The Bankster (Ravi Subramanian)

by Ravi Subramanian

  ‘Did you say eight months?’

  ‘Pardon me?’

  ‘You said Asia Logistics moved out of this office eight months ago.’

  ‘Yes they did.’

  ‘And you moved in around three months ago?’

  ‘That’s correct.’

  ‘Was this office occupied in the intervening five months?’

  ‘No it was not occupied. It was put up for rent, but no one had taken it up. It was vacant, to the best of my knowledge.’

  ‘Thanks. Sorry for bothering you.’ And he rushed to the 6th floor. He wanted to meet the guys at Asia Logistics. Something was amiss. He ran down three floors, at times skipping multiple steps and finally landed at the door of Asia Logistics.

  It was a small office with twenty-odd employees. Even though the employees were few, they were very well organized. Everyone had nametags and ID cards, the entry to the main area was controlled with access cards, and there was even neat seating provided for visitors. All in all, it seemed like a good organization.

  The lady at the reception was a thin girl who looked as though she might be from south-India but sported a nametag that read ‘Misha Bose’. Karan wondered how the name and appearance were completely divergent. But it was not the time for that discussion. He walked up to her and said, ‘Misha, I need to see the person in-charge here.’

  ‘What’s this regarding?’

  ‘I am here to investigate a fraud.’ Typically all front-office personnel change their approach the moment the word fraud is dropped upon them. They suddenly become a lot more helpful, and Misha was no exception. She went in and when she returned she had a fat, pot-bellied, nerdy-looking guy with her. She pointed towards Karan and the nerdy guy approached him. He looked at Karan through his thick glasses and asked him, ‘Yes, what can I do for you?’

  ‘Sir my name is Karan Panjabi and I am here on behalf of GB2. Are you the in-charge here sir?’

  ‘I am Tripat Gill, the branch in-charge. Tell me.’

  ‘Mr Gill, I want you to confirm if these Account Opening Forms have been filled and signed by your directors.’ And he handed over the complete set of forms to the nerd.

  Tripat Gill studied the forms for precisely ten seconds and handed them back.

  ‘No.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘Hmm. . .no. . . We don’t have a director named Asad Ansari.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘One hundred per cent.’ Tripat was supremely confident about his claim.

  ‘Maybe if you see their photographs, you might recollect something.’ And he opened the page which had the photographs and turned the papers towards the branch in charge.

  ‘Oh this guy!’ Tripat Gill was shocked when he saw the photo. He looked at Misha, ‘See what this guy has done? Didn’t I tell you the day I first saw him, that he is a fraud?’ Misha walked up to them to check out the photograph. It seemed to shock her too.

  ‘What happened? You know him?’ Karan queried.

  ‘Yes. He was my ex-boyfriend. He used to come to the ninth floor office quite often. In fact, when we moved to the sixth floor, he was considering taking the ninth floor office for some business of his, but that never worked out.’

  ‘Hmm. . .do you know where he lives?’

  ‘No. I haven’t seen him in the last three months. Even when I was dating him, he never took me to his house.’

  Karan spoke to them for a few minutes more and rushed back to Ground Zero—the conference room adjacent to Indrani’s office.

  ‘Bastard, fraudulent account. The company exists, but the guys who opened the account have opened it without the knowledge of the actual company. The real Asia Logistics does not even know that there exists an account in their name in GB2.’ He gave Kavya a run-down of all that he had seen and heard.

  ‘Which means the money which is coming in is being used for clandestine purposes. It’s a clear case of money laundering,’ said Kavya. ‘But Karan, there is a visit report of a RM on file. How did the RM miss it?’

  ‘Let’s ask her.’

  ‘Wait, I don’t think that will be necessary.’ And she quickly glanced through the report. ‘She visited the site early in the morning. And if one links it up with what you are saying, Zinaida went there before Global Telesys moved in. If the name plates in the lobby were there even today, they would surely have been there when she would have visited the office. She would have fallen for it. If you see her report, she has mentioned that no employees were seen because it was so early in the morning. The visit was stage-managed for her. GB2 got taken in by the amount of money involved and took the bait.’

