Saboteur

by RV Raman

  Leaving Puneet in Gautam’s care, Nilay stepped out of the cabin and summoned one of the staffers.

  ‘Puneet is roughly your build,’ Dhruvi heard him say. ‘Run to M.G. Road and get him some new clothes. Pick up a couple of T-shirts and shorts or three-fourths so that you don’t have to wait for them to alter the length. Some underclothes too. Hurry!’

  ‘Sure, Nilay,’ the staffer nodded.

  ‘Put it on your card. Either Sundar or I will reimburse you when you return.’

  As the staffer hurried off to do his bidding, Nilay summoned the administrative person and instructed him to have toiletries and towels ready in the shower attached to the gym.

  ‘Get some tea and biscuits,’ he called to the office boy who was hanging around, wide-eyed. ‘Is there anything to eat?’

  ‘I’ll take care of it.’ Mervyn rumbled, hurrying forward. ‘There is some leftover idli and vada from our lunch order. I’ll send it in. Should I have a room prepared at the guest house?’

  ‘Good thinking, Mervyn. Thank you.’

  Dhruvi was impressed at the speed and decisiveness with which Nilay had gone about trying to make Puneet comfortable and the spontaneous warmth of his reaction on recognizing the young man.

  Just then, her phone buzzed. It was Alex.

  ‘On my way,’ he said. ‘The doctor has advised that nobody should ask Puneet any questions about where he has been or what happened to him. The doc wants to be there when those questions are put to him for the first time.’

  Dhruvi hung up and briefly drew Gautam and Nilay aside to convey the doctor’s instructions.

  ‘Okay,’ Nilay nodded crisply. ‘We’ll get him cleaned up and fed. I’ll discourage all talk till the doctor gets here.’

  ‘One more thing,’ Dhruvi said softly. ‘Once Puneet changes into fresh clothes, put everything he is now wearing into a bag and hand it to me. Everything.’

  Nilay returned to Puneet and said conversationally, ‘Hey, buddy. Want to wash your hands and face? Mervyn’s getting you something to eat. You can take a shower after that. You’ll feel much better.’

  Five minutes later, Puneet was back in the room and wolfing down the snacks Mervyn had brought him. From the way he devoured the food, it was apparent that he hadn’t eaten in a long time. From time to time, he would try to speak, but Nilay gently waved him into silence, assuring him it could wait till later.

  ‘All in good time,’ he told him several times with a soothing smile, displaying bedside manners a doctor would have been proud of. ‘We’ll have all the time in the world to talk and catch up once you’ve eaten and bathed.’

  Presently, the staffer Nilay had sent out returned with some new clothes for Puneet. Nilay escorted Puneet to the gym shower, where the administrative person had organized towels and toiletries for his use. By the time a freshly bathed Puneet returned to the room with Nilay, Alex and the two police doctors had joined Dhruvi and Gautam.

  Although he now appeared all spruced up, the look on Puneet’s face was that of an utterly unsettled man. Fear and perplexity were the primary emotions on his face and the haunted look had returned to his eyes. He stood very close to Nilay, as if seeking his support and protection.

  ‘Since you were hurt, we’ve called these doctors over to have a look at your injury,’ Nilay gently explained. ‘Come, Puneet, sit down.’

  ‘But first, Nilay,’ Puneet whispered. ‘What exactly happened to me?’

  Nilay exchanged a quick glance with the doctors. One of them nodded, silently encouraging him to go ahead.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Nilay asked.

  ‘I remember our talking in this office late in the evening,’ Puneet whispered, his words coming slowly as he tried to remember past events. ‘Then everything is a blank. The next thing I remember is standing by a road somewhere on the outskirts of the city. What actually happened to me, Nilay?’

  Sitting at the very edge of his chair, Puneet was clutching Nilay’s hand, like a child would hold his father’s. He was peering into Nilay’s face, his expression beseeching. At a loss, Nilay shot another glance at the doctor who had nodded earlier.

  ‘You don’t remember anything that happened in between, Puneet?’ the doctor – a psychiatrist – asked, taking over from Nilay.

  Puneet shook his head, perplexity evident on his troubled face. He still clung to Nilay’s hand.

  ‘Do you know how long that period was?’ the psychiatrist went on.

