The Case Of Black Magic Murders In Mumbai

by Shilpa Jain

  Ravi nods and searches for the phone number of the investigating officer in the case file. Tanvi’s trainee detective Makrand is lost in thoughts.

  She asks him, “How’s your mother? Still in hospital?”

  Makrand hesitates and nods.

  Tanvi widens her eyes and says, “Why don’t you tell your old man that you don’t want to work for CID. That way, you’ll make way for a deserving candidate and won’t have to lie to skip duty.”

  “Sorry ma’am,” Makrand replies sheepishly. “It was my girlfriend’s birthday. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

  Tanvi looks out of the window and says, “You should try taking my permission for a change.”

  Makrand’s father is a retired CID officer and one of Tanvi’s mentors. Hence, Tanvi is compelled to mentor Makrand in spite of his slackness towards work. In a way, she finds his defiant attitude endearing.

  They reach Lohana House at 8:00 a.m. The boundary around the house is secured by yellow tapes used for crime scenes. A forensic team is working on the red solution on the boundary wall. Another team is trying to pick up finger prints.

  Tanvi and her team wear gloves and take precautions to avoid tampering any evidence. Tanvi walks around the boundary wall of the house and notes a marked area under the Peepal tree.

  She notices traces of ash on the ground near the main gate. Inside the bungalow, in the living room, the floor is speckled with a red solution. Smudged prints of Mr and Mrs Lohana’s slippers are seen at several places on the floor.

  “Ransom call?” Tanvi asks the officer on duty.

  “Not yet.”

  “I want your team to pull out. We take over now. And yes, pull out the yellow tapes. If it’s kidnapping, we don’t want to alert the kidnapper, do we?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “Did you send her picture to all the check posts to alert them?”

  “No ma’am, I was just in the process.”

  “Do that ASAP.”

  The officer on duty nods and hands over a file for Tanvi’s signature on the case transfer orders. He collects his team on his way out.

  A 40-year-old tall lean and clean-shaven man with handsome features, rimless glasses, and a deep cleft on his chin walks into the living room, “What a pleasant surprise!”

  He extends his hand towards Tanvi for a shake.

  “It’s been what… two years?” he asks.

  “Two years and five days,” replies Tanvi without raising her head from the case file.

  He withdraws his hand and says in a singsong tone, “Someone’s been counting.”

  Tanvi ignores the comment and introduces the man to her team, “Meet the forensic expert from missing persons department, the very capable Dr Abram Sheriff.”

  The team nods to acknowledge him. Soma and Ravi exchange looks. During Tanvi’s tenure at the missing persons department, there were rumours that Tanvi was dating Dr Abram. And then, for unknown reasons, the two stopped seeing each other.

  “So, how have you been?” asks Dr Abram.

  “Great! No baggage and bondage. And you?” enquires Tanvi looking up from the file.

  “Never been better. Love the smell of freedom and bachelorhood.”

  “Are you announcing your unattached status?”

  “You started it.”

  They become aware of their teams staring at them and feel awkward.

  “Getting back to work, did you find anything worthy?” asks Tanvi.

  “Yes. The red solution is human blood. I have sent it for DNA. The ash coloured powder is a mix of some herbs that caused acute hypoglycaemia and hypotension in the guard. We have picked up finger prints from the house and will match it with the members of the house to find any foreign prints. I am moving to the girl’s room to process it. Wanna join?”

  “Later. I have to assign work and examine the place to get a grasp of the situation here.”

  Tanvi inspects the living room thoroughly and then settles on a chair around a 12-seater dining table in the dining area adjoining the living room.

  “Patil, line up everyone for interrogation and set up the camera. After that, take a look at all the cctv footages.”

  “Right ma’am.”

  “Soma, ask the Lohana family if they have enquired with their relatives and the girl’s friends. If not, get a list of the people and start making calls. Call them for interrogation, if necessary.”

  Soma nods.