  ‘Hmm. . .that can be the only explanation. So it looks like we are on the right track. We would not have figured this out hadn’t you noticed that Asia Logistics has a HOLD instruction. Don’t know how I missed it.’

  ‘It’s okay boss. You have been out of touch with banking for a long time now.’ And Kavya winked at him.

  ‘That reminds me, where you able to get the details of all those accounts wherein a large quantum of money has come into the account and has been withdrawn in the form of cash within a few days? Can I see the list Kavya?’

  ‘Yes yes. I got that Karan. There are sixty-eight such accounts across the country. In the last three months, about two hundred crore rupees have come in from overseas into these accounts and almost everything has been withdrawn in cash. In fact twenty-one of these sixty-eight accounts have already been closed—and that too within three to four months of their being opened.’

  ‘Hmm. . .that means that these accounts were possibly set up with the objective of getting tainted money from overseas and once the money was siphoned out, these accounts were closed.’

  ‘And you know what. While you were away, I was struggling to run this query. So I asked Amit how to run it.’

  ‘Who Amit?’

  ‘Works in the data mining team?’

  ‘You asked him for help? Didn’t we tell Indrani that we wouldn’t?’

  ‘Yes. But I had to get the job done. And guess what, he told me that two days back he had run this query and given the same data to Raymond.’

  ‘Shit. You shouldn’t have told him. Now he will know.’

  ‘Don’t worry, he’s going out of town tonight and will be back next week. We will be done by then.’

  ‘Okay cool. Hope he doesn’t open his mouth.’ He walked to the corner of the room. Raising his right hand, he twisted the venetian blinds and allowed light to filter into the boardroom. Standing there, he stared out blankly at the road below and the parked cars on the sides. The traffic, the crowd, the hawkers. . .nothing made an impact on him. ‘If Asia Logistics was fraudulently set up, it’s understandable. Nothing earth-shattering about it. The banking system is full of such benami accounts. Despite the banks trying to weed them out, they do exist. What baffles me Kavya, is why were all these guys killed? Why was Raymond killed? Why was Harshita killed? If the bank had been vigilant, they could also have found out that Asia Logistics was a bad account. But could that have stopped the murders?’

  ‘Is it possible that they were killed because they found out?’

  ‘Which means we’re next in line,’ he winked at Kavya. ‘If we don’t see each other tomorrow, remember baby that I love you.’

  ‘Very funny.’

  32

  Mumbai

  Afternoon, 31st January 2012

  Raymond’s funeral was a very muted affair. Not many people attended. From GB2, Tanuja, Vikram, Juliana and a few others who were dutifully obliged to attend, were present. Indrani didn’t attend this funeral too. For once, it was not her obsession with self-promotion that held her back. She didn’t want to leave Karan and Kavya behind, managing things alone.

  The post-mortem report had estimated the time of death at around 2.00 a.m. It also put the reason for Raymond’s death as one caused due to strangulation and the resultant cut-off of oxygen supply to the brain. There was no other injury, external or internal, which showed any
fight or violence of any kind. No one was interested in pursuing the case. Raymond’s wife had given up on him, his parents were incapacitated and old, and in no position to take on anyone, GB2 was an organization that did not want to involve itself in any controversy and as far as friends are concerned, Raymond didn’t have many. Most importantly, the suicide note found on Raymond made it an open and shut case.

  ‘Jacqueline!’ called out Karan. He was logging into his laptop for the first time after coming back from the Asia Logistics office. ‘I am sending you something via email. Can you please print it out for me?’

  ‘What is it?’ asked Kavya, curiously.

  ‘The draft post-mortem report and the staff photographer’s pictures from the site.’

  ‘Post-mortem report? Whose?’

  ‘Raymond’s.’

  ‘So soon?’

  ‘This is the draft report which is first prepared and released after some bureaucratic procedures. The media has contacts, so we get stuff out before the formal report is published.’

  ‘Wow. Will print it out for you,’ and Jacqueline got busy with her computer.

