by Shilpa Jain
Tanvi replies sadly, “I know how it must be for her. But, she will have to wait some more time.”
“Ma’am, actually, there is something very strange about the mother.”
“In what sense?”
“She doesn’t seem sad. In fact, she seems rather eager on performing the last rites.”
“What time are you expecting her today?”
“Anytime now.”
“Very well. I will meet her.’
Tanvi reads the file.
Name: Chandra Bhagal
Age: 17 years
Cause of death: Decapitation with a sharp weapon.
The attendant opens the drawer. The body and the head are kept together in the drawer. Tanvi feels miserable on seeing the innocent face of the young girl who was killed so brutally. The sight of red vermillion on the victim’s forehead has Tanvi raging with anger.
They move on to the next drawer containing the latest victim. Tanvi stops him from opening the drawer. She has already seen the deskinned victim at the crime site. She notes that the age of this girl is also 17 years.
That means the tantrics are targeting all girls of this age. Perhaps, we can warn everyone about this.
Tanvi comes out to meet Chandra Bhagal’s mother who has come to claim the body.
“I am really sorry about your daughter’s death,” she consoles the mother.
“Thank you, but I need the body. I have to perform her last rites before tomorrow.”
“That is impossible.”
“You have to understand madam. It is urgent.”
“Why?”
“If I don’t do it, her death will be a waste. The goddess will not be pleased.”
Tanvi frowns, “What do you mean?”
“If the goddess is pleased, she will shower us with riches.”
“Who said so?”
The woman is silent. Tanvi commands, “Was it the tantric?”
The mother is still silent.
“If you do not answer, I will assume that you too were a part of the murder. You will be arrested immediately.”
Tanvi pulls out her cell phone from her pocket to make a call.
The mother pleads, “No ma’am, I am not involved. The four tantrics had already killed my girl in the forest. She had gone to collect wood. They cut her head with her own sickle. I had sharpened it just that morning. I went to the woods to check on her because she did not return. I heard them chanting mantras. My girl was lying dead with her head lying lifeless beside her body.”
The mother begins to sob. She continues, “I was horrified. One of the tantrics caught hold of me and applied my girl’s blood on my forehead. They had collected her blood in skull cups. They said that the girl was already dead, but she could bring me prosperity if I conducted her last rites immediately. The girl was an offering to goddess Chinnamasti. I am her mother, so the goddess would certainly bless me. They said that I had to perform her last rites within a week. If I didn’t, the goddess would take away my son too.”
“And you believed them?”
“What option did I have? I was scared. My girl was already dead. I didn’t want to lose my boy. But before I could perform her rites, some of the villagers spotted us and called the police.”
“Do you remember anything about the tantrics? They spoke to you. Is there anything you recall about their faces, voices and language? Anything at all that could probably lead us to them and save innocent girls from being killed?”
The mother ponders for a while and replies, “I was too terrified. The two of them who spoke to me, spoke in the local language of the villages of Tungareshwar. Madam, I know I should have approached the police, but I was too scared for my boy. Two tantrics were at a distance and I didn’t get a good look at them. The other two’s faces were covered with white and black powder. They had long dirty hair. One of them had a beard and a moustache. I couldn’t make out more. I don’t know what they did with my girl’s blood in their skull bowls. Her head… her head was lying there…” The mother begins to sob.
Tanvi evades telling her that they may have drunk her daughter’s blood as a part of their ritual.
“I’ll do my best to release your girl’s body, not for the ritual, but because I understand your emotions. Black magic is nonsense.”
The mother is silent. Tanvi feels that she wants to say something, but is hesitant.
“What?”
“Nothing madam. Don’t say black magic is nonsense. It might get to you. Once it does, it is impossible to get rid of it. It will rip you off piece by piece. You won’t know what hit you.”
Tanvi stares at the woman. At that moment, her phone begins to ring. Both of them are startled. Tanvi stands up to extract the phone from her trouser pocket.
