The COMPLETE Siya Rajput Crime Thrillers (Books 1 to 4)

by UD Yasha

  Saint Anthony’s Church was on the outskirts of the city. The church itself was big and grand. Huge green courtyards surrounded it. The Priest was waiting for us when we reached.

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ the Priest said as he took us to dad’s grave. ‘Is Roark doing well?’

  ‘He’s hanging in,’ I said.

  The Priest smiled once and said, ‘I’ll let you be.’

  The inscription on dad’s tombstone read: Loving husband and father and a brave friend. He had died on the 11th of January 2020, four days before I had got the call. I fell to my knees and started crying. Radha was right next to me. We held each other close.

  I said, ‘Even when I cannot see daddy, I will remember him and I will be okay.’ I heaved loudly and wiped my tears. ‘Has the Priest left?’ I said.

  ‘Yes,’ Rathod said.

  He was standing back, giving us our space.

  ‘There has to be something here,’ I said. ‘There’s no other reason Coutinho would have mentioned the grave while he was dying.’

  ‘I only have one doubt. Why would he not directly tell us that the evidence we are seeking is actually here? Why hide it when he was dying?’

  ‘Even I have thought about that. He was being tackled by one of the guards while he was telling us everything. Perhaps he didn’t want to be too obvious and let him know. He wasn’t aware of the situation. He was last fully conscious just before he was shot. That was before Shukla and Radha arrived. So, he thought our backs were against the wall and the Viper’s men were in control. If he had told us that the evidence was here, there was a chance that the Viper’s men would have got here first. He didn’t know we had the situation under control when he told us.’

  ‘Let’s check,’ Radha said.

  I could sense she was feeling a strange kind of energy that even I was experiencing. We were deeply upset that dad had died, but at the same time, we wanted to find the evidence and expose the Viper for him more than anything else.

  Rathod joined us near the grave. Each of us picked sides and clawed at the soil along the grave. It was moist and easy to dig. I was hoping that the evidence wasn’t inside the casket because there was no way we would be able to dig that deep and open it without drawing any attention.

  As the thoughts circled my mind, I thought my fingers hit something. Five seconds later, I saw the edge of a box started digging faster.

  ‘Guys, there’s something here,’ I said as more of the box was revealed.

  Radha and Rathod helped me out and we dug faster together. Within a minute, we could see the entire box. It was the size of a large whiskey bottle. It was made from metal and had a seal around its edges, presumably to protect its components from rotting and getting damaged by water.

  Once we had dug most of the soil around it, I picked it up. Rathod used the thin blade on his keychain to rip open the seal. I could feel my heart beating all over my body. I held Radha’s hands and opened the box.

  It had a pen drive inside along with some papers. Some of the papers had yellowed.

  ‘The evidence we were seeking,’ I said, not able to believe that we actually had it with us. It had been the cause of so many deaths. I was deeply curious to know what was inside it. But, at that moment, my attention was drawn to Radha because I realized what the papers inside were.

  Radha was leafing through some of them. Her voice choked. ‘Siya, these are letters that dad wrote to all of us for our birthdays when he wasn’t there.’

  ‘I don’t mean to be insensitive, but we need to get going,’ Rathod said. ‘It’s only a matter of time before the Viper realizes we’re alive. We need to see what’s inside the tape and give it to the right authorities.’

  We went back to our car. Radha and I were holding hands. We couldn’t wait to read what was in the letters. But first, we had a job to do that would make dad proud and happy. We drove straight to Dr. Rastogi’s house where Roark Coutinho was being treated. We couldn’t take the chance of enrolling him in a hospital anywhere outside. Harshvardhan Kuhad had got Rahul and maa to Dr. Rastogi’s house as well. I had even asked Jay Parikh to join us at the house to secure the contents of the pendrive. We wanted to cover all bases in case the Viper got to know that we were still alive.

  We gathered in Dr. Rastogi’s daughter’s room.

  ‘We’ll use my laptop,’ Jay Parikh said. ‘It’s secure and I’ll simultaneously back it up using Blockchain. The pen drive will be secured and it wouldn’t matter if we lost the pen drive. Its contents will also be permissible evidence in court as its back up time will be recorded.’

