by UD Yasha
Manohar became convinced that Sumeira was harming her own daughter over the next three days. He went to the police to lodge a complaint. Several cops were on Chief Minister Sarvate’s payroll. It included Ranjit Bhide, the Chief of the Pune Police Department. Bhide asked his subordinate, Dattu Shekhar—another corrupt cop—to deal with the situation.
In the evening, on the same day as he had filed the complaint, Manohar was held at gunpoint while returning from school. He was threatened that his family would face the consequences if he did not withdraw the complaint. Sumeira was told that Manohar was onto her.
Sumeira broke down several times while telling me her version of the story. She told me Manohar wanted to know why the police had threatened him hours after he had lodged a complaint. She got to know later that Manohar had hacked into her laptop and tracked every stroke of her keyboard. That led him to know that she had been lurking in The Mothers’ Club chatroom on the Dark Web. He could not tell what she typed once she was inside the chatroom because of the higher encryption on it. But that was enough for Manohar to know something really huge was going down on the Mothers’ Club. Coupled with a little girl being fed petrol by her mother, Manohar knew he had to act.
From the evidence and data we recovered, we got to know that Manohar conducted his own research and got in touch with Sitaram Mule who agreed to assist him right away. They first rescued Natasha Gill from her own mother. After that, Mule devised a plan to get into The Mothers’ Club chatroom.
After an elaborate plan that involved taking funds from Secure Point to pay the chatroom, Mule was inside the Mothers’ Club. He found out about its members and the way the chatroom worked. He could only get a part of the data and that’s why out of the four members of the chatroom who resided in Pune, he only got information about Malini Sinha.
Saving Malini’s daughter Rucha was the next item on their agenda. But they realized they would need to form a tight case with no loopholes and collect hard evidence if they were going to have any chance of winning against Chief Minister Sarvate. To get more proof, Manohar told Daksh Sinha about what Malini was doing to Rucha, hoping he would come on board to catch his wife red handed.
But The Mothers’ Club got a whiff of Mule’s presence in their chatroom. Its promoters became suspicious of the Sinha family. They also feared that Manohar had shared evidence with Daksh Sinha. So, Sarvate ordered a hit on the Sinha family to wipe out all the loose ends. All this while, the promoters controlling The Mothers’ Club had taken Sumeira Gill under their care to make sure she does not share any information with anyone.
Sumeira Gill also admitted to killing her husband Sachin in self-defense. The CID mentioned Sachin’s murder in the chargesheet but they did not try her for it.
The plan to kill the Sinhas went wrong because of two reasons. First, Rucha Sinha returned home earlier than she was supposed to that evening. Malini had made it clear that her daughter was not to be harmed in the process of killing her entire family. Hence, Rucha was taken by the assassin. The second reason the killings did not proceed smoothly was because Shaunak Manohar went to the Sinha residence on the same day.
Sarvate knew his assassin only had a few minutes because of the Gunshot Detection System. The assassin had a decision to make. Whether to collect evidence that could implicate his organisation or to kill Manohar. He chose the former; a decision that Sarvate would regret for the rest of his life.
Manohar and Mule had gone into hiding before rescuing Natasha from her mother. Mule had hidden the evidence he had collected against The Mothers’ Club in the last place its promoters would look for—his own house. Later, Sarvate’s men could kill Mule only because he returned to his house to retrieve the evidence. The assassin had not found the hidden chamber in the bathroom. That had enabled us to get the evidence, including the location of the warehouse from which The Mothers’ Club operated.
Dattu Shekhar, who had threatened Manohar, was the muscle in securing the warehouse in Lonavala. The three people, whom Rathod’s men arrested at the warehouse, named and identified Shekhar as their boss. Mangesh, the man who shot Radha, directly reported to Shekhar.
Multiple eye witness accounts across Lonavala and as well as expressway toll receipts placed Shekhar in Lonavala at the times and dates that were shared with us by the three people in custody. At the same time, about two years back, Shekhar’s lifestyle changed completely. He lived far beyond the means of a police officer’s salary. His name further cropped up at various points in the data retrieved from the warehouse.
At first, Shekhar denied any involvement. But as the evidence against him began mounting, he knew he could strike a deal with us. For a reduced prison term, he pleaded guilty and provided hardcore evidence in the form of money trails, company registration papers and account numbers in Swiss banks that were held by Sanjay Sarvate and two other businessmen—one Ukrainian smuggler and an Indonesian drug lord.