  Tanvi continues, “After that, go upstairs and keep an eye on Dr Abram. Remind him to take ample number of photographs of the room and see that he doesn’t move any stuff around.”

  Soma hurries to follow the orders.

  “Rane, tap all the phone lines of the bungalow and get call records of the missing girl and of everyone here.”

  Tanvi looks at Makrand, “What do you want to do?”

  “Can I be around while you interrogate?”

  “Ok. Get a photograph of the girl from the family. Then you can join me. But sit with a poker face. I don’t want any trace of emotion on your face. Is that possible?”

  “Yes ma’am,” replies Makrand.

  Mr Lohana interrupts angrily, “My girl is out there somewhere and you want to sit in my house and interrogate people? You should be out looking for her.”

  “Mr Lohana, I understand your anguish. We have alerted the local police and check posts to watch for her. The traffic control department is monitoring all cctv footages of the city for any suspicious movement. Do you have a lead or clue about who could have kidnapped her?”

  “No.”

  “Could she have run away from home?”

  “No! What are you saying? She was a decent girl.”

  “Do you suspect anyone?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “Then let us interrogate to get our facts and leads. Now go and wait for your turn and let me do my job.”

  Tanvi calls for the guards on duty one by one. She learns that the unconscious guard is recuperating in a hospital. He is being treated for acute hypotension and hypoglycaemia induced by a herbal mixture containing rauwolfia serpentina and American ginseng.

  She also learns that one of the guards of the main gate did not report for night duty.

  She asks Ravi to run a background check on all the guards and track the absent guard.

  The guards on duty report the incident one by one. She does not find any notable discrepancy in their report.

  She grills one of the night duty guards, “What time do you all come in?”

  “8 p.m.”

  “Did any of you see Pari leaving the house?”

  “No ma’am. We did not see her being abducted as well. Obviously, we would have caught the person in that case.”

  “Yeah, right,” Tanvi rolls her eyes. “Was anybody late for duty last night?”

  “The main gate guard did not report, and my partner for the side gate was late by 15 minutes.”

  “Were the gates left unattended during your duty hours?”

  “At 8:15, our supervisor called us to report to him. We were with him for about 10 minutes. The gates were unattended but locked from inside. It’s not possible to open them from outside. Also, when one of the guards saw the tantric lurking around the house, the main gate guard was asleep in his cabin. He is a sincere guy, but he was doing double duty that night.”

  “Is there any other way to enter the house?”

  “Two guards always patrol around the bungalow, but the back yard could be unattended when they are moving around. But again, the backyard gate is locked at all times and the gardener lives in a cabin near the backyard.”

  “I see, but it’s not his job to keep an eye there, right?”

  The guard looks embarrassed.

  “I forgot to tell you that we had lost electricity for a about ten minutes yesterday.

  “Oh! What time was that?”

  At 12:30 a.m.”

  “I see. Did you all meet the day duty guards before they left? Was there any time laps
e between the two groups of guard?”

  “No ma’am, the day guards don’t leave before we report.”

  Makrand hands over a photograph of the missing girl ‘Pari’ to Tanvi. Pari appears fair, slim, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weighs about 48-50 kg. She has plain features and an unremarkable and dull face. She is wearing a blue salwar kameez in the photograph.

  Tanvi sends Makrand to take a perimeter check of the bungalow to see if forced or secret entry into the premise is possible, while she continues to interrogate the day guards. One of the guards informs that Pari had returned from her college at 4:00 p.m. last evening and did not go out after that.

  Tanvi asks Sushant Patil to line up the other employees of the house for interrogation. A house maid forces herself towards Tanvi in spite of efforts by Sushant Patil to restrain her.

  “He has taken her away. He had said that and he did it,” the maid shouts.

  Tanvi frowns and asks, “What are you talking about. Calm down and explain.”

  An obese maid, about 55 years old, dressed in a cotton saree, her scattered grey hair tied in a low bun, sits down on a chair in front of Tanvi.