“Hey Kabeer.”
“Ma’am, something bad just happened at Kaked Kalyan.”
Tanvi is anxious. “What is it?”
“The burqa killer is dead. She was thrown off a cliff near the haveli.”
“What?” Tanvi sinks back on the bench outside the morgue. She is silent for a while.
“Hello… ma’am… are you there?”
Tanvi mumbles, “Yes Kabeer. I have to go somewhere right now.” She disconnects the phone and buries her head in her hands as the news sinks in.
Chapter 13
At Kaked, the local police cordon off the area where the lifeless body of the burqa killer is lying in a pool of blood. Beyond the barricade, numerous reporters and news channel hosts are jostling each other to click shots of the dead burqa killer and get a statement from the investigating police officer.
Surprisingly, none of the 28 residents of Kaked are amongst the crowd. And even more surprising, numerous burqa clad women, probably from nearby localities, have mobbed the place.
One of the news channel host decides to interview one burqa clad woman, “Madam, do you live here?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here? Is it just out of curiosity?”
“Yes, a bit of that. Also, we wanted to see who the heroic burqa killer was. She was a saviour of our children. We wish to pay homage to her and express our solidarity.”
“But she was a murderer.”
“Yes, but she murdered the bad guys, and saved so many innocent lives over the years.”
“Which case are you referring to?’
“In almost every case young lives were at stake. But I am referring to the case where she killed a brothel owner in Grant road, the one who was trafficking minor girls overseas. Almost 130 young girls abducted from various parts of India, some of them from elite families, were saved. One of the girls, belonged to our locality.”
“Did you manage to get a glimpse of her face?”
“No, we are waiting for that.”
The pretty host then faces the camera and talks to her audience, “The death of this public hero, who was in the wanted list of Mumbai police, has shocked the entire country. Was it an accident or was it murder? Has she met her match? Who will replace her? What was she doing here? Shockingly, there are no local villagers to enlighten us on her mission here. Keep watching Galaxy plus for more. We are trying to get the first-release snaps and the story of the burqa killer for you.”
The host then asks her crew, “Did you find a local?”
“No sweetheart,” replies one of them. “The locals are either absconding or this village is a ghost town with no local residents.”
“This could be a big story for us Aamir. Let’s move to the haveli. Apparently, she fell off the cliff from there. I bet there is something shady going on here.”
“Yeah… maybe, but what if it is dangerous Hiral? After all, even the police haven’t gone up there yet,” replies the tall, lean, and unkempt cameraman, Aamir.
“That’s why it is a big story. We will be the first to break it to public. We will become instant celebrities! The police are preparing a team to go up there. So, we have to hurry!” exclaims Hiral looking at the cliff, her eyes shining in anti
cipation of instant success.
Although Aamir wishes to drift into Hiral’s dreamworld, he is hesitant. He is concerned about his wife and his 2-year old daughter.
What if I can’t handle what is up there. After all, the burqa killer was a seasoned criminal, and she fell to her death.
Hiral’s voice breaks his train of thoughts, “Are you coming or not? I could ask anyone who can handle a camera to accompany me, but I think you have earned it. We can disguise ourselves in burqas and go up there.”
Reluctantly, Aamir gives in to her prodding. His desire of becoming a celebrity overtakes his fear of death and trauma to his family. He feels it is a worthy gamble.
Hiral talks to a couple of burqa-clad women in the crowd. They readily agree to offer her their burqas. Both, Aamir and Hiral, wear burqas. They hide their equipment under their spacious burqas and get ready to proceed.
Just as they are about to leave, Hiral shrieks, “Oh crap! Aamir, you wait here. I’ll get myself wired for safety and clarity. Also, I’ll wear a micro camera… you know just in case we lose our equipment or are thrown off from the cliff.”
Aamir freezes on hearing her statement.
She chuckles, “Just kidding.”