  ‘Let’s do this,’ Radha said.

  Rahul had joined us while maa was in a room upstairs.

  The pen drive had one video and several documents. We started off with the video.

  From the angle it was recorded, we could make out that it was being shot secretly. The person shooting it was in a big room with many other people who were in police uniform. There was a buzz of chatter that stopped when the door opened and a man walked in.

  ‘Motilal Ahuja,’ I whispered under my breath, recognizing the man who had entered the room.

  Motilal Ahuja sat in front of the police officers. He circulated a file around the room. When it came to the shooter, we saw the papers in the file. It was the file on a woman named Nazia Salim.

  Radha paused the video and said, ‘Nazia Salim was believed to have played a role in two bomb blasts in Jammu.’

  ‘And she was killed in an encounter in Mumbai a few months before Kabir Ahuja’s death,’ Rahul said. ‘We came across her while going through a lot of papers and data over the past three days.’

  Radha resumed the video.

  For the next ten minutes, Motilal Ahuja briefed the police officers about the encounter on Nazia Salim. Her two-year-old kid and her twenty-nine year old husband lived with her. The encounter squad, which was a different and specialized group of police officers, was going to carry out the operation. The police officers who Motilal was speaking to were going to secure the neighbourhood in case their target got away. After the meeting was done, all the police officers were dismissed.

  As they were walking out, Motilal pointed at the person who was shooting the video and said, ‘Shikhar Kunte, please report to my office.’

  Rathod paused the video this time. ‘Kunte worked at the Mumbai Police Headquarters and was killed on the same day as Kabir Ahuja.’

  Some pieces of the puzzle began to fall in place for me. I was yet to come across anything incriminating against Motilal Ahuja but five minutes were still left on the tape.

  Rathod resumed the video.

  Kunte kept recording as he walked to Motilal’s office. He closed the door behind him

  ‘You know the protocol,’ Motilal said.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Kunte responded.

  ‘Here’s what you need to plant at Nazia Salim’s house,’ Motilal said and handed Kunte a bag.

  Kunte opened it to reveal a host of things like blueprints of different places, pictures of various locations, bomb-making manuals, two satellite phones, a journal and pictures of three men.

  ‘That’s enough evidence to let people think that Nazia Salim is a terrorist.’

  Kunte said, ‘I’ll do it, sir. Don’t worry.’

  ‘Do it by tomorrow. There’s reliable intel that she keeps a safe in her house. Its code is six-two-three. Put it all inside. Like the other times, no one should have any doubt that Nazia Salim was an extremist Muslim terrorist.’

  ‘Don’t worry, sir. I’ll take care of it.’

  ‘Make it clean like you did with Javed Shimla and Iqbal Nazir,’ Motilal said. ‘Be careful and don’t get overconfident.’

  ‘I will, sir,’ Kunte said and then the camera took us out of the room.

  The video ended.

  A cold silence played in the room for a spell.

  ‘He was conducting fake encounters,’ I said, not able to believe what I had just seen.

  ‘This guy is now the Depu
ty Defense Secretary of India. The so-called encounter expert,’ Rathod said.

  ‘At least these ones were fake encounters. Innocent Muslims being framed as terrorists,’ I said.

  ‘I recognized the other names he took…Javed and Iqbal,’ Radha said. ‘I remember them being amongst the terrorists who were killed by missions headed by Motilal.’

  ‘He built his career and rose through the ranks based on falsified evidence and fake encounters. No wonder he is killing everyone who knows about this,’ Rahul said.

  Jay Parikh punched the air and said, ‘This will stop now. The video and the documents have been backed up. I’ve also set up an auto-send message to all the big news channels, not just in India but across the world. It’ll get sent unless we disable it ourselves in the next twelve hours. Only I know the code to turn it off. Let’s keep it that way for safety purposes.’

  ‘What do the documents contain?’ I said.

  Radha opened them and started skimming through them. She said, ‘It’s proof for a money trail. It shows that Motilal paid off a bunch of people to keep them silent.’

