by Shilpa Jain
Makrand is watching Tanvi closely.
He asks, “Are you in trouble? I could help you. I am not the usual black and white guy. I do understand that people have grey shades.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when I am grading you. Right now, I don’t need your help.”
Tanvi receives another call. This time it is from Dr Abram. She pulls over the car and asks Makrand to drive.
“Yes, Dr Sheriff?”
“Dr Sheriff? I take it you are not in a good mood.”
“You have something for me?”
“I always do, don’t I? But getting to the case, from preliminary investigation, the blood is Pari’s.”
“Oh… that’s not good. Are you still at the crime site?”
“No, in my lab. Are you okay? Do you want to meet?”
“I’ll be fine. Anything on the fingerprints?”
“No foreign prints.”
“Okay. I am going to talk to a witness who has seen the aghori. Will call you to the site if necessary.”
“Sure. Twice in one day! Today is my lucky day.”
Tanvi sighs and disconnects the call.
Makrand smiles at Tanvi.
“What?” she asks.
“You are not as tough as you project,” he comments.
“What do you mean?”
“Meaning you are just as human as all of us. You too suffer from heartbreaks and work pressures and…”
“And what?”
“Never mind.”
“You should put your skills to use at work rather than to assess and judge me. And if you are so good, how did you fall prey to Madhu?”
Makrand chuckles and says, “Testosterone is mightier than a man’s mind. It makes all logic seem meaningless.”
Tanvi smiles, “I agree on that.”
She feels uneasy and wonders if she has provided Makrand an insight into her state of mind during the short journey. He seems to be a good mind reader. She decides to be more careful.
Chapter 5
Tanvi reaches Lohana House at 4:20 p.m. Sushant Patil is interrogating the witness. Pari’s friends are also sitting around waiting to be interrogated. Tanvi hurries and joins Sushant.
“This is inspector Yadav. I want you to repeat what you told me.”
The witness looks scared. He is a 35-year-old man who happened to be in the vicinity on the night of Pari’s abduction.
“Madam I was walking around the main road when I saw a man dressed in a black robe crossing the road.”
“What were you doing there?”
“I was coming out of a bar.”
“So, you were drunk?”
“Yes, but I remember everything clearly. This man had a load on his shoulder. He crossed the road and went into the lane leading to the tower of silence. I did not follow him there. That is a scary place. Everyone says it is haunted.”
“Had anyone else seen him?”
“No ma’am, no one. I work as a gardener in one of the bungalows. When the cops came to enquire at my workplace, I volunteered to come and talk.”
“How do I believe you? You were drunk.”
“Ma’am, I was drunk, but I swear I saw the man. I called out to warn him against going to that haunted road, and he turned. He had a white face like that of a ghost. I got scared and ran away. Until today morning, I thought I had seen a ghost. But today, when the cops showed a picture of the man, I knew he wasn’t a ghost. You can’t click pictures of ghosts.”
Tanvi wants to roll her eyes, but that would discourage the witness. She asks, “Did you see what was on his shoulder?”
“No ma’am, it was wrapped in a black drape.”
Tanvi turns to look at Sushant.
Sushant says, “I have sent Soma and Ravi to check the area around the tower of silence. I have checked the credibility of this witness. He has no criminal record.”
“It is 5 p.m. It will get dark soon. You interrogate Pari’s friends. I’ll go to the tower of silence,” she instructs Sushant Patil.
Makrand follows Tanvi.
“You can stay back and help Patil,” she tells him.
“I want to learn from the best in the game.”
“Fine. Tag along.”
They cross the main road to reach the lane leading to the tower of silence. The lane is deserted. Tall and dense trees line the lane and block most of the daylight. The foliage houses vulture, eagles and other scavenger birds.