  ‘I…am not sure.’ Puneet was becoming restless, agitated. ‘I think Nilay and I were talking on Friday. Weren’t we, Nilay?’

  Puneet looked up at Nilay imploringly. Nilay nodded. Puneet continued to look bewildered.

  ‘What day is it today?’ he asked abruptly, looking wildly from Nilay to the psychiatrist.

  ‘Friday,’ the psychiatrist replied quietly.

  ‘Friday? Today is Friday?’

  The truth had dawned on Puneet. With it came panic.

  ‘It’s been a week?’ he yelped. ‘Two weeks?’

  His hands shot up to his unshaven face and ran over his stubble.

  ‘It’s been a week,’ the psychiatrist said gently. ‘Do you remember anything of the past week?’

  Puneet shook his head helplessly. His eyes looked terror-stricken.

  ‘Can you remember where you were all this time?’ the psychiatrist continued, his voice encouraging, comforting.

  ‘No.’ Puneet grew agitated. He sat up erect in the chair. ‘Oh my God! Where was I? What happened?’

  He sprang to his feet, his eyes wild, fearful, the way they had been when the security guard intercepted him at the office entrance a while ago. He now grasped Nilay’s arm so forcefully that the latter winced in pain.

  ‘Nilay! What happened?’ he asked. ‘I was with you, wasn’t I? With you!’

  ‘I don’t know, Puneet,’ Nilay said, making a conscious effort not to pull his arm out of the other man’s vice-like grip, even though it was hurting him. ‘The last I saw you was downstairs, on the pavement. You were waiting for a car.’

  ‘Car!’

  The word was a yell. Puneet released Nilay’s arm and brought his hands together, the bunched, trembling fists clasped together at his chest. His face crumpled and tears flowed again down his cheeks. He retreated to a corner of the room, his back against the wall, and slid down to the floor, crouching on his haunches and cowering like a severely traumatized child, completely oblivious to the presence of the others in the room.

  The psychiatrist rose and approached Puneet, motioning Nilay to follow him. Both men knelt beside the petrified Puneet and Nilay gently stroked his head to calm him. The psychiatrist spoke in a soothing tone, reassuring Puneet that everything was okay now. After a minute or two, they took him by the hand and led him back to the chair.

  Once they had settled Puneet in the chair, the psychiatrist turned to speak to Dhruvi.

  Before he could utter a word, however, Puneet began yelling.

  ‘Mamma!’ he wailed, looking aghast. ‘Papa! Oh my God! I must call them. They must be out of their minds with worry!’ He looked around wildly and reached out to Nilay again. ‘Can I use your phone?’

  As Nilay pulled out his mobile phone, Dhruvi spoke for the first time. She had watched silently, not wanting to intrude on the psychiatrist’s examination of Puneet by barging into the discussion.

  ‘I’ve spoken to your father,’ she told Puneet, her tone gentle. ‘Your parents are taking the earliest flight they can catch to come and see you. By the way, I’m Dhruvi. You and I are distantly related.’ She smiled reassuringly at him. ‘But, by all means, feel free to call your home now, while the doctor examines the wound on your head.’

  As the other doctor took a chair beside Puneet’s, the psychiatrist gave the others a quiet nod before stepping out of the room, indicating that they should follow. Dhruvi, Gautam and Nilay did so.

  ‘He’s exhibiting symptoms of acute trauma,’ the psychiatrist observed, once they were assembled in the adjacent
discussion room. ‘It’s too early to say anything definite, but for the time being, we shouldn’t probe too much. As you saw, he gets agitated when his thoughts go back to the past week. That is quite typical of this kind of trauma. I would advise proceeding cautiously. We’ll have to take it one step at a time.’

  ‘What’s the plan now, Doctor?’ Dhruvi asked.

  The psychiatrist glanced at his watch.

  ‘It’s 7.30 now. We’ll do a full physical check-up at our medical centre and take some blood samples. It should be over within an hour. Let him have some dinner and sleep through the night. I’m going to give him medication to calm him down and help him sleep. We’ll take it from there tomorrow morning. Where is he going to stay?’

  ‘At our guest house,’ Nilay replied. ‘A room has been prepared. It’s pretty close by.’

  ‘Okay. We’ll send a male nurse back with him to attend to him during the night.’