  ‘I’m sure it also has a bunch of hitmen that he has hired over all these years,’ Rathod said.

  ‘How should we go about exposing the bastard?’ Radha said.

  ‘I know a Supreme Court Judge,’ I said. ‘He has heard high-profile cases before and is a man of great honour. My mentor, Santosh Hegde, was a close friend of his. We can share everything we have found with him. We can rest assured that the matter will be taken seriously. Action will be taken against Motilal. It’ll take a while to build the case but he will be taken into custody right away. The video evidence is enough to put him away pending procedure.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan. We’ll send what we have to the office of the Chief Justice of India as well,’ Rathod said. ‘Jay can help us get it delivered securely.’

  ‘We’ll do it right away as the risk to our lives will reduce only after Motilal is arrested,’ I said. ‘We’ll stay here till then.’

  ‘I just don’t understand why Kabir Ahuja was killed. Did Motilal order a hit on his own son and daughter-in-law?’ Rathod said.

  ‘I think only Roark Coutinho can tell us that. But I went through Kabir’s work and I’m guessing he was a man of honour. Even back then, taking on someone of the stature of Motilal was going to be difficult. That’s why Kabir would have thought that if he broke the story, then it would be taken even more seriously. Motilal would have probably got to know about it or Kabir might have confronted him. Either way, Motilal is a heartless cold man. He killed innocent people, labelling them as terrorists to further his career and then murdered his own family to preserve that.’

  ‘And all along, he was trying to act innocent so as to not attract suspicion. He started his own investigation into the murders of his family members to make it look like he was helping the police,’ Rathod said.

  ‘We’ve got him,’ I said, smiling.

  There was a knock on the door. Rahul opened it.

  It was Dr. Rastogi’s assistant. He said, ‘We just finished the operation. Roark Coutinho is still serious but out of danger.’

  I turned to Radha and said, ‘We did dad proud and now Coutinho will tell us what happened to him as well.’ A tear trickled down my cheek when I saw Radha’s eyes water. ‘We should always remember dad for who he was. A loving father and husband and a brave friend.’

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Four days later

  Roark Coutinho’s road to his recovery was going to be a long one, but he was going to live.

  Rathod and I went to see him when Dr. Rastogi told us that he was stable. Coutinho looked at least five years younger when we saw him even though he was on a hospital bed.

  ‘We brought some apples and oranges for you,’ I said, placing them on the side table.

  ‘Thank you, both of you. Not just for the fruits but also for everything else’ he said. ‘I was told that Motilal Ahuja has been arrested.’

  ‘Thank you too. It wouldn’t have been possible without you,’ I said. ‘The Chief Justice of India is personally looking into the matter.’

  ‘You know, Siya, your father would be extremely proud of you,’ Coutinho said. ‘He had a big role to play in this.’

  I felt my body stiffen. ‘I wanted to ask you about him.’

  ‘I’m sure you would have many questions.’

  ‘What happened to him?’ I said.

  ‘I’ll have to tell you everything from the start,’ Coutinho said.

  He raised himself to sit up on the bed. He said, ‘Your dad had come across a group of corrupt cops seventeen years back. He had to be a part of their group to make sure they shared information with him. So, he took a bribe to prove his allegiance.’

  ‘That’s why we saw his name in Mule’s register,’ I said to Rathod.

  ‘Who’s Mule?’ Coutinho said.

  ‘Another brave man,’ Rathod said and told him about the register.

  ‘We thought that triggered everything that was happening,’ Radha said.

  Coutinho shook his head. ‘That’s not the case, although I understand why you felt that. Let me tell you what happened and then everything will be clear.’

  ‘Yes, please,’ I said, curious.

  ‘Once the corrupt cops trusted your dad, they told him that they had stolen evidence from Kabir Ahuja’s murder. One of the items was a floppy disk. It had the video that exposed Motilal Ahuja. They saw it and started blackmailing Motilal.’

  ‘I’m guessing that didn’t go down well,’ Rathod said.