  “He has taken Pari baby away. He had said that he would do it before she turned 18 and he did it.”

  “Who had said that?”

  The maid wipes her face. “The aghori. He was called to treat Pari baby’s mother when she was very ill, ten years ago. Baby was only eight then. He had asked Lohana saab for the girl in exchange for the treatment. Lohana saab thought that he could fool the aghori after the treatment and promised to give him the girl. He treated Baby’s mother, but Lohana saab refused to give away his daughter. He had threatened that he would come and get her before she was 18. She belonged to him.”

  The maid begins to sob loudly, “Please save Pari baby…”

  Tanvi is alarmed by this news. This is a significant lead. She conducts a quick interrogation of the other house helps, the driver and the gardener, and learns that they have been employed in the last five years. They have no clue of the incident. She asks Ravi to conduct a background check on all the employees.

  After this, she calls Mr and Mrs Lohana for interrogation. Just then, she receives a message from Dr Abram on her cell phone ‘You might want to see this.’

  Chapter 3

  Tanvi dashes to the first floor of the bungalow. Dr Abram is waiting for her in the corridor. He leads her to Pari’s bedroom. Soma is slumped on a chair in the bedroom with her hand supporting her forehead.

  “What’s with her?” Tanvi is worried and asks Dr Abram.

  “Oh, ignore her. She happened to open Pari’s wardrobe and inhaled a little of the ash-coloured herbal powder.”

  “Are you Ok?” Tanvi asks Soma.

  Soma makes an unsuccessful attempt to stand.

  Tanvi raises her hand to stop her and says, “Don’t bother. Rest for a while.”

  She turns to Abram. “Does she require medical attention?”

  “Actually, she just inhaled some prickly-heat powder, but I made her believe that she inhaled the ash. You do know how I can play on people’s mind. But trust me, she doesn’t need medical attention.”

  Tanvi snaps, “Trust you? You are a mind-controlling freak.”

  “That’s not fair. I failed to control your mind.”

  “Yeah right,” Tanvi smirks and says, “Dr Sheriff, my people are not your trial subjects, so stay away from them. Understand?”

  Abram nods.

  “Good. Now, what have we got here?”

  Abram’s smile vanishes and he points at Pari’s bed. There is a big blob of blood on the white bed sheet.

  Tanvi’s brows arch and eyes widen. She asks, “How much blood would that be?”

  “From the size and thickness, about 100-120 ml.”

  “You think it could be Pari’s?”

  “That is the highest possibility.”

  Tanvi looks concerned. “Considering that the sprinkled blood is also hers, could she be alive after losing that much?”

  “Yeah. Alive but weak, provided she hasn’t bled more.”

  Dr Abram then opens one of Pari’s wardrobes and Tanvi is shocked to see the sight. A framed photograph of Pari’s biological mother is dappled with blood and there is a lemon pierced with pins on a red piece of cloth lying beside it.

  “Has this kidnapping got something to do with her mother?” Tanvi mumbles staring at the photograph.

  Abram shrugs his shoulders. “I have no clue.”

  “The maid said that an aghori was here to cure Pari’s mother.”

  “What aghori?”

  Tanvi realises that she had been ruminating aloud. She turns to Abram and says, “Nothing.”

  “Oh! You were talking to yourself?”

  Tanvi looks at the bed and says, “Looks like she was sleeping when someone kidnapped her.”

  “Are you talking to me now?”

  “Yes!”

  “Okay. Just asking,” says Abram throwing up his hands in the air.

  “The fact that no one heard her scream means that she too was knocked out using the herb before she was bled. Are these herbs available easily?”

  “Yes, at any roadside herbal quack shop. They can also be home grown.”

  “So, that lead is of no use. But I’ll still send someone to the local quacks around to find out.”

  “You think some smart person will purchase it from the vicinity?”

  No, I don’t. But I can’t let the lead die until I have a bigger one.”

