messed it up. Thinking about it stirred waves of pain through my mind. I massaged my temples, hoping for some relief. But the pain persisted, haunting me of memories and emotions from a time I had tried hard to forget. I tried to push the thoughts away. But the more I wanted quiet and peace, the harder it was to seek.
I did not notice Rathod walk up to me until he tapped my shoulder. He stretched his arm forward to hand me a pen drive. I knew it contained the crime scene photos, reports and autopsy results. I thanked him and went to the waiting room and used my laptop to send the new reports to Dr. Ranjit Kadam. My shoulders were drooping. I sat with my eyes closed. The facts of the case swirled in my mind that was numb with pain. Radha and Rahul watched me silently. Radha knew me well enough to give me space. I also knew she would read my body language and realize I am worried.
My phone buzzed twice in my pocket. I pulled it out. A text message. It was from Dr. Ranjit Kadam.
I just reached Pune. Let’s meet in the morning tomorrow. I’m staying at Hotel Park Inn. Come to the hotel’s café at eight thirty.
Probably sensing something from demeanour, Radha put an arm around me. I got up slowly. Rahul took the keys from me and drove us home. Shadow kept his head on my lap throughout the drive, looking up every minute, as if he was checking on me. He only looked back down when I patted his head.
I made a stop on our way back home. I pulled over in front of Red Cross Ruby Hospital. It was the hospital in which the girl who Kunal Shastri had attempted to kill was kept. I had not planned to stop there.
The girl’s name was Suhana Kulkarni. She was ten years old now. I visited her every month, hoping she would be awake or even be back at her house after being released from the hospital. She was in an Intensive Care Unit for six months post the assault on her. She had been since moved to a normal room that had been modified to accommodate her needs.
I ran up six flights of stairs. I hung a left and went through a maze of corridors. Suhana was in Room Number 630. As I walked up to it, I hoped I would see her awake. Her family did not know about my visits. I always watched her from a distance. I reached her room and looked in through the glass window on the door.
My toes tingled and my throat went dry. Suhana was still inside, still in a very deep sleep. Her mother was sitting next to her in a chair with her hands joined, whispering a prayer, hoping for a miracle. Tears formed behind my eyes. I wiped them before they could roll down my cheeks. My heart thudded in my chest. I knocked on the door.
The mother looked towards me and broke step to open the door. She was confused to see me. She did not know who I was. I
was planning to tell her. She deserved to know. She opened the door.
My vision blurred. I could not feel my face. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I whispered.
The mother shook her head slowly. She was not sure what was happening.
I said, ‘She’s here because of me. I’m so sorry about it. I let the monster who did this to her get away the first time around.’ A voice in my head told me my apology did not matter.
The mother stared back at me. Her eyes welled. She put a hand on my shoulder and said, ‘You’re Siya Rajput, aren’t you?’
I stopped breathing. I was surprised.
‘I know who you are. I know what happened. I know you come here every month. I have always wanted to tell you that it’s okay.’
‘What do you mean it’s okay? It’s not. This is not right.’
‘I was very angry at you at first. I wanted to kill you and I mean it. But every time I look at my daughter, all I see is love. There’s no other emotion. It may seem strange to you. But it’s okay. I have faith she’ll wake up one day. That day is not so far. At least she’s alive. And that’s only because you had the wisdom to alert the police to get to her in time. She’s in this condition because of you, but it could’ve been far worse. You saved her as well, Siya.’
I was stunned. I did not know what to say.
‘Please don’t apologize to me. It’s okay,’ she said and hugged me tightly.
I could feel her tears on my shoulder. ‘I’ll tell you when she wakes up,’ she said. ‘Please go now. Take rest.’
She let go of me and went back in. My head felt light. I had no idea what had happened. I still could not feel my face. I somehow made it back to the car.
My eyes felt heavy by the time we reached home. I went straight to my room and lay on the bed. I watched the stationary fan for a spell, my thoughts going round and round. What the hell had just happened? Gradually, the world around me started fading away. I do not know when I eventually slept, but only one thought remained when my eyes finally shut—I am going to find my dear mother.
Strangely enough, Naina Rajput was also thinking about her daughter at that very moment.