Tanvi and Makrand hear some rustling in the foliage. Tanvi draws her glock. She follows the sound. Makrand follows closely behind. She moves a branch and sees two big growling dogs in a fierce fight over a piece of meat. The dogs shift their gaze towards her. They seem angry, saliva dribbling from their hungry mouths lined with pointed canines. She picks up a big stone and throws in their direction. They unwillingly move back making angry sounds.
Tanvi sees more dogs in the foliage. She quickly looks at the piece of meat. It is a human hand. She signals Makrand and they slowly retreat.
They come back on the lane. Makrand has a grotesque expression on his face. He is nauseated by the sight and takes a break to swallow back the bile in his mouth. Tanvi taps his shoulders and briskly moves ahead.
“The dogs, could they attack us?” he manages to ask between short bouts of cough.
“Not as long as they are finishing their meal.”
The gate to the tower of silence is locked. They see vultures circling the place.
“You think that human hand came from here?” asks Makrand.
“Unlikely. It was a whole hand. Somebody’s dead body has been lying around. It will have to be investigated.”
“Why didn’t we stop the dogs and save the evidence?”
“Because right now, I am more interested in saving a victim who is probably alive. That hand seemed to be at least a week old.”
“How do you know?”
“From experience. You too will learn.”
“This place is creepy.”
“Get used to the feeling. Most ghastly crimes are committed at creepy places.”
Just then, they hear calls for help and barking of dogs from a nearby bush. They rush to the scene. Soma is being dragged by a huge dog who is firmly pulling on her trousers with his teeth. Other dogs are waiting to pounce on her. Ravi is lying comatose on the ground. Soma is trying to protect Ravi from being mauled by the dogs.
Tanvi fires a shot and kills the dog attacking Soma. The other dogs run away. They help Ravi sit up. Soma is scared.
“You killed him,” says Makrand recovering from shock.
“Believe me, it was necessary, to save them being mauled to death. There was a whole pack waiting to feast on them. They have been taken care of for now at least.”
Soma explains, “I was inspecting this place when the dogs attacked Ravi from behind. He fell and hit his head on a rock. I was trying to drive the dogs away from making a meal out of him when they decided to get rid of me too.”
“You have to be more careful and have each other’s back at all times. Dying on duty is worthy, but dying like this… tch tch,” Tanvi clicks her tongue.
Soma leads them to the place of interest. They find the familiar ash-like powder and some blood on the leaves around a campfire.
“Looks like the aghori halted here at night. I wonder why didn’t the dogs attack him?” remarks Tanvi.
She calls up the local police team for assistance to comb the area and the tower of silence. She also informs them about a possible dead body in the vicinity and the pack of deadly dogs.
Tanvi looks at Soma, “You take the samples to Dr Abram and get Ravi some medical attention. I’ll look around till the team arrives. Makrand you can go with them.”
“No ma’am, I’d like to stick around. We have to have each other’s backs at all times.”
Tanvi cocks her head and says, “You are becoming smart. You two get moving.”
Tanvi and Makrand inspect the place more thoroughly. They walk around the tower of silence to
find more clues. Makrand spots a pendant in the vicinity. He collects it in an evidence bag.
“I am going into the tower of silence. You keep a watch and stay safe. Waiting for official permission to open these gates will take too long. I don’t want to lose the girl,” says Tanvi.
“What if the dogs are back?”
She hands him her glock. “Remind me to collect a weapon for you once we are in office.”
Makrand stares at her while gripping the gun awkwardly.
“What if they attack you inside?”
“I’ll take my chances.”
She walks behind a little and then runs towards the wall, stepping on a boulder in the way, to take a leap at the tall boundary wall. She manages to cling to the boundary wall and swiftly pulls herself over it and jumps inside.
Inside the boundary wall, there are a few trees. She hears some birds in the trees. Fearing an attack by scavenger birds, she darts towards the tower. The gate of the tower is open. She climbs the stairs. The stench of decomposing dead bodies is unbearable. Numerous rats are moving to and fro.
