In the Name of God

by Ravi Subramanian

‘Tanveer, my technology head who helped you decode the Amsterdam hotel key card. He used to work at the Lotus Pond. His fiancée still works there. We can ask her if she has access to the data on Internet usage and websites accessed.’

  ‘Why will she do it for you?’

  ‘Let me talk to him,’ Pallavi coaxed. ‘Why rule out the possibility of him helping. If he doesn’t, you can go directly to the hotel to seek this information.’

  ‘But that will take time. And that’s a luxury we don’t have,’ Khan said, looking at Krishnan, the latter’s transfer weighing on his mind.

  Pallavi stepped out of the room and called Tanveer.

  ‘We need to get this done, Tanveer,’ she told him.

  ‘I will ask her if she will help,’ Tanveer responded. ‘But I’m not sure she’ll agree. She may get into trouble.’

  ‘Tanveer, if she does, we will hire her. You can tell her that. If you want, I will have her appointment letter ready tomorrow morning itself. We’ll be helping nab a murderer!’

  ‘Okay, ma’am. I’ll speak to her.’

  ‘Thanks, Tanveer. We will need the Internet access details of all the members of the audit team, Divya Choksi and Aditya Kumar, plus their credit card details so that we can pull out the kind of transactions they have been doing, and their room bills. I’m sure the key cards will also tell a story. We need that information too.’

  113

  That evening, the first set of data came in. It pertained to the core audit team. One by one, they went through the list of website URLs accessed from the morning of the day Kannan was killed to the night that Subhash was killed. Tanveer’s fiancée had asked for some more time to run the query and pull the data prior to Kannan’s death.

  ‘Nirav is gay, man!’ Madhavan announced with a laugh. ‘He was searching for gay porn. Did you see how he was ogling Kabir’s butt? Now I know why!’

  ‘Shut up!’ Kabir yelled. ‘Focus.’

  Vikram Rai had been visiting antique sites across the globe, investment sites, Netflix and some random sites.

  Subhash had been busy googling his own name and accessing his Manhattan store website. Narcissism at its peak. He had also googled the steps that had been excavated next to the temple walls and the underground drainage network of Thiruvananthapuram several times, apart from accessing a few mail sites.

  Kabir and the others went name by name. Every single person was covered. But they didn’t come across anything that could have been termed suspicious. They were about to give up when Tanveer called Pallavi. Possibly because of her closeness to Khan, she had become an integral part of his team.

  After speaking to Tanveer, Pallavi looked up. ‘He is sending some more data. A few other rooms as well.’

  Kabir looked up from the bills that he was perusing. Bills from Aditya’s room. Subhash’s bills hadn’t come in by then.

  The second set of data that Tanveer sent, rather his fiancée sent, was explosive. After combing through it, Kabir showed it to Krishnan. It didn’t take Krishnan long to figure out what the data suggested.

  He called the ACP. ‘Let’s get a team together. We need to go on a mission.’

  ‘It can’t be far from the hotel perimeter,’ he said looking at Kabir. ‘Let’s check every possible option within seven hundred metres.’

  It was 7.30 p.m. Everything would shut by 9 p.m. They had to move fast. In no time a team of eighteen officers led by an ACP assembled in the porch of the police headquarters, awaiting instructions. Khan and Krishnan arrived a few minutes later.

  It was the beginning of the end.

  Part 3

  114

  THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

  Aditya’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the key being inserted in the lock. He turned and looked at the door of his cell. A constable stood there, gesturing him to follow. Aditya stepped out of the lockup and walked with the constable to the main hall of the police station, housed in the headquarters.

  As he entered the hall, he saw Divya seated there. Her eyes were swollen as if she had been crying. He turned away. He didn’t have the heart to say anything.

  ‘Why?’ asked Divya when she saw him. ‘Why did you have to do this?’ She started sobbing again. ‘You wanted to kill Dad! He loved you. He loves me so much that he agreed to let me be with you. What did he ever do to you?’ She hid her face in her hands and cried, her shoulders shaking.

