by Laxmi Natraj
The Mystery of the Lingeshwar Temple
and The Lurking shadows
Laxmi Natraj
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Lakshmi Muthukumar for taking on the onus of helping me edit this book.
I am grateful to my husband, R. Natarajan and my daughters Archana Natraj and Jyothsana Ramnath, who remain my permanent source of support and strength.
Last and certainly not the least, I have to thank my dear young grandsons who have shown great enthusiasm and excitement in reading my stories.
Contents
The Police
The Trail Of Blood
The Shadow
The Ghost In The Bush
The Temple Room
Acharyaji
The Intruder.
The Village Hospital
The Reports
The Dark Room
More Investigation
Doctor Netra
Information From The Us
The Visit To The Temple
Goats
Men In Black
Unexpected Clues
Back To Town
Replacing The Treasure
The Hooded Shadow
Discussion in theACP’s Room
Purohit Back Home
Village Development
A Serious Discussion
The Medical Bill
Kamath Interrogated
The Forest
Shocking Facts
Tea With Shiva
Major Ravikanth
The Preparation
The Bulldozers
The Documents
The Wild Search
John’s Diary
John’s Voice
More Planning
More From The Diary
Discussions About The Getup
The Diary Again
A Flash Back
The Makeover
The Monitors
The Storm
The Agricultural Officers
The Villagers.
The Dark Chamber
Movements In The Forest
The Saplings.
Mystery About The Goats
Collar Marks
The Code.
The Accident
Reporting To The ACP
The Miracle Medicine
Prowling In The Dark
The Red Alert
Secrets Of The Camera
Emergency Meetings
Nakul’s Obsession
A Deadly Mission
The Commandos
The Information –
The Battle
The Media
Shiva And Nakul
Terror Plan
The Honour
The True Treasure
Chapter 1
The Police
2nd May, 1.25 p.m.
The police car swiftly zipped past the traffic, its high pitched siren blaring. It was headed towards the Lingeshwar village. The crime branch Senior Inspector, Nakul Kulkarni, looked at his watch for the hundredth time and muttered, “Oh God! Utkarsh, it is taking so much time. It is almost 1:30 p.m., and we have still not reached the crime scene!”
The Junior Inspector, Utkarsh, driving the car as usual, tried to placate his enraged senior, “Sir, so far we were stuck in the Nasik- Mumbai highway traffic. Now that we are out of it, we will be there in minutes.” He stepped on the accelerator even harder and tried to concentrate on the GPS guidance as they turned into a rough, muddy road leading to the village. A cloud of thick dust rose high as the police van followed by an ambulance created a flurry in rather peaceful surroundings.
Nakul looked at the endless stretch of green pastures where the cattle grazed peacefully. Clean air and hardly any noise. A stark contrast from the blaring horns and angry traffic they had crossed just ten minutes ago.
He said, “Utkarsh, this whole thing is so strange. I myself am hearing the name of this tiny village Lingeshwar for the first time! There are so many great tourist places in India. Why did these two foreigners select this non-descript village even for a visit? To top it all both have been found murdered in this tiny village in a bizarre manner! ”
The car jolted as it shuddered over a few potholes. Utkarsh said, “There is something even stranger, sir. The murder has taken place right at the temple door steps! Two Christians murdered outside a Hindu Temple! As the village is small, the people living there might be very orthodox. I have a strong hunch this murder mystery is going to be a real headache for all of us.”
Soon they could see, at a distance, an anxious group of villagers huddled together. They could guess that the group had collected around the old temple. From that distance, the temple hardly looked impressive. As they reached the old but massive locked doors of the temple, the cars came to a screeching halt. Nakul and Utkarsh jumped out.
Instantly, every face from the crowd turned towards them. The village had never seen the Khaki uniform in their village before this. The faces which stared at them were white with fear. A feeling of impending doom seemed to be hovering over them. An eerie silence had replaced the initial soft whispers of the group. The crowd now stepped back and allowed the police and the forensics team to pass through.
On seeing the police officers, a young man, standing near the closed temple door, came scurrying towards the Inspector. He looked like he was in his early twenties, tall, rather well built, with a closely cropped haircut. While his skin had a deep brown tanned appearance, his face seemed bright and intelligent. He wore a typical village dhoti, and a loose yellow kurta. A large Rudraksha mala [1]hung around his neck.
Approaching Nakul, he said in an extremely polite voice, “Sir, I am Shiva, the Purohit of this temple. The bodies of the dead persons are on the back side of the temple. Please come this way.” Nakul followed Shiva’s brisk steps and asked, half expecting a negative answer. “Shiva, does anyone know about the identity of the victims?” He was surprised with the immediate reply. “Yes Sir, they were Americans, Mr John and Ms Julia. They were living in this village for some time now. They were known to all of us.” replied Shiva.