Finally, she enters an open area and looks around. It is twilight by now. The sight is repulsive. Human bones and a few partially eaten and decomposed body parts are lying around. Switching on her cell phone torch, she tries to see if any of the body parts are fresh.
Finding no clue, she turns around to go back. A silhouette of someone is standing in front of her at the doorway.
“Who’s there?” scowls Tanvi.
No one replies.
She drops her cell phone in fear. The torch goes off. The person moves closer to her. She moves backwards and puts her hand into the gun holster. It occurs to her that she has given her gun to Makrand. She stumbles in the dark and falls down. A pair of hands steadily move towards her. Beads of sweat gather on her forehead. She is breathing fast. The hands grab and hug her to calm her down.
“Abram?”
“You are damn right. You still remember how my hands and hug feel, huh?”
She pushes him away, dusts her hands, grabs her cell phone and stands up.
“What are you doing here? You scared me to death.”
“Actually, I wanted to make you feel alive. Good to see that you are capable of all human emotions.”
“This is the time and place you chose for your romantic gesture?”
“I came here after Soma updated me that they had clues here.”
“Really! Didn’t she tell you that we were sending the clues to your lab?”
“She did, but I thought you could use an extra pair of eyes. I didn’t want you to miss any clues,” he says moving closer to Tanvi and looking into her eyes while adjusting his spectacles.
“Yeah right. Didn’t Makrand stop you?”
“He tried, but you know I can be persuasive.”
“Yes, I do. You tried to control his mind too?”
“No. He is a good mind reader. He knows how you feel about me. The sensible guy didn’t put up much of a fight.”
“I see.”
Tanvi hurries down and out of the tower. Abram follows her closely.
She prepares to jump the boundary wall when Abram interrupts her, “We can use the gate and conserve some energy.”
“But the gate is locked.”
“Was.”
“Huh?”
“Was locked… I happen to have a master key to every lock.”
“Sometimes I think you could make a perfect criminal.”
Tanvi looks at Makrand angrily. “Makrand, tomorrow you will be doing duty with officer Harsh Hegde. I did warn you against not following my orders, didn’t I?”
She grabs back her glock and secures it in her holster. Makrand opens his mouth to say something in his defence, but he decides to wait until Tanvi is calm.
In the meanwhile, the local police team arrives and searches the area. The team brings along a dog catching van. Almost twenty stray dogs are captured from the place and locked into the van.
The police team collects the remains of the dead body notified by Tanvi and dispatches them to the forensic lab.
Makrand hands over the pendant to Dr Abram, “We found this around the tower.”
“Makrand, you will have to go with the local police and finish the paperwork of all the evidence found here. I will escort Inspector Yadav back to safety.”
Abram is aware that Tanvi hates paperwork and grabs the opportunity to steal time with her. Makrand looks at Tanvi for approval. She nods mildly.
Abram leads Tanvi by her elbow into the passenger seat of his car. Seeing that Tanvi is going away with Dr Abram, Makrand unwillingly follows his orders.
They drive out of the deserted lane on to the main road. But instead of heading to the victim’s bungalow, Abram drives towards the city.
“I have to go back to the bungalow. Patil is interrogating Pari’s friends. They could have some clues.”
“I know. I too have to investigate the new clues, but you have to eat and talk before that.”
“Abram, I am not in a mood. Besides, my entire team has not eaten.”
“Okay. So, at least talk.” He pulls over the car to the side of the road.
“Talk? Talk what? You and I are over long back. We are history.”
“You broke up with me, I didn’t. But right now, I want you to talk about you, not us.”
“What about me?”
“You were upset when you spoke to me over the phone.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I would know even from your breathing pattern if you were in trouble.”
Tanvi looks down. Abram lifts her chin gently. Tanvi is in tears.
“You don’t have to say anything. It is Akram, isn’t it?”
Tanvi shuts her eyes and more tears flow.
