The Bankster (Ravi Subramanian)

by Ravi Subramanian

  ‘Karan?’ Indrani placed her hand on his shoulder. ‘Are you feeling alright?’ Karan didn’t respond. By that time, Malvika had come into the room. Feeling a bit confused, she asked, ‘Did someone call me?’

  ‘Yes, I did!’ Karan finally spoke. ‘Whose ID have you used to log on to iCloud on your iPad?’

  ‘iCloud? I’ve never used it.’

  ‘You have an iPad and haven’t heard of iCloud?’ Jacqueline asked Malvika. Kavya glared at her.

  ‘I know what it is. But I’ve never used it. I don’t think I even have an iCloud ID. But why do you ask?’ Malvika asked curiously.

  ‘But it seems to be active on your iPad. And you don’t have an iPhone?’ Karan pointed to the Nokia handset that she was carrying. iCloud was a popular feature with anyone using multiple Apple devices.

  ‘I use a Nokia Lumia. I’ve always used a Nokia.’

  ‘But your iPad is synced with other devices on iCloud. Whose ID is it?’ and Karan started looking at the settings to see whose ID had been used to log in to the iCloud services.

  ‘It must be Harshita’s. She had given me a detailed demo on my iPad when she gifted it to me. Guess she wouldn’t have logged off. I use my iPad largely for reading books and so never realized that it would still be active. In fact, she was the one who loaded hundreds of books, pictures etc. onto it when she gave it to me.’

  ‘Did she send you any messages, emails or pictures from her vacation?’

  ‘No. Not really. She was very particular about what she spent money on. She was telling me before she went that she would be turning off the data roaming feature on her iPhone while on vacation. Her friends had told her that it costs a fortune if you keep it on. Data charges on roaming are prohibitively expensive, particularly while travelling overseas. Hence she would normally send emails or Skype with me whenever she had access to free Wi-Fi.’

  ‘Did you notice anything suspicious or worrisome?’

  ‘In fact, nothing at all. The last email she sent me was from Vienna. She sent me a short email from there, stating that they found a Café Coffee Day in Vienna, and how she was very excited about it. She made such a big deal about a free twelve-hour Wi-Fi deal that CCD had in Vienna. Mom and me were laughing about it when we spoke on the phone that night—about how she exploited it to the fullest—skyped with Raymond, Mom and a couple of other friends. She was in CCD for over an hour, only because she was thrilled at the free Wi-Fi.’

  ‘She told you that she was there for an hour?’

  ‘No. She tried to Skype with me a few times. I was in Kolkata and not free when she called. So couldn’t speak to her. Finally she sent me a mail, saying that she is leaving and will call me later. From the time the first Skype call came to the time she sent the email, the gap was over an hour.’

  ‘Oh understood. Was there anything out of the ordinary about her phone call to your mom? No, nothing,’ Malvika replied patiently. Just normal mother-daughter talk. She told her that she was planning to go to some place Raymond wanted her to and was looking forward to coming back home. Have you seen the photos in Photo Stream?’

  ‘What’s Photo Stream?’

  ‘Never mind.’ Karan was in no mood to explain all over again. ‘Can we keep this iPad for some time, if you don’t mind?’

  ‘Yes of course. Why? Is there a problem?’

  ‘No Malvika. Thanks a ton for your help.’

  As she walked out of the boardroom, Malvika turned back and looked at Karan. ‘Please be careful. It’s Harshita’s last gift to me.’ The confused look was still on her face. Karan smiled and nodded, ‘Of course.’

  ‘Indrani’, Karan spoke after the door shut behind Malvika, ‘Harshita was killed. And it was definitely because of something to do with Asia Logistics and the Union of Jews Foundation.’

  Neither of them spoke. Both had a questioning look on their faces.

  ‘Look at this,’ and Karan stood up and walked up to Indrani with the iPad. Kavya and Hemant clustered around him. ‘There are four photos in the Photo Stream of this iPad.’

  He brought up the first one on the screen.

  ‘First one. The address plate of the Union of Jews Foundation. The address as per this plate is the same as the address on the remittance certificate from the boutique bank in Liechtenstein. This means Harshita did go there. How else could she have taken this picture?’

  ‘Oh my God!’ exclaimed Indrani.