  ‘They didn’t know how powerful and fierce Motilal was. I got to know of it because Shikhar Kunte, who recorded that video, hired me to build a case against Motilal. Along the way, I realized how dangerous Motilal was. I looked him up and suspected that he had conducted at least ten fake encounters and even killed his own family members. He was ruthless and power hungry. When Kunte, Kabir and Sheena were killed, I believed that the best way to save lives was by anonymously blackmailing Motilal to not hurt anyone more in exchange for silence by all the people involved—which included the corrupt cops and your dad. I told them what was at stake and how the Viper could go to any length to protect himself.’

  ‘How did dad come to know about the tape?’ I said.

  ‘He didn’t know who the Viper was but the rest of the cops in the gang told him about the presence of a video that implicated someone big. I told everyone to stay away, once again anonymously. Without revealing my identity, I told your dad about what the Viper was capable of. It included his known targets and threats made to your dad himself, as the Viper believed he was a part of a group of corrupt cops who had stolen the floppy disk and then blackmailed him. Motilal had sent your father a picture of a hitman next to his kids. Your dad went into hiding to keep all of you safe.’

  Coutinho drank some water. ‘I also anonymously helped Motilal’s secretary, Namita Dhingre, to fake her death and get away. Her family, which included her parents, her husband and their small baby, was also being threatened by Motilal. Being his secretary, Namita was too close to Motilal and knew a lot. She had played a role in convincing Kabir to run a story on his father.’

  ‘And Kabir had agreed to expose his father?’ Rathod asked.

  ‘He had seen the video and he was convinced. I wasn’t but I didn’t mind sharing a copy with him. But Motilal got a whiff of what was happening and ordered a hit on his son, daughter-in-law and Kunte,’ Coutinho said and paused. ‘Then everything changed a year back. Your dad got to know that your mother was still alive. He wanted to get back with his family. He reached out to Namita Dhingre and convinced her to testify against Motilal Ahuja. Through her, he got to know me. Dad had wondered why I had hidden the evidence, and had thought that I was a part of the Viper’s team. When he broke into the safe, he realized that I was the person responsible for keeping his family safe when he saw the affidavit I had sent to the Viper. He reached out to me and started building a case against Motilal A
huja. He had Namita Dhingre on his side. He had also got Niyati and Malhar Jathar on board to make the case airtight. They were going to testify that Jane Doe was Namita Dhingre. Varun Saxena was also a part of the group of people your dad had gathered, given his role in breaking into my safe.’

  ‘Why did he have grease on his body?’ I asked.

  ‘The Viper somehow got to know about him. We had to protect him and changed the way he dressed and looked. The grease and shabby clothes were a part of his disguise. He was with the Jathars that day.’

  ‘If Namita was on your side, why did she kill the three of them?’ Rathod said.

  Coutinho shook his head. ‘Just days before we were going to present the evidence, Namita switched sides for the fear that Motilal would kill her family if he got to know that she was alive. She gave away your father’s location, which resulted in him being caught. I broke him out of there eventually. That’s how you found the layout at my house.’

  Coutinho went silent. I knew what was about to come.

  ‘But your dad got badly injured in the process. He passed away soon. He had asked me to keep you away from the investigation. But on his deathbed, he insisted that a copy of the evidence be buried along with him in case all other plans went south.’ Coutinho looked me straight in the eye. ‘Your father thought that you would figure it out. He believed in you.’

  I was trying hard to hold back the tears.

  ‘Namita also killed the Jathars and Varun Saxena to keep the evidence against Motilal hidden. She then asked you to come to Stan Mills, thinking your father had shared what he was up to with you. I got to know of what she had done to Varun and the Jathars, so I went to Stan Mills to save you. But a hitman was also present to kill Namita and me. Eventually, I killed Namita before she could hurt you, but I was caught by the hitman in the process. I have been in the Motilal’s custody since then. I was only kept alive to give them as much information as possible.’

  ‘Why were we not attacked before today?’ I wondered out loud.

  ‘I told them that someone else had the video and that they would release it if you or your family were hurt,’ Coutinho said.