  Kabir was leaning against the table beside Divya. Legs crossed at the ankles, he was observing the scene very keenly. He was the one who had wanted Divya to confront Aditya. The latter had been quiet so far. They had tried questioning him a few times the previous day, but it hadn’t worked. They had desisted from using torture as a weapon given the profile of the people being investigated. He had to be coaxed into talking, and being confronted by Divya could just do the trick.

  Aditya still didn’t say anything. He even refused to look at Divya. She stood up and walked towards him. The moment their eyes met, overwhelmed with guilt, he lowered his gaze. He had failed her. She stopped right in front him, raised her right hand and slapped him.

  ‘Hold it!’ Krishnan yelled from his chair. ‘This is a police station, young woman. Leave the violence to us.’

  Divya glared at him and then turned back. Aditya hadn’t shown any signs of breaking down. Overcome, she slumped down in a chair. Just then, Nirav walked into the police station. He was accompanied by Vikram. As soon as she saw him, she rushed into his arms.

  ‘What are you doing here, Divya? You should leave all this to me.’ Nirav had said the same thing when Divya had called him that morning to inform him that she was going to the police station.

  ‘I am sorry, Dad,’ Divya said and hugged him. Her sobbing continued. Her faith had been shattered. Her love life was in a shambles.

  Kabir allowed the tender scene between father and daughter to continue for a bit. After which he led all of them to a separate room within the police station. He didn’t want people to interrupt their conversation. Nirav had not filed a police complaint against Aditya for conspiring to kill him. However, the police had taken suo moto notice of Subhash’s messages and filed an FIR.

  ‘So Aditya,’ he began the moment they had settled down. ‘Why did you want to kill Nirav Choksi?’

  ‘One day you say I killed Subhash Parikh. One day it is Nirav Choksi. Why don’t you make up your mind?’

  ‘Answer the question, Aditya.’

  ‘You are going by the words of a senile old man and accusing me of doing something I did not do.’

  ‘Do you mean to say the messages Subhash left on Nirav Choksi’s phone were nothing but the hallucinations of a senile mind?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Bullshit!’ Divya spoke up. ‘He is lying.’ She looked really upset. And angry.

  ‘And what makes you say he is lying, young lady?’ Krishnan asked, a gleeful look on his face. Strangely he was enjoying the conversation.

  ‘I know Aditya. If he weren’t lying, he would not hesitate to lock eyes with me. The very fact that he is unable to do so, means that he is not speaking the truth.’

  ‘That’s hardly an explanation,’ Kabir scoffed.

  ‘Have you ever loved anyone, Officer?’ Divya asked him abruptly.

  Kabir’s face became red.

  Krishnan cleared his throat loudly and said, ‘Let’s not get melodramatic, Ms Choksi.’

  ‘Well, if he has, he would realize that people become very perceptive when they’re in love. When you know someone loves you, you are blind to everything. But when you suspect the person you love to be cheating on you, the same issues which you would have ignored earlier now begin to tell a story.’ Tears streamed down her cheeks as she said this.

  Kabir was beginning to enjoy this impromptu lesson in love. ‘What made you believe he was not in love with you?’

  Divya hesitated. ‘It is a long story, Officer.’

  ‘Take all the time you need.’

  ‘I would rather not talk about the pas
t, Officer. Suffice to say that I know he cheated on me.’

  ‘Aaah!’ Kabir exclaimed. ‘And when one cheats, it is fair to assume that he doesn’t love you any more. Fair assumption.’

  ‘I am still hoping that he is in love with me, though.’

  ‘If he comes back to you, will you take him back?’

  Divya looked at Kabir, anger rapidly replacing the tears welling up in her eyes. ‘He tried to kill my father! And you want me to take him back?’

  ‘Well, sure he tried to commit a murder. But . . .’

  ‘But what, Officer?’

  ‘But you actually beat him to it.’

  115

  ‘What!’ Aditya exclaimed. ‘What was that?’ There was a shocked look on his face. For a moment he thought he hadn’t heard Kabir correctly.

  Divya looked up. Kabir was looming over her, his face expressionless.

  ‘Are you freaking crazy?’ she shouted.

  Krishnan discreetly rang the bell and a uniformed lady officer stepped in.