Aamir rolls his eyes. Hiral goes into the van to get herself wired.
When a burqa-clad Hiral emerges from the van, Aamir raises his eyebrows and asks, “Don’t I have to wear a wire too?”
Hiral raises her hand and says, “Shhh.”
“What? Why are you shushing me? Are we going to speak in sign language now?”
Hiral nods. Aamir shakes his head in displeasure and collects his camera and accessories. He notices that Hiral is carrying a sling bag, but he decides against querying her about it.
They begin climbing the hill leading to the haveli. They avoid the routine trail and climb up the hill through the thin woods on its backside.
Aamir lifts his burqa veil and asks Hiral, “And why are we going from here?”
Hiral does not reply. Aamir mutters something under his breath. They reach the back of the haveli in about an hour. Hiral lifts her veil and starts inspecting the place. Aamir’s jaw drops on seeing Hiral.
“Who… who are you?”
The woman accompanying Aamir gives him a stern look, “You know who I am.”
Aamir stutters, “The burqa kil… I… I have seen you… somewhere…um… I can’t place.”
“Think harder,” suggests the woman looking around the place.
“Aaa... um… I can’t… what are we doing here? Who is the dead burqa lady?”
The woman doesn’t bother answering. She moves around the place and reconnoitres it.
“Where is Hiral?”
“In the van. Safely gagged and bound to a seat. Now you are going to do as I command, understand?”
Aamir nods.
“Remove your burqa, leave your camera here and act like a zombie.”
“What!”
“You heard me.”
“I don’t know how a zombie acts.”
“That’s easy. Just be yourself and don’t talk. There are about 12 men and 5 women inside, and the tantric we have to deal with.”
“We? I am a simple man with a wife and kid. Let me go.”
“Ok. You are free to go. I don’t do this for me. The tantric has abused young girls in the name of black magic and orphaned many kids of Kaked. But you go home and sleep tight. I will save your kid too when the time comes.”
Aamir is embarrassed. He follows her. They reach the gate of the haveli. The woman knocks. Two men dressed in black robes open the gate.
“What do you want?”
“I want to see the tantric. I need help for my husband.”
The men look at Aamir. Aamir doesn’t know what to do. He turns around and begins to claps.
“I said zombie, not a retard,” the burqa clad woman whispers.
Aamir stands still and stares blankly at them.
“What happened to him?”
“My neighbour did something to him. He doesn’t respond to anything. I want to cure him and revenge my neighbour.”
They smile and consult each other. One of them waits at the gate and the second one enters inside the haveli. Aamir continues his act. After a few minutes, the man returns.
“You can come in, but I will have to search you both. The last visit of a lady with burqa didn’t go well with us. She landed down the cliff.”
The men search Aamir and the woman. She flares her nose and tenses her masseters when they grope her body. In her bag, they find a pouch with a bundle of 500-rupee notes and a few keys on a keychain. Convinced that they are actually seeking the tantric’s help, they take them inside the gate. Aamir follows her unwillingly and repents on fully grasping what he has agreed to.
They take them to a waiting room inside the gate. As soon as the men leave, the woman gets up and starts inspecting the place frantically.
“What are you doing?” yells Aamir. “You will get us killed.”
She ignores Aamir and tears her cloth bag into two. She takes the bunch of keys and opens every key one by one. She rotates the bow of the key and unscrews it to expose the hollow in the shaft of the keys.
Aamir stares at her in horror, “What have you got in the keys?”
She pours the liquid stored in the hollow keys onto the cloth pieces and replies, “Chloroform to knock out the guards.”
“And then?”
She hands over one of the cloth pieces to Aamir, “This is your weapon. Let’s attack them when they come in.”
Aamir looks at her horrified. “I am not a killer. I can’t do this.”