  ‘We’ll have two men watching him too,’ Dhruvi added.

  ‘Watching?’ the psychiatrist repeated, uncomprehending.

  ‘Well, “protecting” is, perhaps, a more appropriate word. We don’t yet know what this is all about.’ A thought struck her. She turned to Nilay. ‘I wonder how he reached this office.’

  ‘He had some money in his pocket,’ Nilay replied. ‘I saw it when I was with him in the gym. The guard downstairs said he saw Puneet get off an autorickshaw.’

  Ten minutes later, Puneet was led away for his medical tests and Dhruvi and Alex left the office.

  ‘Recorded video, Alex?’ Dhruvi asked, as they sat in the police car.

  ‘Yes, ma’am. All of it.’

  ‘Good. I took some shots before he bathed and changed.’ She nodded to the plastic bag Nilay had given them. ‘Have his clothes analyzed – dirt, stains, everything. Let’s try to get some pointers to where he has been in the past week.’

  ■

  ‘Amnesia?’ Sashikant Puraria asked sharply. ‘He doesn’t remember anything about the past week? Where he was? Who abducted him? Nothing?’

  Gautam was on a conference call with his father and brothers. He had just briefed them about Puneet’s return. Earlier, Gautam had sent Nilay off, urging him to accompany Puneet to the hospital, in case the young man needed his emotional support and the reassurance of a familiar face. Nilay was to settle Puneet into the guest house and leave him in the care of a male nurse and two policemen. Once all of them had left the MyMagicHat office, Gautam had wound up for the day and returned home to talk to the other Purarias.

  ‘The memory of the past week is there somewhere in Puneet’s head,’ Gautam replied. ‘But when he tries to recall the details, he simply goes to pieces. I witnessed it all. It’s as if he’s in the throes of a nervous breakdown. There’s no doubt that he has been through something terrible last week and that memory is terrifying him.

  ‘There are rope marks around his ankles; he had obviously been tied to something. His wrists are in even worse condition. The skin has been scraped off and the ropes have cut deep into the flesh, drawing blood. The doctor said there were bruises on his arms, legs and torso too. The head wound is a bad one but, fortunately, no damage has been done to the skull. That head wound, the doctors say, would have caused concussion.

  ‘The doctors hope that sedation and rest will help him come to terms with whatever trauma he went through and he will slowly begin remembering things he’s afraid to dredge up now. The psychiatrist was very clear that Puneet shouldn’t be pushed too hard. He has forbidden us from asking him what happened during the past week.’

  ‘How long will his recovery take?’ Raj asked. ‘When will he start remembering things?’

  ‘Nobody knows. The doctors say there’s no way of predicting such things. And they will not force the pace because of the risk of permanent damage to Puneet’s psyche.’

  ‘Not good,’ Sashikant growled. ‘Not good at all. We must get to the bottom of this quickly. Kantoff is going slow. We need to sew up the deal quickly.’

  ‘Raj Bhaiya, did you speak to Vikram?’ Gautam asked.

  ‘Yes. He’s very keen and says that he’s pushing as hard as he can. It’s Nigel who seems to have dug in his heels –’

  ‘Even though he picked up FVG Tech’s stake,’ Dilip cut in sourly.

  ‘Yes, but that was before he learnt of Moin’s death. Coming on top of Puneet’s disappearance, that has spooked him good and proper. It looks like Nigel intends to use the entire period of exclusivity he has.’

  ‘Does he know about the electronic bugs and the data theft?’ Sashikant cut in.

  ‘No. Nor does Han Tuen, as far as I know.’

  ‘Nigel and Vikram,’ Sashikant continued. ‘Is there any way we can…er…incentivize them?’

  Raj and Dilip fell silent. Gautam had no idea what his father was talking about.

  ‘Incentivize, Papa?’ Gautam asked. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Later, Chotu.’ The question had been aimed at Raj and Dilip.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Raj said slowly, as a puzzled Gautam listened patiently. ‘I don’t see how we can do it at this stage…especially with Nigel. Vikram is not a problem; he can be bought. But what’s the point? He’s already convinced. Nigel is the problem – he’s an old hand at this game. Any attempt to…er…incentivize him would only backfire.’