As they reached the first body, they found it sprawled on the sandy mud in a pool of partially dried blood, about two feet away from the temple steps. Julia was lying on her back, her pale green eyes still open, staring at the sky with an absolutely shocked expression. She was rather frail, possibly around mid-thirties, dressed in faded blue jeans and a bright yellow formal shirt. She had a deep blue coat over her shirt that had now turned blackish with blood. Nakul could guess that the lady was shot two or three times through the heart from the way the blood had oozed out of her body. Her strappy heeled sandals were still intact on her feet and her right outstretched hand held a blood stained butcher knife.
Nakul turned back to Utkarsh standing close to him and said “The way she is dressed in formal dress and shoes seems to suggest that she was headed out, probably to travel somewhere, just before she was murdered. Check her pockets for any travel documents or passport.” Utkarsh nodded and quickly started checking out Julia’s pockets. As Nakul looked around, Shiva met his glance and came forward and said, “Sir, John’s body is up there, over those steps.”
John’s body was found a couple of paces away, on the temple steps at the back entrance of the temple. The tall man, slightly over six feet in height, had fallen flat on his stomach, face down. He looked as if he had tripped or stumbled and fallen, with his legs still on a higher step and head slumped on the lower step. His left hand held a gun. His shirt was totally soaked in blood. Nakul knelt close to the body. He could see on
e deep stab wound with profuse bleeding on the left side of the body, very close to his heart. The others were random stabbing wounds, on the shoulder and other parts of the back. The face was turned on its side and his eyes were found closed peacefully. In fact, his lips looked a bit strange, curved almost as if he was smiling. There was no footwear found on his feet. His edges of his denims, close to his ankle, were found to be totally soaked with blood. The bottoms of his feet were rather brown and looked stained with blood.
Nakul said to Utkarsh who had joined him now, “Looks a little bit odd here! How did the edges of the pant become so messy and drenched with blood? He was bleeding from the upper part of his body, right?” Utkarsh examined the dead body’s wounds on upper portion of the body and then the edge of the pants and agreed, “Yes Sir, it looks a bit strange!”
They examined the five wide steps leading to the closed door of the temple. Strangely, there were two blood stain trails, one on each side of the steps. On closer examination, Nakul now noticed that the two blood trails were distinctly different. The trail on the left showed a splash, as if blood drops were falling from a little height. May be they dripped while he was still standing. On the other hand, the trail of blood on other side of the broad steps was smudged and shapeless.
Utkarsh, who was also examining the blood trail, pointed out, “Sir, there is a lot of blood on the lower ridge, on the wooden frame of the door. Possibly after he was stabbed, this man went inside the temple first and then came out. Sir, there is a possibility that there may be some blood traces inside the temple too. We should go inside the temple to see the blood trail to make sure.”
Shiva was standing close by, quietly watching them. Nakul looked back at him and said, “This temple door is locked. But we have to go inside the temple and examine. It looks like this dead man went inside the temple. We want to examine that.”
Shiva said, “Sir, I have to ask the permission of the Sarpanch[2], Neelkanth Acharyaji. Generally, temples are not opened when a dead body is around. Wait Sir, I will ask his permission, Sir.” He quickly turned and walked to the waiting crowd to talk to Acharyaji.
As Shiva moved away, Utkarsh came near Nakul and said, “Sir, the lady’s pockets are empty. Not a single paper there.”
Nakul said, “The way the lady is dressed, fully in formal clothes, it looks like she was ready to flee after she killed this man. She is an American and definitely she would be carrying her passport and other travel documents. But, probably this man shot her just when she stabbed him and she could not flee. Then what happened to her papers? It means after her murder someone has cleared her pockets. Why was it done? By whom was it done? Finally, what could have been the purpose?”
Utkarsh continued, “Sir, see, this murdered man’s feet are bare. Even if he had removed his shoes before going into the temple, they should be lying here near the steps. But his shoes are also missing. Why should someone remove the shoes of a dead man? So there must have been a third man here in this spot that has definitely done all this.”
They looked at each other and Nakul was about say something when he saw the Sarpanch Acharya coming with Shiva towards them. Acharya said politely, “I am so sorry Sir. But you have to excuse us. According to our Shastras[3], the temple remains closed when there is a dead body in the village. Till the body is removed we cannot open the temple. And then these bodies are right at the steps. How can we open the door?”
Nakul started losing his patience. He said, “Look here Mr Acharya,this is not a normal death to follow your Shastras. This is a double murder and that too, it is a murder of two foreigners! The position of the body and the trail of blood on the wooden frame of the door show that this man had gone inside the temple, in a bleeding condition. It becomes very important for us to look for blood trail inside the temple. It is a police business and you cannot say no to that.” His voice became sharper as he talked.
Shiva turned towards Acharya with a questioning look. Acharya nodded his head half-heartedly. As Shiva was about to climb the steps to reach the door Nakul warned, “Don’t step on the blood. Be careful.” Shiva nodded and walking carefully on his toes reached the door and using the key he was carrying in his hand, opened the door and stepped in. The police officers started climbing the steps of the temple, following him closely.
Chapter 2
The Trail of Blood
Nakul and Utkarsh sprinted over the steps and reached the door. Shiva, who was already standing on the other side of the opened door, stretched his hand out, blocking and stopping them and said politely, “Sir, please remove your shoes before entering the temple, this is our pious temple.”