  ‘Show me the pictures,’ Kavya butted in. ‘Can I see?’

  ‘Yes you can. But they are quite graphic. Extremely inhuman and repulsive.’

  ‘That’s fine. I will manage.’ And Kavya walked up to Karan, who brought the images on the screen for her to see.

  Meanwhile, Jacqueline demonstrated why she was reputed to be the most efficient secretary. In a jiffy she had printed out the post-mortem report and the pictures and had handed them over to Karan, who was visibly impressed. ‘I work for the CEO you see,’ Jacqueline smiled at him and walked out.

  Karan started reading the post-mortem report. Intermittently he would hold up the pictures and intensely scrutinize them and almost immediately revert to the post-mortem report. It was as if he was comparing the two. He even asked for his laptop for a few minutes and checked something before going back to the report. Kavya had by then seen the pictures and was waiting for the next round of instructions from Karan.

  ‘Rubbish,’ said Karan when he finally finished reading the report.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘This post-mortem report is bullshit. Absolute crap. It’s been done by someone who just wanted to get it over with. Probably the cops didn’t want another case on their hands, so they were happy to call it a suicide. I can bet my ass on it, it’s not.’

  ‘Don’t do that sweetheart. Your ass is far too cute. In fact, it’s the only thing cute about you.’

  ‘Shut up Kavya.’

  ‘Fine, fine. Why do you say that the report is rubbish?’

  ‘It’s very simple,’ said Karan and fiddled with his laptop.

  You saw the picture of Raymond hanging by a long rope right? He was hanging between the two pillars, right in the middle of the horizontal scaffolding. Right?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Karan brought up the picture on his screen. ‘See this?’ He pointed to the rod on which the rope was hanging from and then to the scaffolding. ‘The entire underside of the bridge is covered by scaffolding.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Kavya nodded her head.

  ‘If you look carefully, there are two sections of the scaffolding. One which covers the piers. . .’

  ‘You mean the pillars which hold up the bridge.’

  ‘Yes idiot. That’s what a pier is. One section of the scaffolding covers the piers. Then there is a separate segment of the scaffolding that is underneath the bridgedeck and runs horizontally along the belly of the bridge covering the entire span between the two piers. It’s quite a long section—the piers are about twenty metres apart.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And our friend was found hanging from the centre of this horizontal scaffolding, in other words, he was at least ten metres from each of the piers, irrespective of which side you look at.’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘Now, if he has managed to tie the rope on the horizontal scaffolding, he couldn’t have done it standing on or taking support from the scaffolding on any of the pillars. Which means that the only way Raymond could have got to where the rope is tied to the scaffolding, is if he somehow got on the horizontal scaffolding—below the deck—from the bridge, and carefully walked like a trapeze artist, to the centre of the horizontal span, where he tied one end of the rope, put the noose on the other end around his neck and jumped.’

  ‘I’m listening. It’s so gross.’

  ‘And Kavya, the body is hanging from a long rope. From the looks of it, the rope is about three metres or so.’

  ‘Yes? The length of the rope looks like it’s twice his height atleast. But what does it prove?’

  ‘Hold on. Hold on. Let me complete. I am also thinking aloud. I’m not drawing conclusions. Assume for a minute that Raymond did commit suicide. He would have jumped from here. . .’ and he pointed to a place at the centre of the scaffolding on the underbelly of the bridge, between the two piers.

  ‘Okay?’ Kavya was getting more and more intrigued.

  ‘And in case he did jump from there, he would have had to jump atleast three metres, because that’s the length of the rope. And assuming that one drops three metres while hanging themselves, the jerk would be intense, more so in the case of Raymond, because he is of a heavy frame. In such a case, getting away with all the cervical vertebrae intact is almost impossible.’

  ‘Cervical vertebrae?’

  ‘The human neck, Kavya, is comprised of seven cervical vertebrae that lie in front of the spinal cord and help provide support, structure and stability to the neck. In case of a big jerk, the cervical vertebra gets damaged.’ And he touched her neck to point out the part he was referring to.

