by Laxmi Natraj
Having finished with the procedures on the dead bodies, the forensics team came up and Nakul looked around for Shiva. Noticing this, Shiva came near him with a dutiful “Yes, Sir?”
Nakul asked Shiva, “You said you are a priest in the temple, right?”
Shiva answered, “Yes, Sir. My name is Shiva Purohit. The main priest of the temple is Narayan Purohitji. I am his son. I assist him in puja and other work.”
Nakul quizzed, “Ok, now tell me who saw the bodies first?”
Shiva said, “I found the bodies, Sir. I heard some noise in the night, vaguely like someone’s scream but it was not so clear. I tried to wake Purohitji, but he was in deep sleep. So I left him and rushed towards the temple because I thought that the noise was coming from inside the temple.”
Nakul asked, “What time was it when you heard the scream?”
Shiva said, “Sir it was about 4:00 or 4:15 a.m. I came running to the front of the temple and looked. Since there was no one there, I came to the back side and I found both these bodies. The lady had already died. Then, I saw John and rushed to him. He was unconscious but still had a low pulse. As it was a murder scene, I did not touch anything and I rushed to the Panchayat head, Acharyaji house. I knocked at his door. After a few minutes he came with me and saw the bodies. But by that time, John had also died. All the villagers had now gathered here. We did not allow anyone to come near the bodies. Many villagers were against the idea of calling police inside the village. They said we should quietly bury the bodies. So there was a lot of argument and discussion. Acharyaji convinced all of them that since it is a murder we have to call the police. By that time it was 6:00 a.m. Then we telephoned the police from Acharayaji’s cell phone.”
Nakul asked, “These two are foreigners. But you are saying that they were living in your village? What were they doing here?”
Shiva said, “Yes sir, both of them, John Stoneman, and Julia, his sister, were living in our village. John came to our village about six months back. He was a research scholar from America, and Purohitji accepted him as his student and allowed him to stay in the village. His sister Julia arrived one week prior. We are all absolutely shocked that both of them have been murdered, that too, on the steps of the temple. Our village people are simple people, Sir. They won’t even harm a fly.”
Nakul looked at his face steadily for a few seconds and then nearly whispered, “But Shiva, the fact is that both of them are murdered now. Someone must have done that, isn’t it?”
Shiva remained silent. Nakul looked around and asked, “Where is your father, Purohitji? All this commotion and he is not even present here?”
Shiva said, “Sir he is still sleeping. I think he is not well. Hence we did not wake him.”
Nakul said, “If he is the head priest, I have to talk to him. Where is your house?”
Shiva said, “Sir, it is pretty close. Just five minutes from here.”
Nakul came out with Shiva and looking at the crowd said, “I will see the Purohitji and come back. Do not go near the temple till the bodies are removed. I will come back and I need to talk to some of you people also.”
The Panchayat head Acharyaji, stepped forward and said hesitantly, “Sir, how long will it take to remove the bodies? We have to wash the temple and lock it up. We have to start the Suddhi[6] pooja immediately. The temple has to be locked till all the Suddhi pooja is completed.”
Nakul said, “I am really sorry, but this murder has happened in the temple vicinity and there are blood marks inside the temple. The forensics will collect their evidence and then the bodies will be removed for post-mortem. Just give them twenty minutes more, please.” Utkarsh and Shiva rushed to follow him as he turned and briskly walked towards Narayan Purohit’s house.
A man standing at a distance in the shadow of a tree whispered into his cell phone, “The police have already arrived. Be careful and don’t come near the temple.”
Chapter 3
The Shadow
The Night of the Murder, 3:00 a.m.