Throughout the entire evidence collection process, Rathod and I were afraid that Sarvate would flee the country. He could not be arrested as no law enforcement agency was even willing to look in his direction because of the power he had.
Rathod had an idea on the day Radha returned home.
‘There are always leaks in every police department,’ Rathod said. ‘How else would the media know what the police were doing? In my experience, the leaks spread quicker when the department is told to keep a piece of information private.’
‘Are you sure you want to do it?’ I said.
‘If being the origin of a leak can keep Sarvate in the country, then it’s all for a good cause,’ he said.
That very day in the evening, all news channels grabbed the story of Sarvate’s possible involvement as hard as they could. It was great for their viewership. A serving Chief Minister of a state involved in a multi-crore scandal in which mothers harmed their own children. It could not get any bigger for them.
Eventually, twenty days after the raid of the warehouse, a charge sheet was filed against Sarvate and sixteen other people including Sarvate’s partners. It was going to be hard to get Sarvate’s partners to India because of strict extradition laws.
By speaking to the sixteen people involved, we got to know that Cherry Investments was the main company behind which everything was hidden. It was used to collect the auction amount as well as the money earned from the sale of the medicine sold by The Mothers’ Club. The transactions were mostly worth only a few thousand rupees every time, but they were many in number. Every week at six thirty in the morning on Sundays, a large amount of money—something to the tune of two to five crore rupees—was deposited in Cherry Investments Bitcoin Wallet. Like clockwork, it was moved out of the wallet within five minutes. This had been going on for months.
A deal was struck with all of Sarvate’s sixteen associates. They named Sanjay Sarvate as their boss. They gave us enough proof in the form of photographs, video recordings and witness statements—all of which placed Sarvate at the warehouse. At the same time, Jay was able to connect a part of the campaign funding to a bank account in Switzerland, sealing the case against Sarvate.
Such court proceedings take time, especially when a high-profile suspect is involved. It was going to be no different in this case. I handed over all the evidence we had collected to Rathod. I also introduced him to Jay Parikh, who was contracted by the CID to pursue the matter. I shut the lid on The Mothers’ Club and tried to push away everything that I had seen and felt in the past few days.
I was pleased at the end but two issues continued to tug at my heart—Atharva was devastated to find out about his sister. He took in Rucha under his care and returned to his Air Force base in New Delhi. Being away from the madness would have helped both of them. I wished for their scars to heal soon. Natasha Gill was promptly adopted by a family in Mumbai.
My second regret was to do with Radha. I had put her in danger. I decided that the next time, if at all there was one, I would not let Radha and Rahul join me on the field. They were
far too precious for me to lose. I was being selfish but a switch had been flicked in my mind when Radha had been shot. I did not want to lose anyone else in my life.
That got me thinking about my dad and his name in Mule’s black file. I did not know what I was going to do with that information. I realized I was too afraid to find out. I had not even looked at the file again after putting it in my cupboard drawer. What if he was not the perfect father I had always imagined him to be? I had no intention of telling anyone at home about it.
‘Siya!’ Radha cried out from downstairs.
I was shaken out of my thoughts when Radha called me. I got up from the bed and looked out the window to realize that rain was belting down.
‘Shama is making kanda bhaji for all of us. Come down fast,’ Radha said.
Kanda bhaji, the hot deep-fried batter-dipped onion preparation, was the classic evening snack in our house when it was raining. There were only a few better joys in life that compared with enjoying hot kanda bhaji and chai while it rained outside.
Shadow ran up to me the moment I reached the stairs. I patted him on his head while he licked my face generously. I glanced at the hall and saw that everyone had dragged the dining table chairs to the veranda. Radha had already pulled a chair out for me. I had been upstairs for a while and had not realized it was almost sunset.
Monsoon had finally arrived in the third week of June. It had been raining non-stop for the past twenty-four hours, sparking a chill in the air.
‘Here we go,’ Rahul said, bringing a tray outside. ‘I’ve got delicious hot tea for everyone.’
‘And here are the bhajis,’ Shama said, coming outside as well. ‘Four more batches are being fried, so have as many as you want.’
Shadow let out a low growl.
‘Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten you,’ Rahul said and disappeared into the kitchen for ten seconds. ‘I’ve made boiled eggs for you,’ he said and set them in Shadow’s bowl.
