by UD Yasha
‘I’m guessing Devaki Sharma is going to be present for it too,’ I said.
‘You can safely assume she’s going to get front-row tickets,’ Rathod said. ‘Bhalerao and I need to be next to the ACP for the presser. Strength in numbers.’
‘I’ll watch from the sidelines,’ I said and we got up to leave. ‘We’ll be back in twenty minutes,’ I said to Radha, Rahul and Maa.
CID’s dedicated media room was once a part of the parking lot. After being converted into a media room, thigh-high walls had been constructed on the three open sides of the parking lot to give it a more respectable look. That’s why the place had good lighting and ventilation. I thought it was a brilliant idea as it lay in the outer section, away from the main parts of the building.
The air buzzed with conversations as we made our way into the media room. It had a small stage and about thirty chairs in front of it—all of which had been occupied. Devaki Sharma was sitting in the front row. I felt enraged just looking at her.
From the wings, I watched Rathod join Shukla and Bhalerao next to the stage. Shukla had put on a blazer and a tie for the event. He discussed something with his two main officers. Cameras flashed when they all stepped on the stage. They sat on the chairs behind a long table that had dozens of mobile phones that journalists used as recording devices.
The chatter stopped right away when Shukla adjusted the mic in front of him.
He cleared his throat and said, ‘We’ve called this press conference to inform you that Kishore Zakkal, the psychopath serial killer who escaped from Yerwada Jail two years ago, has been killing again.’
Shukla then went on to give the media facts about what had happened. He didn't talk about the women we had found at the body farm or Zakkal's hideout at the water tower. Instead, he spoke about Sudha Barve's abduction and Zakkal's threat to kill more women. He didn't get into the details of the threat either. I was impressed with how succinct the statement was. It didn't cause panic but drove home the seriousness of the issue. Once the statement was issued, the floor opened for questions.
‘We’ll only be taking three questions because we don’t want to waste time,’ Shukla said. ‘If there’s anything else that you want to know, then please get in touch with our media liaison after this presser.’
The first question came from Devaki Sharma and I could see anger in Shukla’s voice when she spoke. I didn’t blame him. Her fake story was the sole reason he had not been promoted to the CBI in Delhi.
Devaki said, ‘My sources informed me yesterday that Zakkal is killing again. The COD waited until today morning to issue this statement. I find it absolutely appalling…’
‘Madam, do you have a question?’ Shukla cut in.
Devaki paused for a beat and glared at Shukla. 'Yes, I do. I want to know why Siya Rajput is a consultant on this case. Isn't she too close to it? Her mother was abducted by Zakkal many years ago. In the public interest, I feel that having her in the investigation team hampers the case.'
All eyes turned to me.
Devaki looked at me as well. She spoke to me directly across the room. ‘I mean, don’t get me wrong. I feel for you and your family. I hope nothing like what happened to you all ever happens to anyone else, but don’t you think it’s a tad irresponsible of you to be involved in this case?’ She then turned to Shukla. ‘I’m going to be taking this up with higher authorities, maybe even the CBI.’
I pursed my lips tight to control my anger. There was no point to Devaki’s question. Her intention was to provoke me by mentioning my maa and Shukla by talking about the CBI.
Shukla leaned forward and put his hands on the desk. ‘With respect to this case being too close to Siya, let me assure you that she has displayed excellent composure so far. She’s a woman of integrity, and if she thinks that her presence is detrimental to the case, she’ll back down herself. For now, she’s an asset and not a liability. Also, Miss Sharma, let me tell you that Detective Siya Rajput’s efforts had played a very important role when Zakkal had first been arrested. In fact, I would go to the extent of saying that had it not been for Siya, Zakkal might still have been free. Then, two years ago, Siya also managed to get vital information from Zakkal in prison, which helped us save five women.’
‘But didn’t Zakkal escape because of that?’ Devaki said.
‘His escape had nothing to do with us or Siya Rajput. I don’t know where you get your information from, Miss Sharma. You should know to ask better questions, those that are based on fact and not hearsay. While we’re on this topic, I also want to make this very clear,’ Shukla said and got up from his chair. He shifted his focus from Devaki to the other journalists in the room. ‘Zakkal is a maniac. We need to be sensitive and responsible in what we broadcast to the world. One wrong move from either of us can end in a fatality.’
With that answer, my respect for Shukla suddenly went up. It would have been very easy for him to lose his calm and humiliate Devaki in front of everyone. Instead, he had taken the noble route and subtly warned Devaki that he would not entertain her fake stories anymore.
Shukla referred to his wristwatch and said, ‘I know I had said three questions, but that one from Miss Sharma took up the time we had for three. We need to go now. I request you to spread awareness regarding who we’re dealing with. Please don’t sensationalize the issue, but be firm and honest.’
Shukla, Rathod and Bhalerao got up and exited the stage at thirty-five minutes past ten. Zakkal was going to kill again in a little under fourteen hours.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rathod drove all of us to his uncle's house that had been converted into a safe house.
The safehouse was in Pashan, a neighbourhood that was fifteen minutes from the CID office. Even our house was close to the CID office so I felt comfortable knowing that Radha, Rahul, Maa and Shadow wouldn’t be far away.