  ‘I feared as much,’ Sashikant rumbled on. ‘Have you opened informal talks with the other firms that are waiting?’

  ‘I have,’ Dilip replied. ‘Since Raj is in conversations with Kantoff, we thought it best that I speak to the others.’

  ‘What do they say?’

  ‘They are interested. But they want to know why I am talking to them in the first place. They want to know if Kantoff is falling through.’

  ‘Do they know about Moin?’

  ‘Not yet. If they ask, I’ll say that he was an unfortunate victim of a communal conflict. That’s what the papers said. Gautam, what’s the update on the data theft?’

  Gautam briefed them about Harry and Manoj’s confessions and Tau Squared purchasing the stolen data. He told them all that Dhruvi had shared with him about Tau Squared and the imminent raid on it.

  ‘Good!’ Dilip exclaimed. His voice was hard. ‘I hope they nail the buggers and shut them down.’ Then his voice turned pensive. ‘But this data theft thing is getting bigger. I dread to think what Tau Squared might have done with our data for a week. They wouldn’t have just sat on it.’

  ‘No, they wouldn’t have,’ Gautam agreed. ‘Hopefully, the raid will tell us something on that front. I’m really worried about that. But there’s something else bothering me as well.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘The background check on Nilay mentioned rumours that he might have used Tau Squared in his earlier job. As you know, they grew like crazy and surprised everyone. There were speculations that Tau Squared might have helped them artificially boost key growth measures.’

  ‘Artificially boost?’ Dilip asked. ‘How?’

  ‘Bots.’

  Gautam heard a sudden intake of breath from the other end of the line, followed by a long silence. He imagined shock and dismay on the faces of the three Purarias in Mumbai.

  ‘Any truth in it, Gautam?’ Sashikant asked slowly.

  ‘I don’t know, Papa, but I somehow can’t believe it. I don’t think Nilay is that sort of a person.’

  ‘He’s ambitious. Very ambitious. Remember what I had said earlier? A time may come when his interests don’t align with ours.’

  ‘Yes. But still…’ Gautam left the sentence unfinished.

  ‘And he is a computer science graduate, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Gautam was reluctant to believe that Nilay might have used Tau Squared’s dubious services in the past. Even if he had done so earlier, he wouldn’t have continued the practice at MyMagicHat.

  Dilip’s next question voiced exactly that concern.

  ‘What are the chances that Nilay is still involved with
Tau Squared?’ he asked. ‘At the end of the day, someone generated that transaction listing, which was eventually stolen. It couldn’t have been Moin – he was too straight and transparent. It must have been someone who knew the system well, including its data structures and how to extract from them. It may well have been an inside job.’

  Gautam’s mind was in turmoil. Logically, Dilip’s argument made sense. But Nilay wouldn’t – couldn’t – do such a thing. MyMagicHat was too close to his heart. Besides, it was the vehicle for his ambitions.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he found himself whispering. ‘I don’t know what to make of all this.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Dilip said slowly. ‘Perhaps, you can ask Darshan to keep an eye on what he does with the system. He can just create a log of all that Nilay does, when he is logged in – what data he accesses, what kind of queries he runs, the times when he does that and stuff like that. He often works late, doesn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, Bhaiya. But so do many others.’

  ‘Sure. It was just a suggestion. Think about it.’

  ‘Yes, Gautam, think about it,’ Sashikant added. ‘No harm done. If you don’t want to single out Nilay, do it for everyone who has unfettered access to your data. At least to your sensitive data.’

  Gautam brightened. That was workable! That would be sufficiently impersonal. And prudent too. Creating a log of what everyone with access to sensitive data did was a logical thing to be doing in this situation.

  ‘Yes,’ he found himself saying. ‘That makes sense.’

  Chapter 20

  The raid on Tau Squared took place on a Saturday morning. Dozens of policemen, including cyber crime sleuths, swooped down upon the company’s offices just as it opened. Earlier, unknown to others in the company, the man who had bought MyMagicHat’s stolen data from Harry had been picked up.

  Within fifteen minutes of commencing the raid, the police had located the disk with the stolen data. Ten minutes later, Harry and Manoj had seen photographs of the disk and identified it by a code that Manoj had written on the disk with a permanent marker. Simultaneously, fingerprints had been lifted from the disk and its contents examined.