We sat around a small centre table, overlooking the rain falling on our front yard. Everyone held up their kanda bhajis like we were raising a toast.
‘To more happiness together,’ Radha said.
I looked around. All I saw was unalloyed joy. Radha and Rahul were sitting next to each other holding hands. There was not a shred of worry on maa’s face. Shama was looking peaceful. Shadow was enjoying his boiled eggs.
I crunched into the first bite, closing my eyes to savour the flavour.
‘This is too good,’ maa said.
All of us ate silently, watching the rain fall in the large puddles of water that had formed in our front yard.
‘There’s something Rahul and I want to tell you,’ Radha said and all eyes moved towards her. She looked at Rahul and smiled. She moved her gaze back on us and said, ‘We’re thinking of deciding on a wedding date. We want your suggestions.’
I felt all gooey and warm inside but my attention was drawn towards maa who had tears in her eyes. The next moment she was covering her face.
‘I’m so happy,’ maa said, trying to control the tears.
Just then, my phone started ringing.
I remembered bringing it downstairs with me so it had to be somewhere in the living room. I wondered who it could be. Rathod? We had last spoken three days ago. Wanting to enjoy the moment, I ignored it and it eventually stopped.
I turned back around. Radha was in a tight embrace with maa. Both of them had tears in their eyes. I noticed everyone was tearing up, including Rahul. Shadow rubbed his nose against my leg.
Right then, my phone began ringing again.
My legs trembled ever so slightly. Why was I feeling this way?
I got up and ducked inside the house to spot my phone’s illuminated screen in the dark living room. I could see it on the couch. My heart beat faster. I picked it up from the couch.
An unknown number.
My heart beat even louder. All sounds around me muted. Everything got several tints darker. I answered the call.
‘Is this Siya Rajput?’ a voice said.
I don’t know this voice.
It was a simple question. Why was I then sweating? The voice across the line was muffled like it was being masked. I could not even make out whether it belonged to a man or a woman. I felt my skin crawling.
‘Hello? Are you there? This is important,’ the voice said again.
‘Yes, this is Siya Rajput,’ I said, somehow gathering the courage.
Chills sparked through my body as the next words were uttered.
‘I know something about your father’s disappearance,’ the voice said.
My stomach sank at the mention of my father. I could not feel my legs. My hands were shaking. Or were they? What was happening?
‘Who is this?’ I said.
‘That’s not important. All you need to know is that I’ll tell you what I know about your father’s disappearance once you help me. I’ll be in touch,’ the voice said and the line went dead.
SIYA RAJPUT WILL RETURN in the The Bones Are Calling.
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Author’s Note (Finding Her)
First of all, thanks a lot for reading my book. I sincerely hope you had a great time reading Siya and gang’s latest adventure. I enjoyed the writing process even more this time. Talking about the process, this book was much harder to write than Where Are They Now for two reasons.
Firstly, a lot of you wrote back to me to tell me that you enjoyed Where Are They Now a lot. I always give writing everything I have but for the first time in my life, I had readers waiting for a book. It’s a great place to be in and I felt I needed to do everything possible to make sure you all also love the second book in the Siya Rajput series. That took a lot of effort, both physically and mentally. I truly gave it my all. Maybe that’s why the launch date of the book was extended because I kept thinking of ways in which the story could improve. Eventually, I could put all those thoughts away and focus on what mattered the most to me—telling a story to the best of my ability.
The second reason it was harder to write was the subject itself. Munschen syndrome by proxy (MSBP) is a dark topic to explore. I had to venture deep into my own thoughts and dark side to be able to write some scenes. When the idea first came to me, I thought I would introduce MSBP somewhere in the middle of the book. But as it happens so often, the characters and the story took their own course.
Like in Where Are They Now, all the places mentioned in the book are real. I hope you enjoyed this three hundred odd page journey to my home city of Pune. The next book in the series will be out sooner than the time it took me to release Finding Her.
My day is made when I hear back from my readers. You can write to me at [email protected].
Have a great day ahead, stay safe and I will see you again soon.
August 2019
UD Yasha
The Bones Are Calling
For my ajji, you are the personification of joy and energy!
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
> Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter One
I threw a hand up against my face.
But that did not seem to help. The light was blinding and it kept getting brighter.
A loud and distant banging noise.
I did not know what was causing it, or where it was coming from.
The world around me started spinning. My mouth tasted of lemons. I did not know what was happening, except that I needed to get out of there.