That night, blissfully unaware of the oncoming horror, the tiny village Lingeshwar, was cocooned by a peaceful stillness. The sky was lit by the pale light of the crescent moon. The glimpse of the stars from the midst of sprawling stretches of trees on the side of the road made it look like a picturesque painting. In the midst of this, a ghostly shadow of a man was tiptoeing on the deserted road, silent, as a cat. His laboured breathing was probably the only noise around. The heavy bag in his hand seemed to be weighing him down as he struggled to plod ahead. He was startled when the silence of the night was pierced by a wall clock striking in a distant house. It went on to strike three times before stopping.
Shuddering with fear, his feet turned to stone and he stood petrified, as he scanned the area. His eyes could spot nothing amiss, yet he felt very jittery as he shifted the heavy bag from his right hand to his left. He stood still to see if there were any movements he could discern. After a few minutes, when he was sure that none of the village houses had opened, he continued his walk towards the Lingeshwar temple. With every step he took, his breathing was becoming more and more laboured and his walking was very slow. If he had turned around now, he would have noticed that he was not the only person on the road at that time. Just ten feet behind him, a woman dressed in her formal clothes was tailing him like a nocturnal animal, taking good care to remain hidden in the shadow. As she tip-toed, she put her left hand inside her coat pocket to make sure once again that her passport and travel papers were safe. She had no intention of wasting any time by going back to her room after finishing her job. She had to rush to the airport directly. A butcher knife kept ready in her right hand flashed once in a while, as it eerily caught the moon light.
Another four feet away from the two, there was a third man, following both of them. The knuckles of his right hand were white as he gripped his gun tightly. His movement was so silent that it felt like he was a ghost gliding on this street. The man with the bag reached the Lingeshwar temple’s locked massive front door. He started walking around the temple wall and reached the exit door at the back. He climbed the five steps and keeping his bag on the step, inserted a key inside the key hole. As the lock clicked open, he pushed the door inside opening it wide. Taking a deep breath, he crouched on the steps and started punching the lock code on the side of his heavy bag. He wanted to finish his job faster once he went inside the temple.
The woman, who had reached him by now, pounced on him with a war cry and stabbed him hard on his back. The knife plunged through his body spurting blood all around. Screaming wildly, he turned around to face his attacker. His eyes popped out on seeing her there. “How did you manage to come here?” he stammered.
She answered through her clenched teeth, “If you are a doctor I am also a nurse and took an antidote anticipating your sedative injection. Now hand over the bag to me immediately.”
Getting up, he tried to hold her hand and started pleading with her, while she, cursing him, tried to snatch the bag from him. A verbal argument started along with a physical scuffle between them. She overpowered him but his clutch over the bag did not loosen. Mad with rage, she started stabbing him repeatedly, her hands trying to pry the bag from his weirdly strong grip.
The third man was watching them silently. He had not anticipated her attacking John so swiftly. He knew he had to enter the fray now. There would be a dead body now and police, but there was no choice. He rushed between the two of them.
His sudden appearance shocked both of them. It was difficult to understand whether the gleaming gun on his hand shocked them more or just the shock of recognition. She was about to ask him something but the words never left her mouth. Looking steadily at her without batting an eye lid, he shot her three times at close range. She buckled and fell down. She started bleeding profusely and there was a pool of blood that had started collecting around her body.
The injured man was stunned and he stared at the woman’s dead body and then at the gun bearing man, his mouth
still wide open. Words failed to come out of his mouth.
Ignoring him with air of cool indifference, the gunman crouched near the woman’s dead body and started searching her pockets. Taking this opportunity, the wounded man, in spite of his bleeding condition, started running away inside the temple, tightly clutching his precious bag.
As he staggered and ran his bleeding body left a zigzag crimson blood trail all the way through the long outer corridor of the temple.
Chapter 4
The Ghost in the Bush
2nd May, 4:00.p.m.
Walking quickly, they reached Narayan Purohit’s house in less than three minutes. Shiva climbed the porch and called out, “Purohitji! The police officers have come to see you.” There was no reply. Shiva pushed the closed door. As it was not bolted, it opened wide. They walked inside. They found that the Purohit was lying on a bare wooden cot, his eyes staring at the ceiling.