  ‘Wait, it’s not over yet.’ He brought up the second picture on the screen. ‘The second photograph shows the address plate with the interiors of UJF’s office. It shows three people standing.’ Indrani glanced at it. The picture had been taken from a distance. The images of people standing inside the office were tiny. ‘Jacqueline, can you please get my reading glasses. They are on my table.’ When Indrani said this, Jacqueline started walking towards Indrani’s room.

  In the interim, Karan flipped to the third photograph. ‘The third photograph has the three guys looking at the main door with guns in their hands.’

  ‘Oh my God!’ Indrani exclaimed again. ‘You were so right Karan.’ She could see the men holding a shining object in their hand, which she presumed was a gun.

  ‘Wait Indrani. There is more to it. The fourth one has Siddhartha being dragged into the office.’

  ‘Is this Siddhartha?’ Indrani queried.

  ‘Yes Indrani. I could recognize him because I just saw his picture in the other pictures of Harshita, which Jacks showed me.’ Indrani looked at the picture. All the other men in the picture had guns and one of them was holding the gun to Siddhartha’s head.

  ‘So they were here till 12.46 a.m.,’ Hemant butted in.

  ‘How do you know?’ Kavya was curious to know how Hemant figured out something that she had missed.

  ‘That’s what the clock in the background suggests.’ Looking at Karan, he added, ‘As per the Vienna Police’s press release, they were last seen at Café Coffee Day at 1.30 a.m. This would mean that from 12.46 to 1.30 when they reached Café Coffee Day, they were alive.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Karan, who was lost in deep thought.

  Indrani took the iPad from his hands and flipped through the pictures again. The images were small and hence it was difficult for Indrani to see the faces of the three people apart from Siddhartha. Jacqueline hadn’t brought her reading glasses yet. ‘Jacqueline!’ Indrani called. ‘Can’t find them Indrani, they’re not on your table,’ Jacqueline replied, walking back into the room.

  ‘Never mind. It might be in my bag. I’ll find them myself.’ Indrani was very possessive about her bag and would not let anyone, including her secretary, touch it.

  Karan went on, ‘Raymond had asked Harshita to check out the address, without realizing its implications. And Harshita, too, obliged. That’s what Malvika also said, right?’ and he looked at the others. ‘She landed at UJF and saw something she was not supposed to. Her husband and she were obviously a threat to someone and hence got eliminated. Raymond too knew too much and he was murdered.’

  ‘But tell me Karan. . .’ Kavya began.

  ‘Will you just hold on, I’m also thinking this through,’ he snapped. He immediately realized his mistake. ‘I’m sorry sweetheart. I’m just really worked up now. Really sorry. What were you saying?’ and he went around and hugged her. Hemant managed a wry smile.

  ‘I am only playing the devil’s advocate here Karan.’

  ‘I said sorry na.’

  Kavya smiled. ‘Okay. As I was saying, if Harshita was on the run, and her data roaming was off, how did the photos manage to get uploaded to iCloud and sync with the iPad?’

  ‘I was thinking about it after Malvika told me that her data roaming was turned off.’

  ‘Maybe Harshita turned her data roaming on, just so that others could see the pictures that she had clicked,’ Hemant suggested.

  ‘Unlikely,’ argued Karan. ‘When someone is in duress, it is highly unlikely that he or she would have the presence of mind to turn data roaming on so that
her pictures could be seen on some other device. In fact, I doubt if Harshita would have even known that her iCloud ID was active on Malvika’s iPad.’

  ‘The question then is, how did the pictures appear on the iPad?’ When Hemant said this, everyone in the room went silent. The same question was on everyone’s mind. For a good two minutes, no one spoke.

  ‘The only way this could have been possible was if they got connected to a Wi-Fi network purely by chance, and the pictures got uploaded to iCloud on their own. Right?’ said Kavya hesitantly, breaking the deafening silence that had gripped the room.

  ‘Bingo!’ yelled Hemant. ‘Fabulous! Remember Café Coffee Day?’

  ‘Café Coffee Day?’ Indrani didn’t understand what he was talking about. Neither did the others, not even Kavya, who had suggested the possibility.