  ‘How could you even insinuate that, Officer?’ Nirav stepped up in between his daughter and Kabir.

  ‘What’s the hurry? We will get there . . .’ Kabir smiled broadly. He pushed Nirav to the side, and asked Divya, ‘So tell me, Ms Choksi, when did you learn about Shreyasi Sinha?’

  ‘Who?’ Divya asked feigning ignorance.

  ‘Would you like some help remembering, young lady?’ Krishnan took out a photograph from a folder and handed it over to her. He pointed to a woman in the picture and said, ‘This is Shreyasi Sinha.’

  ‘I have no clue what you are talking about. Who is she?’

  ‘Look carefully. Does she look familiar?’

  ‘No.’ Divya glanced at the picture and looked away, shaking her head. Krishnan looked at Aditya. ‘Sir,’ he said sarcastically. ‘Do you know her?’

  Aditya didn’t even try to take the picture from Kabir’s hands. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I know her.’

  ‘That’s all?!’ Khan ridiculed. ‘I know her. That’s all you have to say?’

  ‘She was a judge at the International Jewellery Design Competition which I won.’

  ‘Was there a link between the two?’ Krishnan asked. ‘I mean between you winning and her being there?’

  Divya looked at Aditya. He was standing there silently. ‘She had no role to play in my win.’

  ‘Aah! Then it was after the competition, is it?’

  Aditya remained quiet. His silence spoke volumes.

  Kabir looked at Divya; she had started to sweat by now. ‘Are you certain you don’t know this lady?’

  Divya looked away, refusing to acknowledge the question.

  ‘If you don’t know who she is, what were you doing outside her room a few days before Subhash Parikh got killed?’

  ‘All of you have seriously lost it,’ she responded. ‘If I am saying that I don’t know her, why would I be outside her room?’

  ‘Leave her alone! If she says she doesn’t know her, she doesn’t,’ Nirav defended her vociferously.

  ‘Let’s see, shall we?’ Kabir said, ignoring Nirav’s outburst. He crossed the room and plugged in a pen drive into the computer and clicked on one of the files that showed up on the screen.

  It was CCTV camera footage that Kabir had obtained from the hotel. After Tanveer’s fiancée’s data came through, they had explored the feed across the entire hotel. From the supers on the screen one could make out that this was from the twelfth floor at Hotel Lotus Pond, outside room 1203, right next to the service lift.

  ‘Have you seen this room before?’ Kabir asked Divya. He dragged the cursor and fast-forwarded the video. The time stamp on the screen said 01:43.

  Divya recognized the date: it was Nirav’s birthday.

  The lift on the floor opened and Divya stepped out. She tiptoed to room 1203 and stood outside the door. It seemed like she was trying to eavesdrop on the conversation in the room. Slowly she took out her phone and dialled a number. She inched closer to the door and pressed her ear to it. Something distressed her, for she covered her mouth and turned away. The slight shaking of her shoulders suggested that she was crying. She stood there for a few moments before making her way back to the lift.

  ‘Okay, let’s fast-forward this now,’ Kabir said, dragging the video to 03:21. The door to room 1203 opened and Aditya emerged from within.

  ‘Do you want me to show you more?’ Kabir asked. ‘If you are wondering, the person in the room is Shreyasi Sinha.’ He looked around the room. There was a stunned silence. ‘Similar CCTV recordings of the day Shreyasi Sinha arrived from Singapore show that she checked into this hotel.’

  Aditya was shocked. Till this moment he had not imagined that Divya or, for that matter, anybody knew about his transgressions.

  116

  ‘What I am wondering is how you figured out the room number,’ Kabir said to Divya. ‘It was a different floor, completely exclusive, three suites. How did you know the correct room?’

  Divya realized that there was no point denying anything. ‘By chance,’ she said. ‘I’ve had my doubts for a long time. That day, on Dad’s birthday, when I returned to my room, I called Aditya. When he didn’t answer, I went to his room. I have one of the key cards. He was not there. On instinct I pressed the redial on the hotel phone in his room. Normally people use hotel phones for room service, laundry, housekeeping, etc. This time the phone connected to another room. I knew something was wrong. After that it was just a matter of time. Most men get away with their affairs, for the women in their lives are tolerant. But if the woman is hell bent on finding out, a man can’t hide an affair, no matter how hard he tries.’