Nakul moved near the cot and bending close to Purohit’s face started talking, “Purohitji, will you please get up and …..……”
He stopped his sentence halfway when he noticed the still, frozen face of the Purohit. He turned to Shiva and said, “Shiva, I think Purohit is not really sleeping, I think….” He patted the cheeks of Purohit. No response. He lifted one limp hand of Purohit and left it halfway. The hand fell down like a piece of stick.
Shiva said in a half-choking voice, “Oh God, Is our Purohitji dead, I thought he was only asleep.”
Nakul said, “Shiva, the Purohit is not dead. But I think he is drugged. Go and call the doctor who had come with the Forensic team.” Shiva ran out to get the doctor.
Within five minutes the doctor came. He examined Purohit and confirmed Nakul’s fears. He said, “He has been injected with some strong sedative. Since his pulse is very weak, it is better that we move him to the hospital. Otherwise, he may sink into a coma.”
The doctor moved the Purohit in his car to the hospital. The dead bodies of the two foreigners were taken to post-mortem in the ambulance. All others, the constables, the forensic officers, and Utkarsh, left the village, everyone, except Nakul. The villagers started washing the temple. Nakul stood watching the vehicles move away, then turned and went back to the Purohit’s house. It was nearing 5:00 p.m. Shiva politely suggested that he could refresh himself with a bath and then take his lunch before he proceeded with the job of questioning the villagers. Nakul had brought his travel bag, which he generally kept packed and ready, as he knew that the Lingeshwar village was nearly three hours’ drive from the town. A bath seemed like a good idea.
In spite of looking like a simple village home externally, the Purohit’s house was surprisingly modernized inside. The entire house looked as if it had been painted very recently. A good bathroom with a powerful water geyser made Nakul’s bath refreshing. When he came out in his civil clothes, lunch was ready on a shining dining table. Shiva started serving him the hot lunch while Nakul kept his questioning on. Shiva, on his part, gave a good description of himself and his father.
He narrated, “Sir, actually, I am not the biological son of Purohitji; I am his adopted son. Purohitji brought me from Banaras when I was just 5 years old. He and Mataji looked after me well and sent me to school till I finished the 10th class here. Purohitji then sent me to Banaras, as he wanted me to learn the Vedas and Puja rituals, in a proper ritualistic manner from the Brahmin Matt in Banaras. I was there for the past five years and came back only six months back.”
Two days before my coming back, John Stoneman had come to see Putohitji and requested him for his guidance in his research work. Purohitji told me later that he was so deeply impressed with John’s knowledge of our Vedanta and his sincerity that he not only agreed to help him but invited him to stay in the village itself. The village people were not very happy with Putohitji’s decision about allowing a Christian inside the village. But no one openly opposed him because of the great respect they had for Purohitji. Now I don’t know what happened suddenly, that someone has murdered John and his sister.”
Nakul said, “Shiva, you are Purohit’s son. Then, why are you addressing him as Purohitji all the time instead of father?”
Shiva, for a fraction of a second, looked a bit taken aback. But he changed his expression in a fraction of second and smiling mildly said, “Sir, everybody in the village keeps calling him as Purohitji. Then, he is such a highly educated, renowned scholar that it does not befit me to call him as a father. I am too humble in front of him.” He smiled again. But that fleeting change in his facial expression was noted for further investigation by Nakul’s sharp eyes.
Then Shiva started talking something generally about the villagers. Nakul kept nodding absent-mindedly but his eyes started scanning every inch of Shiva more carefully now.
Shiva was about six feet three-inches tall and had a well-toned athletic body. He was wearing a sleeveless vest and his bulging biceps and muscular shoulders, were clearly visible. His facial expressions were very controlled and dignified and he did not look like a naive village temple priest. Nakul thought that Shiva could have inherited that physique and cool attitude from his biological parents. His hair was closely cut and well shaved on the nape of his neck. The tiny thin tuft of a ponytail on the back side of the head, which all Brahmin Pujaris of the temples necessarily had to keep, was absent.
