X: The Hunt Begins

by Unknown

  “Nothing much.” She replied with a sigh. “Just typing away at my desk.”. Payal worked at a news channel as an assitant editor. “Today is grunt work day at the office.”

  “Let's meet up at Lucky's for lunch.” Virat said to Payal. “And Aditya can tell you all about how grateful the prime minister was to him for saving his life.”

  “Sounds great.” Payal said with a laugh. “I'll just be taking this.” She took an apple out of the bowl. “This'll be my breakfast today. I'm late. See you in the afternoon.”

  She left, and Aditya shot an inquiring look at Virat. “So, what's the story with you two?”

  “What do you mean?” Virat asked.

  “What's going on between you and Payal?”

  “Nothing.” Virat said with an attempt at a nonchalant air. “We're just friends.” He paused. “Besides, she'd broken up with her boyfriend pretty recently.”

  “That could make things messy.” Aditya commented.

  “It generally does.” Virat commented drily. “Any idea when you'll be through interrogating Khan? I want to know what you find out.”

  “Shouldn't take too long.” Aditya said. “I'll probably be done with my questions by the afternoon.”

  “Then give me a call, and I'll come pick you up and we'll go to Lucky's.” Virat said.

  * * *

  Aditya rode with Virat on his bike to the police station. Once they reached the station, Virat took off to the reporting cell while Aditya made his way to the Police Commissioner's office. He knocked on the door and entered to find Commissioner Khurana busy with some papers.

  “Come in, Officer Matthews.” The Commissioner said, laying down his pen and paper and straightening up from his desk. “So today you take up active duty at the station. How do you plan to proceed with your case?”

  “I'd like to begin as soon as possible, sir.” Aditya said. “I was hoping I could talk to the inspector in charge of the precinct about some of the open cases you're dealing with at the moment.”

  “I have arranged for that. I will have someone show you around the city and answer any questions you have.” He paused as an inspector appeared in the doorway of the office and nodded to him. “Ah, yes. Come in, Shahid. You're right on time.”

  Inspector Shahid Khan entered the room and came to stand next to Aditya. He looked to be in his thirties, with specks of grey hair in his hair and moustache, which were neatly trimmed. He saluted Commissioner Khurana without looking at Aditya.

  “This is Inspector Khan.” Shahid turned to nod briefly to Aditya before turning back to the Commissioner. “Aditya is new to the station. I mentioned him to you a few days ago, I think.”

  “I remember, sir.” Shahid inclined his head slightly.

  “I want you to take Aditya with you when you go on your patrol today.” Commissioner Khurana continued. “He needs to be acclimatised to the city. Help him in anyway you can. Any questions he might have and so forth.”

  Shahid nodded and turned to Aditya. “Shall we go?”

  “Right. Thank you, sir.” Aditya saluted to the Commissioner and followed Khan out of the room. The two walked in silence across the station to the outside where a police car waited for Inspector Khan.

  “Thanks for agreeing to help catch me up.” Aditya said at last, breaking the awkward silence.

  “Just following orders.” Shahid said shortly. Two constables emerged from the car and saluted to Shahid. One was short and sallow while the other was tall and balding. The only common feature was the potbelly they both sported. “These are Sukhwinder and Shyam. They'll be sitting in the back today. And this is Officer Matthews. He's going to accompany us on patrol.” The two constables saluted to Aditya as well, their eyesbrows raised in surprise as they noted his youthfu appearance as well as the slight frown on Shahid's face. The two constables got in the back of the car while Shahid and Aditya sat in the front. Shahid started the engine and pulled the car out of the drive. Soon they were on the road.

  “Saab, are you the new psychogist?” Sukhwinder asked, who had been studying Aditya intently.

  “I'm the new criminal phychologist.” Aditya corrected him with a smile. “It's my first day.”

  “I knew you were coming. There was talk in the office that there was a new department being added.” Shyam was also looking at him with interest. “That was you who brought in the killer in the Rohtak case a few days ago, wasn't it?”

  “That was mostly detective Virat Joshi's work.” Aditya said quickly. “I just assisted him a bit.”

  “That was pure negligence on the police team's part.” Shahid spoke up, his eyes on the road. “We would have caught him long before if the investigative team had the sense to start the investigations from Bhandipur rather than Rohtak.”

  “I'm sure you would have.” Aditya said. “Even the police can make a few mistakes now and then.”

  Shahid said nothing, and continued to drive in silence as Sukhwinder and Shyam also fell silent.

  “So, I wanted to ask you a few questions about your cases.” Aditya spoke again.

  Shahid grunted, still not looking at him as he continued to drive in silence. This part of the investigation was proving trickier than Aditya had anticipated. He wondered what the inpector was annoyed about.