Nakul stared at him for one moment confused, as he did not register what he heard - his mind was deeply engrossed in the various facts about the murder. A bit startled he looked down at his shoes and then said, “Oh, I am very sorry. I forgot that I am entering a temple.” He removed his shoes and socks quickly and all other officers followed suit.
It was half past three and the sandy path outside the temple was scorching hot. But as they stepped inside they could feel the cool atmosphere inside. The rough rocky stone paved floor was icy cold and for a fraction of a second Nakul’s toes curled involuntarily. A gentle, cool breeze coming from some unknown origin was blowing all over the temple. A strange mixture of many fragrances, of incense, flowers, and oil from the burning diyas, hung heavily in the air.
Nakul and Utkarsh started examining the stone floor inch by inch. The rock stone-paved outer corridor called as the outer Prahar, was about ten feet wide and it ran all around the temple. The double trail pattern of the blood mark continued all along the corridor. Tracking the trail, they reached the front portion of the temple. There were eight steps leading from the outer corridor to the second level of the temple. The blood trail continued on the steps. Shiva was silently following them, just two steps behind.
Nakul looked at Utkarsh and said, “So strange Utkarsh! Why would a man stabbed to death, bleeding profusely come inside the temple, walk through the long corridor and then try to climb all these steps to reach the second level of the temple, instead of running away from the door itself to seek medical help?” Utkarsh looked back at him with a blank expression and shaking his head said politely, “I can’t think of any reason Sir, it looks like just madness to me!”
Climbing the eight steps they reached the second level. Facing the main sanctum with the deity Lingeshwar, there sat a huge Nandi[4] placed on a one-foot high ornamental platform. Nakul turned towards the main deity. For one moment he was awestruck by the sight of the deity, the Lingam[5] inside the main sanctum. It looked calm yet powerful at the same time. It was huge, about three feet high. Nakul was drawn to the primeval energy of the Creator for exactly one minute. Then his police senses took charge again and noted that the sanctum’s grilled door was locked.
Looking around, Nakul noticed that the blood trail had gone up to the base of the huge Nandi statue. As this area of the temple was comparatively dark, they had to strain hard to see the trail. Shiva, who was silently watching them so far, promptly switched on every light of the temple.
As the light flooded the temple they gasped for a moment. A large patch of smeared blood all over the temple floor spread on a large area was staring at them. It looked as if the bleeding man had rolled all over the floor! This was becoming stranger and stranger, Nakul thought as he knelt on his knees and closely examined the blood smear. Now, he noticed a few marks of some unusual blood-smeared, fingerprints on the Nandi’s pedestal.
Nakul said, “Utkarsh, look at this mark here. More than the murder, the mystery of a bleeding man coming inside the temple and rolling all over the floor here is triggering our curiosity, making the case more fascinating! Then on the top of it, there is a full-hand print on the Nandi’s platform. What was that man doing here, near the Nandi’s pedestal?”
Utkarsh said, “Sir, it is possible that by the time he reached this place he could have fallen down. Then rolling over he could hav
e tried to grab the pedestal for support trying to pull himself up to stand up and thus could have left a hand print.”
Nakul said, “Utkarsh, if he was so weak that he could not even get up, then he would have definitely died here itself, or maximum on the corridor below. But, remember he had gone back or dragged himself down these steps. Then he moved all the way along the corridor to the exit door, a distance of about 50 feet, before he collapsed. So I don’t think he would have needed the support of the Nandi pedestal to get up.”
Utkarsh said with a bit of amazement, “You are right, Sir. He has moved back from the temple. And he has not rolled or crawled. He has walked down the steps and all the way along the corridor, quite a distance!”
Nakul added, “And one more thing Utkarsh. From the dead body of that man, we can guess that he was at least six feet tall. Hence from the ground level if he had tried to get up, taking the support of Nandi, then his hand would have reached the folded legs of the Nandi and the blood marks have to be on that height and not on the pedestal down below.”
Utkarsh as always marveled at Nakul’s astute observations and nodded his head and said, “Yes Sir, you are right.”
Searching more intensely and noticing something, Utkarsh called out, “Sir, there is one more peculiar thing here.” Nakul came near the spot and looked. Utkarsh pointed to a big odd shaped blob of dried blood at that point. Streaks of blood trailed from that point until the base of the steps leading to the Sanctum. It almost looked like the picture of a sun drawn by school children – one big blob in the centre, and a semicircle of lines radiating from that point outwards.
He said, “Sir, it looks like the bleeding man sat here for some time and hence the blood got collected here. Then, he managed to walk to the steps leading to the sanctum. But why did he walk three or four times up and down from this point to the steps? Was he mad? What was this dead man doing here at the middle of the night?” Nakul said, “This is the most unique blood trail I had ever seen in all my life. The bleeding man not only comes up to this level, but seems to have done some dancing around here, walking up and down? What was the purpose of his actions? So strange!”