She sighs and says, “You know what happened to the other burqa lady. You certainly don’t want to land downhill like her, do you? Think about your daughter. It’s not about killing; it’s about protecting yourself now. Do or die. I leave it to you. I am here on a mission and will finish it with or without you.”
He picks up the cloth piece hesitantly. They hear footsteps approaching them. She signals Aamir to stand behind the door. She hides on the other side.
The guards open the door. Seeing no one inside, the guards enter the room. With lightning speed, the burqa killer forces the chloroform-dipped cloth on the nose and mouth of one guard.
Seeing her, Aamir tries to imitate the action. However, the alerted guard stops Aamir and holds his hand. The burqa killer lets the guard she has captured drop down in a semi-inebriated state. She picks up a heavy statue lying in the room and uses it to hit the other guard on his head.
The guard turns around, “What the…”
She strikes him again and he falls down. No movement. Aamir stares at her in fright.
“My forte,” she whispers tilting her head.
She looks at the other guard. He is unconscious. She kicks him. There is no movement. She places the cloth on his nose for a little more while.
The burqa killer picks up her bunch of keys and begins dislodging the multiple decorative balls in the key chain.
Aamir is terrified, “What’s this now? They look like candies? What do you want to do with these?
“Patience Aamir. These are not candies. These are high pressure tear gas shells. I am going to release these pins and leave them around in the haveli. You run away from these balls and stay outside their range of 5 feet. Understand?”
She tears her dupatta into two and hands over one part to Aamir to cover his face and nose.
She signals him to close the main door. He obliges. When he turns around, she is nowhere in sight. He panics.
He moves around in the smoky environment carefully staying out of the radius of the smoke. A few men and women are running helter-skelter while rubbing their eyes and nose, and coughing violently. There is panic in the haveli and all its occupants run around to escape from the smoke.
The burqa killer swiftly darts to the first floor of the haveli towards the tantric’s room. She releases a few tear gas shells and leaves them on the floor. In a few seco
nds, she hears a few people screaming and running out. She opens the tantric’s room. He is nowhere to be seen.
She moves to the connecting terrace. The tantric is running towards the cliff. She takes a deep breath and smiles.
Aamir moves around and inspects the haveli. A few rooms have red walls with human skulls and bones used as décor. Another room has broken chains and blood spattered walls.
Probably, the room where the slaves were tortured.
He goes upstairs and enters a room that has live cctv feeds from the village below. Aamir frowns to understand the connection.
The tantric was a fraud. He monitored all the activities in the village. The burqa killer must have known this. That’s why she climbed uphill using another route.
Aamir then moves to the tantric’s room. From the terrace, he sees the burqa-clad woman chasing the tantric towards the cliff. Aamir curses himself for leaving his camera behind. He realises it is not too far and he can get it. He dashes down to the spot where his camera was left. He picks it up and runs to the cliff.
The burqa-killer has injured the tantric by now. Aamir switches on his camera just in time to get the final shot. The woman picks up a stone from the cliff and hits the injured tantric on his head. The tantric shrieks. He tries to stand. The woman gives him time to stand.
“Man, she is cruel! She must really hate criminals,” he mutters.
As soon as the tantric gets up, she drags him to the edge of the cliff and throws him down. Aamir stares at her in horror. She approaches him. Due to the shock of witnessing an actual murder, he is unable to move. His mind is numb. He knows he should be running away from the site, but his legs are too heavy to move.
“If you release this footage you are going to be in trouble,” she warns.
“You will kill me?” he whimpers.
“I won’t even have to raise a finger. Do you see the burqa crowd around the dead burqa killer?”
“Oh… you think they will attack me?”
“I don’t have any doubts.”
When he is analysing what she just said, he feels a soft blow on his head and collapses. The burqa killer takes the camera with her. He wasn’t going to listen. She climbs down and mingles with the other burqa-clad women in the crowd. By now, Hiral has been untied and her colleagues are tending to her. Hiral seems terrified and her crew members are trying to locate Aamir.