  ‘Café Coffee Day, Indrani,’ Hemant continued. ‘Remember what the press release said? That they were last seen at Café Coffee Day at around 1.30 that night. They were there earlier in the day from where they spoke to Raymond. Harshita had called him on Skype from her iPhone, after logging on to the Wi-Fi network there. She even sent a mail to Malvika from Café Coffee Day. It’s highly likely that at night when she and her husband stopped at CCD asking for help while trying to escape, her iPhone would have got automatically connected to the Wi-Fi at CCD and the photos would have got uploaded to iCloud and that’s how it would have appeared on the iPad’s Photo Stream.’

  ‘Wow. That’s brilliant Hemant,’ Karan said. ‘This is exactly what would have happened. According to the Vienna Police’s press release, the staff at CCD was uploading their data for the day to the company servers in Bangalore. In other words, their network would have still been up and running.’

  ‘And she had a twelve-hour free Wi-Fi deal with Café Coffee Day,’ Hemant continued, ‘Remember? Malvika just told us how she and her mother laughed about how excited Harshita was about the twelve-hour free Wi-Fi. So the twelve-hour connection would have been active when they passed through Café Coffee Day. The iPhone would have reconnected and in an instant uploaded everything to iCloud, which would have sync-ed to the iPad the next time Malvika connected it to the Internet.’

  ‘Indrani,’ said Karan, ‘I think you should bring Vikram in. I’m at loss to see how we will question him. But it’s very clear now. His involvement as a deal swinger is what has caused this for all of us. It’s clear—the Union of Jews Foundation in some way or the other was responsible for the killing of Harshita. Raymond got to know and that’s why he is also dead. Now we all know this. Before anything happens to us, we need to make sure that this is in safe hands.’

  ‘I am not sure how to take this forward. Should we speak to Vikram first? Or should we first speak to HR, involve the regional office and then involve the cops?’

  When Indrani said this, Karan got thinking.

  ‘If we strongly believe that Vikram is the cause for all this, and we now have enough reasons to do so, I think we should only speak to him, but only after covering ourselves. We should not let him know that we know about this unless we have adequate protection. However, I am sure of one thing. I don’t think we can keep it among ourselves now. It’s gotten too big. We will have to inform everyone about this breach.’

  ‘I think you’re right Karan. We don’t have time.’ Indrani turned to Jacqueline, ‘Can you call Vikram and tell him to be around and that I want to meet him. Karan in the interim, either you head down and brief Tanuja, or call her here.’

  ‘I will head down and speak to Tanuja about it. Will be back in ten minutes. It will be a bit embarrassing if Vikram lands up while we’re briefing her.’

  ‘Sounds good.’ Indrani turned to Hemant, ‘Let’s talk to Internal Security and use them to call the cops. Ask Francis to come and see me.’ Indrani wanted to make sure that the Head of Internal Security was around when they spoke to Vikram. It was now getting far too big for the three novices to handle. And now they had enough evidence to question Vikram on his involvement.

  Karan in the interim, walked out to meet Tanuja. As he opened the door of the conference room, he looked back. ‘Kavya, come with me. And Hemant, Can you lend me your access card? Security will not stop me if I have the access card.’ He turned, looked at Jacqueline, ‘And Jacqueline, a small request. Can you please tell Tanuja that Kavya and I are coming down to see her?’

  The second floor was relatively crowded—a floor that was occupied by the HR, Commercial Banking and the SME teams.

  Tanuja was waiting for them. ‘Hi Karan. How have you been? How is the article on GB2 coming? Found some juice for your story? Meri bhi koi achchisi photo chaap dena yaar.’

  ‘Sure Tanuja.’ Karan had a wry smile on his face. ‘In fact, I came to talk to you about something important and sensitive.’

  ‘Jacqueline told me. Come, come,’ she said, leading them to a plush sofa in the corner of her room. ‘And Kavya, how come you are on this project?’ On seeing Kavya squirm, she added, ‘Well having a boyfriend in the media surely helps the organization,’ and she winked at Kavya who smiled in return.

  Karan and Kavya made themselves comfortable. Kavya scanned the room out of curiosity. It was a large cabin. Tanuja’s desk was in a corner, which was away from the door. Next to the door, to the left of where they were sitting, was a display cabinet which proudly showed off all the awards that GB2 had won over the years. When Tanuja saw Karan staring at the trophies, she walked up to the cabinet and said, ‘This year we won the Business Today best employer award. We are a great organization to work for.’ She pulled out the Business Today trophy and proudly held it out for Karan to see. ‘Some day, you must come back, Karan. This organization can do wonders with a few good people like you.’