  ‘Hmm.’

  ‘The post-mortem reports no other injury or in other words Raymond’s cervical vertebrae were intact. Simply put, it means that Raymond did not fall three metres while hanging. He was killed and later hung slowly from the scaffolding.’

  ‘Oh wow. How did you learn all this?’

  ‘I’m training to be a crime investigator Kavya. TOI is putting me through intense investigative training. You know that, why are you asking me?’

  ‘Alright, calm down. But what if, because of some weird reason—put it down to statistical inconsistencies—his cervical vertebrae stayed intact despite the fall?’

  ‘I know what you are saying. But this is not the only thing in favour of my hypothesis. Look at these.’ And Karan turned the screen of the laptop towards her.

  ‘What are these?’

  ‘Wait wait, before that, let’s go back to the point that I was making earlier.’ And he brought up the picture of Raymond hanging from the horizontal scaffolding. ‘The distance between the point where Raymond is hanging from and the two piers on either side is atleast ten to twelve metres. Right?’

  Kavya nodded quietly. She was hooked, listening closely to what Karan was saying.

  ‘It means that the only way Raymond could have reached the point to tie the knot was by walking on the scaffolding underneath the deck.’

  ‘You told me this earlier too, remember?’

  ‘Yes. I remember. I am just reiterating my point. Now look at this,’ and he clicked on his laptop and brought up a few images on his screen. He zoomed in on one and turned the screen towards Kavya. She couldn’t make out what the picture was about. ‘What’s this?’

  ‘This is a picture of the scaffolding leading to the place where Raymond was found hanging from. Wait till I zoom in’. Karan clicked on a section of the picture and zoomed in further.

  ‘Pretty neat for a scaffolding, except for the dust that has settled on it. Clean by Mumbai standards. Probably because it’s new.’

  ‘Hmm. . .yes. Covered by dust though. If Raymond walked on these and reached the place where he tied the rope, there should be footprints, right? Can you see any footprints?’

  Kavya looked at the picture again and said, ‘No. No footprints.’

  ‘See these?’ Karan b
rought up multiple pictures and zoomed in to all of them and looked at the close-ups one by one. ‘Our staff photographer has covered the scaffolding from all angles. If there are no footprints on the scaffolding, how did Raymond get to where he was hanging from?’

  ‘Oh yes! Obviously he couldn’t have floated there.’ Kavya was extremely intrigued by Karan’s disclosures.

  ‘He could have, Kavya.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yes Kavya, he could have. He could have floated there on a boat and could have been hung there by someone who killed him.’

  ‘You mean to say, someone brought him there by boat and killed him by hanging him there?’

  ‘No, I’m not saying that. I am saying he was already dead by the time he was brought there. He was just strung up, to make it look like a suicide.’

  ‘How can you be so sure?’

  ‘Wait,’ said Karan, getting busy with his laptop again. He pulled up a website; from a distance it looked like the same website that he was looking at a little earlier when he was reading the post-mortem report. ‘Come here,’ he summoned Kavya, eyes focused on the picture on screen.

  ‘I’m right behind you.’ Kavya said.

  ‘Oh, right. Look at this picture. It was taken by our guy at 8.52 a.m.’ It was a close-up of a hanging Raymond. The time stamp on the picture was intact. Kavya felt nauseous. Involuntarily her hand went up and covered her mouth. Karan went on. ‘Look closely at the trousers. Don’t they look clean?’

  ‘Yes they do. So what? He was on his way back from office.’ Kavya looked at the picture. She felt sorry for Raymond. He looked so still, in stark contrast to the water that was flowing about two to three feet below his shoes. No one should meet such an end, she thought.

  ‘Sweetheart, the post-mortem says that he died around 2.00 a.m., which means he jumped from the scaffolding with the noose around his neck around the same time.’

  ‘Hmm.’

  Karan pressed a couple of buttons and toggled to a website showing the tide levels at various points in time. ‘See, this is the table which shows last night’s tide levels.’ Kavya looked at the screen. She didn’t understand anything.