“My only mistake in my life and he is blackmailing Zeenat and me over it.”
“I don’t know what he has got on the two of you, but I told you long back to let me take care of him. Can I, now? Please.”
Tanvi nods, “But promise not to hurt him.”
“I won’t. He is holding a gun to your head, so I will hold a bigger gun to his head. Do you want to eat now?”
“No. I want to get back to work. I am hoping to find Pari alive.”
“I understand.”
He drops her to Lohana house and proceeds to the forensic lab.
At Lohana house, Sushant Patil updates Tanvi, “Ma’am, one of Pari’s friends is missing from about eight days. Her mother has filed a missing person’s report.”
“Oh! Is her mother here?”
“No ma’am, but I have spoken to her over the phone. The girl, Soniya, went missing eight days ago at night. The last her mother had seen her was at 11 pm before sleeping. She wasn’t in her bed in the morning.”
“This is a copy of her FIR and the follow-up investigation.”
Tanvi goes through the report and remarks, “She was Pari’s closest friend. She spent a lot of time with Pari. Did her mother say where they went together?”
“No ma’am, her mother didn’t know of their friendship. The information was provided by their other friends.”
“You interrogated them?”
“Yes ma’am. Pari and Soniya were very thick and remained detached from the rest of the group. None of the friends went out with Pari at night.”
“I see. So, these two girls were going out at night by themselves. Where could they have gone every night? Today at 1 a.m., I want you to go out and see if anybody who is a regular on that road at that time had seen them.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Let’s take our dinner break in turns.”
Sushant, Soma and Ravi proceed for dinner, while Tanvi waits for Makrand to return from the local police station.
When Tanvi and Makrand are dining, Makrand decides to apologise.
“Ma’am, I am sorry for letting Dr Abram follow you in the tower of silence. I had seen that you were upset during the day and thought you could use some famili
ar company.”
“Dr Abram gets his way with people. It’s not your fault.”
Just then, Tanvi receives a phone call from Ravi, “Ma’am, we have received information from traffic control that a few aghori’s passed the Chembur area at around 12 noon.”
“Have they sent any cctv footage?”
“Yes ma’am, sending it right away.”
Tanvi’s phone beeps and she looks at the cctv footage pictures.
Chapter 6
The picture shows several aghoris, at least twelve, dressed in black robes carrying loads on their shoulders and walking together. They all look similar from behind. In a front view pictures obtained from another traffic junction, the aghoris have matted hair, long beards and ash on their faces. They all have a long black tilak on their foreheads. A few aghoris have painted black and white faces similar to the kidnapper.
Makrand looks at Tanvi in surprise and asks, “Now what?”
“We have to find this group. Perhaps they could help. Or our kidnapper could be one from the group.”
Tanvi calls up Ravi, “Track this group. We have to detain and interrogate them ASAP.”
They hurry back to Pari’s house. Pari’s friends are still waiting there.
Sushant informs Tanvi that he has thoroughly questioned Pari’s friends. Pari and Soniya attended college almost every day and left together at 3:30 p.m. They reached home at about 4 p.m. and stayed home until their alleged outings after 1 a.m. every night.
On some days, they bunked college and were not in their homes. None of them know where they went on those days.
Ravi gets off his cell phone and comes rushing towards Tanvi, “Ma’am, the group visited Bhandup Chamunda temple at about 5:30 p.m. in the evening. After that the group seems to have split. About five aghoris are seen in a Thane city cctv footage at 8 p.m. and three in a Mira road footage at 10 p.m. At least four are missing. Notably, the ones with the black and white faces are missing.”
Tanvi raises her eyebrows, “Ask Thane and Mira road police to track the groups and detain them for interrogation. Notify us as soon as they are found.”
Mr Lohana had been holding himself back until now, but unable to control anymore, he confronts Tanvi, “Inspector madam, it is almost 11:30 p.m. The day is over and there is no clue about my daughter.”