  Karan managed a smile. Kavya looked at Karan from the side of her eyes. ‘She really thinks that you are here to do the article,’ she whispered as Tanuja turned to keep the trophy back on the top shelf of the glass cabinet.

  On their right hung a bright red Persian rug. ‘Nice,’ said Karan, trying to indulge her with some small talk, while his mind weighed different ways in which he could talk to her about the core issue. ‘Thanks! Bought it in Hong Kong when I was there on a holiday.’

  ‘Looks quite exotic,’ commented Karan, eyebrows raised admiringly.

  ‘Chinese imitation. Cheap stuff. I bought it off the pavement.’

  His eyes roamed the room from the door past the glass cabinet, skimming over her table, on to the rug. And stopped abruptly.

  ‘Tell me. How can I help you?’ Tanuja asked, settling into her chair.

  Karan didn’t even hear what she said. Something in the room caught his attention and he was focused on that. As the realization hit him, he was stunned into silence, sweat breaking out on his forehead. Kavya didn’t notice what he was going through.

  ‘You know Tanuja. Over the last few days. . .’ the moment she began, she felt Karan’s cold and sweaty hand cover hers. The chillness surprised her. Karan’s hand pressed hers firmly, asking her to remain silent. Quickly, Karan stood up. ‘Kavya, can you please come with me? I think I’ve left the list of questions we were to ask Tanuja back in the boardroom. Let’s get it before we talk to Tanuja.’ He looked at Tanuja and added, ‘Sorry Tanuja, I will be back shortly.’

  ‘Is everything okay? Why are you sweating so much?’

  ‘I guess it’s just the exertion, Tanuja. I will be fine.’ And he stepped out.

  ‘Call me if you need any help,’ was the last thing Tanuja said before the two of them closed the door. If she followed it up with something else, which she probably did, neither of them heard it.

  Kavya was wondering what went wrong. ‘What’s the problem Karan? Are you alright?’

  ‘Not here,’ and Karan walked briskly towards the door—as fast as he could walk without attracting any undue attention. Kavya had a tough time keeping pace with him. They reached the lift lobby but the lift was on the fifth floor. ‘Come let’s walk,’ said Karan moving towards the stairs. />
  ‘Karan is everything okay? What the hell is the problem?’ Karan didn’t respond. On reaching the fifth floor, Karan made a dash for the boardroom. He pulled the door open and ran in. He sat down on the chair, elbows on the table and held his head in his hands as his fingers ruffled through his hair. ‘What the fuck? I just can’t believe this.’

  ‘What happened Karan? Will you please stop going around in circles and tell us now?’ Kavya was getting impatient.

  ‘I will. I will. But let me gather myself. This is very strange.’

  He got up, walked to the door, and opened it just a bit to stick his head out, ‘Jacks!’

  ‘Yes sweetheart,’ Jacqueline promptly responded.

  ‘Is Francis Jobai here?’

  ‘Not yet. He will take about forty-five minutes to reach here. He’s somewhere in Powai. There was an issue in the branch and he had gone to meet the cops there. But he’s on his way back.’

  ‘Great. We will need to be with Indrani and Vikram only when he comes here. Right?’

  ‘Hmm. . .’ Jacqueline nodded. ‘In any case, she has told me to make sure you get access to her when you want to. So it’s not a problem. How was the meeting with Tanuja?’

  ‘Will let you know soon.’ And he went back into the conference room.

  ‘Kavya and Hemant, the next forty-five minutes are the most critical. We have time till Francis Jobai reaches here. Post that, we will be out of the investigation and they will take over. We need to focus and make sure we only look for what we are trying to find out. I want you to look for certain specific things.’ And he went on to outline everything that he wanted them to do. ‘And I want all of this to be closed out now. So guys better start moving.’

  After giving them instructions, Karan walked to the corner of the room, where his mobile phone was lying. He picked it up and dialled a number. ‘Is this a recorded line?’

  ‘No asshole. You called my cell phone. Unless someone is tapping my phone,’ Karan started laughing. ‘I need some help.’ In fifteen minutes, Karan got off the call. He had got what he wanted.