The house was a standalone bungalow that had high compound walls on all sides. We went in through the large metal gate that had closely placed bars.
‘Rathod, your uncle seems to be a bigshot,’ Radha said, looking at the house.
Rathod laughed. 'Yes, he is. He has a knack for making wonderful investments. He still tells me this is one of the best investments he made. Apparently, its value has grown ten times in the last ten years.'
‘So, does no one stay here then?’ Rahul asked.
‘My uncle and aunt stay here when they visit India every year. We end up having a large family get-together here when they come down. That’s why they like to keep everything clean. Someone comes to the house every week to make sure everything is functional.’
The layout of the bungalow was simple. There was a yard around it, and a lawn that was well-manicured. There was a small room against the compound wall near the main gate.
Rathod pointed at it and said, ‘I’ve told Shubman Dhawan to stay there. He will come any moment. He has stepped out to get house supplies for us.’
The ground floor had a living room, a kitchen and a small bedroom. The upper floor had two bedrooms and a large balcony. Even though Rathod’s uncle didn’t live there, the house felt homely. It was not fancy but extremely welcoming.
Rathod’s phone rang and he answered it. ‘It’s Shubman Dhawan. He’s at the gate,’ he said and then stepped out.
Because the house had no security system, Rathod had put a padlock on the tall main gate. He had given copies of the key to me and Radha. A few minutes later, a tall bulky man walked in along with Rathod. He had a bushy moustache and was in a well-ironed shirt and trousers. I noticed he had a gun in his waist holster.
‘Everyone, please meet Shubman Dhawan,’ Rathod said. ‘I have given him some background about you all.’
Shubman stepped forward and said, ‘I know these are tough times for all of you. But I will make sure that you all are safe here.’
We thanked him and he handed us the house supplies he had bought. 'Rathod told me all of you love ginger and lemongrass tea, so I've got plenty of that.'
‘Let’s go upstairs. I need to talk to you about the case,’ I said to Rathod.
‘The tea will be ready in fifteen minutes. I’ll get it for you,’ Radha said.
Rathod and I went to the balcony as we needed some fresh air. It also had the added bonus of having a large wooden swing.
‘What do you have in mind?’ Rathod asked me as he sat on the swing.
I walked up to the railing and leaned against it. ‘The last twenty-four hours have been intense,’ I said.
‘To put it mildly,’ Rathod added.
'Of course. A lot has happened. I think we need to distil what's important and focus on it. We have a little over thirteen hours to find Zakkal.'
‘Let’s go back to the drawing board,’ Rathod said.
'Here's what we know so far. Zakkal wants me to surrender myself to him. If I don't, he'll kill more women. He had thought of this plan in advance—starting with delivering the letter to Meena Kiran and then taking Sudha Barve. He made a mistake while kidnapping her though, because he left behind that trace of evidence. We also know that he has been abducting women for the past eighteen months. The body farm we found coupled with the evidence at Sudha Barve's house led us to his water tower hideout.'
‘We’re yet to get an analysis of the stuff picked up from there by our forensic evidence. Dr Sonia texted me that they’d be able to share what they know by evening.’
‘Going by what we found there, it looks like Zakkal is abducting women, dressing them up like me—right from my hair to how I smell. I would have not been so sure that it was all directed towards me, and not Radha and Maa too, had he not said it explicitly in the video he left for us at Blossoms.’ I paused. ‘So, what are our options going forward?’
‘I don’t know how helpful this will be, but it’s worth venturing into. I know a criminal profiler who is a visiting faculty at the National Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar. He’s not teaching this semester and is currently in Pune. I think we should pay him a visit and try to understand Zakkal better.’
‘The last time I consulted a profiler for Zakkal, the profiler himself turned out to be the killer,’ I said.
‘You can’t let that stop you, though. I know he’s been consulting various law enforcement agencies and has built quite a reputation for himself.’
I said nothing as I remembered my conversations with Dr Ranjit Kadam. Ranjit had built a profile of the killer who we believed was Zakkal’s protégé. It turned out that Ranjit had been describing himself all along. I had made the connection eventually and just saved Maa, Radha and Rahul in the nick of time. Having said that, Ranjit had told us that Zakkal liked collecting trophies like earrings and necklaces from his victims. That revelation had taken us a step closer to him.
Rathod continued. ‘His name is Rudra Dastur. I’ll ask him to drop by CID’s office if he’s free.’
I nodded and said, ‘Let’s do that. What’s troubling me is that while we knew a lot more about this different version of Zakkal, we still don’t know where to look for him.’
‘I can again tell that you’re thinking about something,’ Rathod said.
‘It’s the same thing that I thought about earlier. It’s very hard to believe that Zakkal is doing all this on his own. He’s got to have some help. Especially for evading the police for over two years. What’s the update on Zakkal’s second pen pal Manoj Bedi?’
‘My guy who has been watching him since yesterday has not reported anything suspicious. Bedi goes to work in the morning and comes back at night. He’s a resident doctor at Star Hospital so he was out the entire day yesterday. My guy managed to search his place. He told me it’s a bachelor pad. He found nothing alarming.’