  Tanvi moves to the attached terrace of the bedroom and exclaims, “Wow, this is a cakewalk!”

  Abram follows her to the balcony. She points at the stairs going down into the backyard from Pari’s balcony. She sees Makrand standing in the backyard and chatting on his phone. He looks up and waves.

  “I was coming up to tell you that it’s easy to break in from here in-between the guard’s rounds.” He points to a small locked gate at the backyard.

  “The gardener has the key to this lock,” he adds.

  Tanvi scampers down the stairs and asks, “When did he lock it?”

  “Right after Lohanas discovered that Pari was missing.”

  “Really? He didn’t tell me that. Get him back for interrogation. Let’s see what else he is hiding.”

  Tanvi goes back to Pari’s room and opens the other compartments of the wardrobe cautiously. Most of Pari’s clothes are traditional, but she finds a few clothes carelessly dumped in the corner of the wardrobe. These are western clothes usually worn at discotheques.

  On opening the last door, she sees a picture of Pari’s mother with Pari holding a doll. Sitting in a corner of the wardrobe is the little doll seen in the picture.

  Hidden below the doll, she finds a handwritten note that reads ‘I KNOW YOUR SECRET.’

  Tanvi is taken aback. For a moment, she feels that the note is directed to her.

  While picking up the doll, she accidently presses a button on it, and the doll breaks into a loud laughter. Tanvi is caught off-guard. With a startle, she puts back the doll.

  Abram places a gentle hand on her shoulder and asks, “Are you alright?”

  Tanvi takes control of her emotions and nods without turning to look at him. “I am fine.”

  She puts the note in an evidence bag and hands it to Abram. “Can you get a handwriting match done for this note?”

  Dr Abram takes the bag from her. “Sure.”

  She proceeds down to interrogate the gardener, “You didn’t tell me that the backyard gate was open all night.”

  “I forgot. I didn’t think it was important.”

  “I see. What else have you seen that you think is not important? I want to know everything. It’s my job, not yours, to decide what is unimportant.”

  The gardener looks down and swallows hard.

  “Pari ma’am liked me to leave the backyard gate unlocked every night.”

  “Why so?”

  “She would sneak out with her friends at night a
nd be back before anyone was up.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “I don’t know. I never asked. She threatened that I would lose my job if I told anyone about this.”

  “Did you see any of her friends?”

  “Never. She said that they always waited for her on the main road.”

  “What did she wear while going out?”

  “I think she may have worn western clothes because she would cover herself in a robe while leaving. I don’t know what she wore underneath, but I heard she was not permitted to wear western clothes by Mr Lohana.”

  “I see. From how many days was she going out in the night?”

  “Days! She was going out from the time I have been here for four years. I don’t know about before that. Lohana family never had a live-in gardener before that.”

  “Hmm. What time did she go out every night?”

  “At about 1:00 a.m. But yesterday, I did not see her go out at 1:00. I slept after that.”

  “What if she went out went the power was out?”

  “Could be. I may have missed that.”

  “Could she have gone earlier in the evening?”

  “She could have. I tend to the lawn on the front side of the bungalow from 7 to 9 p.m.”

  Tanvi calls the old house maid back for interrogation.

  “When did anyone last see Pari?”

  “I take a glass of hot milk for Pari baby every night at 9 p.m. That was the last I saw her.”

  “So, she was there in the house until 9 p.m. Did she say anything? Did you notice anything unusual?”

  The house maid sinks in a chair with her head hanging low.

  “What is it?”

  “Pari baby was very depressed. She was sitting with a picture of her mother and her doll. She had tears in her eyes. She is going to be 18 tomorrow. I think, she was missing her mother.”

  “Oh! Tomorrow is her birthday? So, you feel that the aghori kept his word, huh?”

  “Pari baby has been living in that fear every day since her mother died ten years ago. She had changed a lot after her kidnapping by the aghori nine years ago.”