  All through the journey Aditya questioned Khan about his various cases in the precinct. Khan's replies were brief and to the point. Meanwhile the sun beat down mercilessly on the car. They made two stops on their patrol. Once to talk to a jeweller who was receiving threatening phone calls and then a bus conductor who had been assaulted by a passenger who did not have a ticket.

  An hour before lunch, Aditya had asked Shahid all the questions he could think of. He had also grown tired of Khan's increasingly curt replies, and was getting ready to call Virat to pick him up for lunch.

  “One last stop before we get back to the station.” Shahid said, turning the car away from the main road down a side lane. “This is Gunny street.”

  Gunny was a shantytown in the remote parts of Toragarh. Rows of houses were boxed together in a line curving inwards to the heart of the basti. An ancient water tower in the center was the only structure reaching higher than the second floor.

  “You two stay in the car.” Khan glanced in the rearview mirror at the two constables as he brought the car to a stop. “You come with me.” He added, turning to Aditya.

  Aditya was surprised by the invitation, but complied. The two walked inwards through the basti, with Shahid checking a message on his mobile for the address they were seeking. Finally they stopped outside a house slightly larger than the others and with a fresh coat of blue paint over the door.

  “Are we looking up a lead on a case?” Aditya ventured to ask.

  “Responding to a complaint.” Shahid said, staring straight ahead at the door. “A young man came to the station yesterday afternoon. He knows a girl who is being held against her will by her parents and being prevented from attending college.”

  He raised a hand to knock again, but the door opened. A man emerged, gazing at them in surprise. He had a balding forehead with the side hairs neatly combed over the top, and the pencil moustache adorning his upper lip had been maintained with care.

  “Yes, sir?” He asked Shahid.

  “Are you Ramlal?” Shahid asked. “We received a complaint about you. Can we come in?”

  “Of course.” Ramlal moved hurriedly to the side and ushered them into a sparsely furnished room with a single threadbare sleeping cot pushed up against the side wall.

  There was a perplexed frown on Ramlal's face as he faced them again. “I don't understand. Who complained about me?”

  “A boy named Sujeet.” Shahid said. “He goes to college with your daughter Dolly.”

  “That boy!” Ramlal's expression changed to one of anger. “He's up to new tricks now. He keeps harassing my daughter in class, saabji, and after I complained to the dean now he's trying to get me in trouble!”

  “He said you're not allo
wing your daughter to go to college.” Shahid said, watching Ramlal closely. “He think you're holding her here against your will.”

  “It's not true, Saabji.” Ramlal gazed pleadingly from Shahid to Aditya. “I would never do that to my daughter. You can ask her mother if I have ever tried to hurt her in any way. Malti!”

  The wooden door at the back opened and a woman appeared, her face covered by a ghoonghat. She carried two glasses of water on a plate that she offered to Shahid and Aditya.

  “Thank you.” Shahid said, accepting the glass. Aditya took a glass as well, and Malti went to stand next to her husband. Suddenly Aditya heard a faint sound that sounded like a whimper. He gazed around the room but saw nothing. He turned back to the couple.

  “That boy has complained about us to the police.” Ramlal was telling Malti. “He told them we're not letting her go to college.”

  “That is not true, saabji.” Malti raised her goonghat slightly and looked at them pleadingly. She was much younger than her husband. A large sindoor adorned her forehead. Her sari was old but neatly maintained. “We did scold her. She got angry and refused to go to class today. And the entire reason for the fight was that boy. We were thinking of lodging a complaint againt him ourselves. He led her astray. She was an innocent girl. He gave her gifts and seduced her. Made her do god knows what. What were we to do?”

  Again Aditya heard the faint whimper. He bent and peered under the cot to the side. A small dog was sitting on it's stomach, it's head lowered to the ground. It was a mongrel of indeterminate breed, with ears drooping and a tufty winding tail whose end it was chewing on. It did not raise it's head. As Aditya watched, it continued to chew on it's bleeding tail. Patches of hair had fallen out of it's coat onto the ground around it.

  Aditya reached out to pet it, but suddenly it looked up and started to growl. It snapped at the outstretched fingers and let out a few shrill barks.

  “Please be careful, Saabji.” Ramlal cautioned him. “That's Moti, Dolly's pet. She found him when he was a pup stuck in a sewer and nursed him back to health. He always sleeps under her cot.”

  Aditya withdrew his fingers, and the dog whimpered, lowering it's head and again began to chew on it's tail.

  “We are poor farm folk from Bhudaun, Saabji.” Ramlal continued, joining his hands together before Shahid and gazing at him pleadingly. “We came to the city to try to make an honest living after work in our village dried up. You know how bold these city boys are. You read about them in the papers all the time. They have a hundred tricks they use on girls. And if the girl rejects them they throw acid at their faces. Who would marry our girl if she was disfigured? We couldn't take the risk.”