‘I know someone is helping him. I think if we can find out who it is, it’ll open a lot of doors.’
A knock on the balcony door frame and we turned around. It was Radha. She had brought us tea. We thanked her. She realized that we were in the middle of a conversation so she promptly left without saying anything.
Rathod got up from the swing and joined me. The railing was thick enough so we both kept our teacups on it.
He said, ‘What if Zakkal kept hiring Shirole’s men without Shirole knowing? Like he did with Kumar Singhal.’
‘I think they’re useful for the jobs he hired them to do. The ones that we know of already. But I’m thinking about the larger picture. How does Zakkal survive the day-to-day? Where's he staying? How has no one seen him? How has he managed to take at least six women without anyone noticing?'
‘He did all those things on his own the last time around,’ Rathod said.
‘No, he didn’t,’ I said.
‘What do you mean?’’
I grinned widely first and then hugged Rathod. ‘How did we not think about this before?’ I said in excitement.
‘Think about what?’
'When Zakkal was killing the last time around, he was considered a law-abiding citizen of this country. No one even suspected him to be a maniac killer. If you met him at the mall or bumped into him at the cinema theatre, you wouldn't ever be able to tell that he was a serial killer. Hell, he's even been described as being charming. What I mean to say is that, back then, he led a seemingly normal life. That “normal life” image was further strengthened by him having a loving wife and two small kids.'
‘Could they be helping him? That can’t be because we’ve been watching them too.’
‘No, it’s not them. But a woman. A woman who loves him,’ I said, and as I said those words out loud, I remembered what Zakkal had said in the video and written in the letter. ‘Zakkal said that in these past few days, he has realized that love is a much more powerful emotion than lust.’
‘He abducted a woman six months after escaping from prison. How could anyone love him so blindly that they pardon him for killing six women?’ Rathod said.
The moment he said it, he got an answer to his own question.
I took a generous sip of my tea and said, ‘The woman didn’t fall in love with him after he escaped from prison. She fell in love with him during the time he was in prison. She already knows about his wicked past.’ I paused. ‘Think about it for a second. A woman who is in awe of you would be the perfect cover to stay invisible. Zakkal could’ve convinced her to do anything he wanted. He does what he has to do while flying under the radar because of her.’
‘I remember reading some letters that women wrote to Zakkal when he was in prison,’ Rathod said.
'I do too. Radha had even asked me why anyone would be attracted to a serial killer. It baffles me too, but from my work as a criminal defence lawyer, I knew a lot of nasty and seasoned killers who had a big female fan-following.'
Rathod said, ‘Let’s go through the letters that Zakkal had gotten then and find this woman.’
‘Three people had visited him back when he was in Yerwada. One was Ranjit Kadam. The second was his lawyer Hardik Karve. And the third was Devaki Sharma.’
‘You think she’s—’
'She met him a few times. To date, I don't know who told her that my investigation into Zakkal had led to his arrest. Only a handful of people knew, and I trusted them. They would never give me up to a journalist. But even Zakkal knew about my role in his capture. He could have very easily told Devaki about what happened.' I went silent for a couple of beats and thought about it. 'Whoever this woman is, Devaki or anyone else, Zakkal would have had to be extremely sure about her. If it isn't Devaki, but someone who wrote to Zakkal in prison, then he had to be extremely sure that the woman would react favourably when he reached out to her for help. I'm thinking that your criminal profiler friend Rudra Dastur may be able to help us shortlist Zakkal's potential lovers based o
n the letters.'
Rathod referred to his phone. 'I've just got a text from him. He said he'll come to the CID office at two-thirty in the afternoon. Let's pay Devaki Sharma a visit. We'll be back in the office by the time Dastur comes by,' Rathod said and when he saw me drink down the last few sips of my tea, he realized that he hadn't touched his tea at all. 'Hold on, please,' he said, downing the entire cup in ten seconds. 'Let's go now.'
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Before we left, I had to take care of a couple of things.
‘We need some help in going through the letters that Zakkal got from his female friends,’ I said to Rathod.
‘What are you thinking?’
‘Radha and Rahul helped me the last time when we went through the letters written to Zakkal.’
'Good idea. It'll save us time. I'll ask Bhalerao and Mathew to go through them as well,' Rathod said.
While he called Shukla to update us on what we were up to, I returned to the house and told Radha and Rahul that they had an assignment.
‘Luckily, I took some papers from your garage office yesterday before the fire broke out. Those papers have copies of the letters written to and by Zakkal,’ Rahul said.
We left the safehouse at noon, which meant Zakkal was going to kill a woman in twelve hours and twenty minutes if we couldn’t find him before that.
To not waste time, we decided to drive to News Twenty-Four Seven’s office and meet Devaki Sharma in person.
We realized it was going to be tricky to treat her like a suspect because she was a journalist. We knew her moral compass pointed only towards getting more views, likes and shares. So, if we rubbed her the wrong way, she could easily write a story that ruined our reputations. That’s why we knew we had to be careful with the questions we asked her.