Finishing the lunch, Nakul came to the front room where the senior Purohit was sleeping earlier and sat on a chair. He wondered. This was a strange case of a double murder, in a village which was supposedly inhabited mostly by farmers! Both the victims were killed in different ways. Why? A murderer with a gun could have easily shot both of his victims. But John was stabbed. And the lady was shot dead. Did the lady stab him first and did he then react and shoot her? If he had shot her dead then why he did not rush out of the temple to seek help for his stab wound? Instead, he tried to go in and climb to the second level of the temple. For what purpose? Had the knife been kept in the lady’s hand and the gun in his hand, by someone only to mislead the case?
Shiva came out. Nakul asked with a bit of surprise, “You finished your lunch so fast?” Shiva shook his head and said, “Sir, after seeing John’s body I don’t feel like having lunch. He was a pious man. It is OK, Sir! I am used to fasting for a number of days when I was in Banaras. Tell me Sir, what can I do to help you now?”
Getting up, Nakul said, “I would like to see the room where John and Julia lived. I want to lock and seal those rooms so that any evidence should not be tampered with.”
Shiva answered readily, “One minute Sir, the duplicate keys to his should be there in the house. I will get them.”
As he went to get the keys, Nakul noticed the modern desktop computer placed on the table, which he had failed to notice earlier. He walked to the computer and saw that it was kept connected, and the internet connection was still on.
Shiva coming from his backside said, “Sir, John brought this new computer just two months back just for Purohitji. Both of them used to work together on this PC, to study the old history of ancient temples of India.”
Both of them stepped out of the house. The sun had already set. Though there was moonlight the road was a bit dark due to the sprawling large trees on the side of the road. The thick growth of bushes on the sides of the road was swaying heavily due to a strong breeze. The tar road showed wear and tear and was uneven with a lot of potholes. They started walking.
Suddenly Nakul sensed something. His sharp ears could hear a very soft rustling noise in the bushes and he whirled around instantly. Something scurried through the bushes with lightning speed. His hand instantly went to his revolver and running near the bushes, he looked carefully. His eyes pierced through every leaf of the dark bushes. But, nothing stirred now. Everything was quiet.
Shiva said, “Sir, this is a village. It could be a cat or a stray dog just dodging into the shadow.” Nakul was sure that it was not an animal. His sixth sense told him that it was very much a human, a man who was hiding and who had
now rushed through the bushes. But without arguing he followed Shiva, now his gun ready in his hand.
The ghost hiding in the bush had now reached a safe distance, away from Nakul and he heaved a sigh of relief.
Chapter 5
The Temple Room
Nakul and Shiva walked about five minutes through the nearly dark roads and reached a double storey building. Shiva, who was walking ahead, stopped and waited for Nakul to join him. Nakul had been walking a bit slowly, cautiously watching all around like a hawk all his senses alert, looking around for any smallest movement.
When he reached the building Shiva said, “Sir, this is the building which belongs to the temple, where functions like village marriages are held. On rainy days the Panchayat meetings are also held here. The building has four guest rooms here, two on the ground floor and two on the first floor. Purohitji had given one of the first floor rooms to John for his stay.”
He inserted a long key and opened a big lock and opened the outer door of the building. They entered a spacious hall, with two rooms on its side. There was balcony on the first level, running all around the hall, where the people could stand and witness the functions going on in the ground floor. Nakul was a bit amazed with this construction that in a small village, the temple had constructed such a spacious hall with all possible facilities for the villagers.
Shiva switched on all the lights in the hall. A large crimson carpet, looking very new, covered the entire area from wall to wall. Shiva led Nakul towards the steps leading to the first floor. They reached the first room on the first floor. Shiva opened the room with the key and stepping in switched on the lights.