  “We have nothing valuable in our house except our daughter, Sahib.” Malti added, her voice tearfull. “My husband runs a small paanshop. I sweep the floors and wash the dishes in the houses in Jayant Nagar. We just want to be left alone to live in peace. We didn't even want to go to the police. We hoped the incident would be over once my husband had spoken to the principal. We never wanted any trouble. We don't have anything more important than our self respect. All that boy cares about is making us suffer for making Dolly stay away from him.”

  “If the boy is creating trouble, rest assured he will be dealt with properly.” Shahid said. “But for now, I'd like to meet your daughter.”

  “She's gone to a baarat.” Malti said. “Her friend's sister is getting married. It's her mehndi rasam today.”

  “That's pretty convenient.” Shahid's eyebrows were raised. “For your own sake, I hope you're not lying. How do I know she isn't beeing kept locked up somewhere? How do I know you haven't sent her back to your village to be married off?”

  “I would never do that, sirji.” Ramlal looked even more distressed. “We brought her here so she could get an education! I am a poor, illiterate man, but I wanted my daughter to have the oppurtunities I never did.”

  “Then let me talk to her.” Shahid repeated. “I'll need more evidence on this matter than what you tell me.”

  “I'm not lying, saab. You can ask the people whose daughter went with her to the mehndi.” Ramlal beckoned Shahid and Aditya to follow him out of the house. A crowd had gathered outside. Ramlal led them all three doors down to the right and knocked on another wooden door. The crowd following a few steps back observed the proceedings with interest, whispering among themselves.

  A short, round faced man opened the door, his eyes widening in surprise to see the crowd outside.

  “Bala, tell the inspector where my daughter is.” Ramlal said before the man could open his mouth.

  “Your daughter?” Bala looked perplexed as he looked from Ramlal to Shahid. “She's gone to her friend's house with Pinky. It's a marriage function of some sort, isn't it?”

  “Inspector Saab doesn't believe me.” Ramlal said, holding out his hands and looking around at the crowd beseechingly. “He thinks I'm trying to stop her from talking to him.”

  “Kamala mausi saw them, too.” Bala said, spying out a shrivelled old woman in the crowd. “Did you see Dolly and Pinky come back, mausiji?”

  “Still gallivanting around the city.” Mausiji shouted back. “Not studying like they should be.”

  “I'll still need to talk to her.” Shahid said firmly. “To make sure she isn't being held against her will in any way.”

  Ramlal looked troubled. “I'm sorry we can't bring her to meet you right now. We can bring her to the police station tomorrow. Or perhaps you can ask her on the phone?” He fumbled around in his pocket and brought out an old, cheap mobile. Dialling quickly, he handed the phone to Shahid.

  “Hello.” A voice appeared over the phone. Youthful and feminine, with a Bihari accent. In the background came the sounds of a band blaring bhojpuri music.

  “Is this Dolly?” Shahid asked, raising his voice slightly.

  “Yes, who is this?”

  “My name is Inspector Khan. Do you know a boy named Sujeet?”

  “He's my classmate, saabji.” The girl said.

  “He asked us to check up on you. Are your parents being unkind to you? Did they ever hit you or make you feel unsafe?”

  “No, saabji.” The indignation in the voice increased. “They told me to tell them if Sujeet bothers me again. But he's my friend. He's not doing any harm. I've told them a hundred times he-”

  “Are you happy staying with your parents?” Shahid broke in before the girl could launch into a defence of her friend. “You can be completely honest with me. Do you feel safe at home?”

  “Yes. I'm at a mehndi baraat right now.”

  Shahid disconnected the call and sighed. The crowd had been silent so far, but they all spoke now in a rush, explaining and gesticulating, eager to convey to Shahid their take on Ramlal and his family problems.

  Aditya took a step back from the chattering crowd, all wanting to talk to the visiting policeman. He walked over to a house which had a cycle standing outside it. Strapped to the cycle's back seat was a brand new shiny barrel that seemed at odds with the grubby appearance of the house and the cycle. He read the label. Sulphuric acid. Suddenly he saw an old woman watching him from inside the window of the house. Their eyes met, and the woman motioned for him to wait. She hobbled out of the house, leaning heavily on a stick and gesticulating with a knobbly hand.

  “There's no water in the tank.” The old woman said, coming up to him. “When are you going to fix it?”

  “What?” Aditya asked, taken aback.

  “The water tank.” The old woman said pettishly. She pointed in the distance to the ancient water tank looming over the basti. “Two weeks without fresh water. And my poor girl has to go a mile to the muncipalty truck to fill two buckets! What are you going to do about it?”