  Kabir didn’t volunteer any information on how they had learnt about the relationship. The Amsterdam hotel key card that was found in Aditya’s house was for a room which had been booked in the name of Shreyasi Sinha. That coupled with the fact that Aditya hadn’t stayed in the same hotel in Amsterdam had raised questions. It didn’t mean much, but it did suggest that theirs might have been more than a professional relationship. It was only when they started tracking Divya and her movements through the hotel on the CCTV camera footage that they discovered that Shreyasi was in the same hotel. And what a prize catch it was. Tanveer’s fiancée’s data had worked.

  ‘Even the best of men make mistakes,’ Kabir said.

  ‘Yes,’ Divya said, nodding nervously. ‘They do.’

  ‘It never occurred to you that you could also make mistakes?’ Krishnan asked.

  ‘What? What mistakes are you talking about?’

  ‘If you want to kill someone, googling how to from your phone is the last thing you should ever do.’

  Divya was stunned.

  ‘Succinylcholine,’ Kabir said. ‘Heard of it? It is also called Sux.’

  Seeing the blank look on everyone’s faces, he added. ‘Last year, Dr Santosh Pol was arrested in Maharashtra for killing six women using Sux. It was in the papers.’ He turned towards Divya. ‘Any particular reason you googled him?’

  ‘What? Why would I? I’ve never even heard of him. I don’t remember everything I google. Do you?’

  Kabir walked to the table and pulled out the papers that Tanveer’s fiancée had sent. It was the document detailing the websites visited by everyone in the audit team as well as Divya and Aditya.

  ‘On your father’s birthday, you googled Santosh Pol and then accessed the article in the Times of India which outlined how he killed his hapless victims.’

  ‘It is a regular news article.’

  ‘Oh that it is.’ Khan agreed, nodding. ‘Here it is,’ he said, as he pulled out the article and placed it on the table.’

  ‘Sux’ hard to detect in system

  Umesh.Isalkar@timesgroup.com

  Pune: Succinylcholine or Sux is a neuro-muscular paralytic drug used by Santosh Pol who allegedly kidnapped and then killed an Anganwadi worker and five others by administering it.

  The drug causes muscular paralysis, but has no sedative effects;
the victims could have been wide awake when Pol injected them, experts said. Senior critical care expert Shirish Prayag said the drug is used to relax muscles along with anaesthetic drugs when a patient needs to be intubated. ‘It acts so quickly that we have to immediately put the patient on a ventilator to support respiration or he or she may die. The drug paralyses all the muscles in the body including those used for breathing. The drug is less commonly used now because better substitutes are available,’ he added. Forensic science expert Harish Tatiya of state-run B.J. Medical College said, ‘The drug cannot be detected easily as it metabolizes quickly into the natural components present in the human body. This makes its detection tougher.’

  The methodology to detect the drug is not commonly available in India because Sux is not used for poisoning or killing someone, Tatiya added, cautioning that since it is injectable, it cannot be used to kill someone by a common person.

  Succinylcholine is not an over-the-counter drug. It is a scheduled drug under schedule H of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, accessed against a prescription from a registered medical practitioner, a senior official from the state’s Food and Drug Administration said.

  ‘When you google the article immediately after discovering that your boyfriend is cheating on you, it doesn’t mean much. When, after reading this article, you continue to research what Succinylcholine does, it is still not very significant. Even when you google “painless means of killing + sux”, it can be ignored. However . . .’ Kabir looked at the people in the room. ‘However, if on the day you guys return from Kanyakumari, you step out at night and buy the injectable drug along with four strips of Alprax, that raises not some, but many questions. Do you deny that you went out and bought these drugs the day you came back from Kanyakumari?’

  ‘Are you guys so desperate to close this case that you decided to pin it on a kid? You call yourself cops. You should be ashamed of yourselves.’ Nirav sprang to his daughter’s defence.

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ Khan said and ignoring Nirav he asked Divya again, ‘Do you deny that you went out and bought those drugs?’