The Woman Who Vanished

by UD Yasha

  He handed me a paper and said, ‘This is the first letter a man called Shaam Pundlik wrote to Zakkal.’

  My eyes moved as I read the letter. It was dated 14th December 2015.

  * * *

  Dear Kishore Zakkal,

  I am a huge fan. I really admire your work. I wish I had known you when we could still meet openly and talk face to face. I would have loved to know about your craft and technique. From what I’ve read, your work was a piece of art. To have kept the bodies hidden, seven of them! Wow! You deserve to be given more credit and accolades.

  I wish to hear back from you. I wish to learn whatever I can through these letters. If not your technique, at least the thoughts you had before and after you killed.

  Yours truly,

  Shaam Pundlik

  * * *

  What a crackhead, I thought.

  ‘There are more of them. Here’s Zakkal’s reply,’ Rahul said and gave me another letter. This one was dated 2nd January 2016.

  * * *

  Dear Shaam,

  Thanks a lot for your kind words. I would've loved to meet you as well. Maybe we'll still meet under the blue sky on a cosy winter night. Who knows? Weirder things have happened.

  I want to know something. Have you ever killed or are you a closet murderer? Let me tell you one thing. The difference between the two is like porn and sex. They seem the same until you experience both. I look forward to hearing from you. Also, wish you and your family a happy new year on my behalf.

  With love,

  Zakkal

  * * *

  ‘How many of these are there?’ I said.

  ‘Sixteen letters in total, back and forth. At times Shaam wrote two in one go. Zakkal only replied after a month in most cases. You’d find this one most interesting. This is the reason I called you in,’ he said and handed me another letter.

  This one was dated 4th June 2018.

  * * *

  Dear Shaam,

  I am glad to know you’re considering my request of experiencing the joy of killing. Here’s a tip. I learnt it the hard way because no one taught me. You’re lucky to be learning from the best. When you strangle someone, keep the pressure on for a good three to four minutes. You’ll need physical strength for it. Let me know how it goes.

  Good luck,

  Zakkal

  * * *

  ‘Here’s Shaam’s reply to that letter,’ Rahul said, handing me another letter dated 20th June 2018.

  * * *

  Dear Zakkal,

  Thank you for the tip. I am strangely not feeling nervous. I've selected my target. As you said, I am trying to get to know her from afar. I'll let you know everything. My hands are shivering with excitement as I write this.

  Thanks for everything,

  Shaam

  * * *

  ‘I started off on your pile,' Rahul said. ‘I found this inside.'

  ‘I’ll tell Rathod,’ I said, taking my phone out to text him the serial numbers on the letters we were looking at.

  ‘Regardless of whether he is the Bedroom Strangler, do you think this guy Shaam actually went out and stalked someone and then killed them?’

  ‘We’ll pay him a visit nevertheless,’ I said, glancing at the clock. It was almost eleven. Where had time flown by? ‘How many letters did you go through?’ I asked Rahul.

  ‘About six hundred between us. I took them from all three bags, though the first bag mainly has letters from news channels and science journals.’

  Radha referred to her notes and said, ‘Out of the six hundred and sixteen letters, two hundred and three are from news agencies, one hundred and ninety are from science journals, seventy from random people asking Zakkal about his life and the rest are either love letters or creepy people like Shaam.’

  ‘There are more who seem like they could kill?’

  ‘Not kill, but they showed a weird attraction toward Zakkal.’

  My stomach growled. I realized I had not had much food since the early breakfast. I grabbed a glass of water and settled on the couch. I massaged my temples. We ordered dinner from a Chinese restaurant called Chef Chu's. It was near our house and we were their most regular customers and thereby friends with Chef Chu himself. So, the food came in fifteen minutes. Our order was decided most of the days. Chicken lollipops, one burnt garlic chicken noodles and one American Chop Suey. We had a special bone for Shadow every time we ordered in.

  We finished eating at midnight. The food as always was delicious. I kept checking my phone throughout, hoping for some update from the tests on the pollen grain. I went for a bath after dinner, which I knew was unhealthy but I needed hot water on my body. I kept my phone out of the bathroom, hoping to give my mind some much-needed respite.

  I checked my phone right away after coming out. Rathod had sent me three messages.

  * * *

  Bimal Roy from Smart Tech checks out. The hotel confirmed he was with his boyfriend.

  We’ll meet Anil Verma and bring him in for questioning if he doesn’t cooperate with us.

  Vivaan Deshpande is clear. We spoke to the taxi company and the hotel in Bangalore. All confirmed his whereabouts.

  * * *

  I felt relieved to know that Vivaan’s alibi had checked out. I went to my bed and crashed and before I knew it, I was snoring away.

  My ringing phone woke me up at seven in the morning. It was Rathod.

  ‘You need to come to the CID office right now,’ Rathod said.

  ‘I will,’ I said, slipping into the first T-Shirt and pants that I saw. ‘What happened? Can you at least give me the gist?’

  ‘Yeah. Sonia found something surprising. Rather unexpected. It’s about your mother’s state of health when her hair was cut off. She had been living a healthy life when it was cut. Complete with a full diet and no health issues. She has been gone for over sixteen years. She shouldn’t be healthy. But she has been well taken care of.’

  Another chill ran up my body. What was happening?

  ‘I’ll be right there,’ I said and rushed downstairs.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Even before I hung up, I had decided Radha, Rahul and Shadow were going to come with me. I did not want to leave anyone behind, not after receiving the letter yesterday afternoon.

  Rahul’s bed was empty. I woke Radha up and told her we had to go to the CID office. She did not ask any questions, much to my relief. Rahul was in the kitchen making coffee when I went down.

  ‘I heard you get up. You've an uncanny knack of getting up when coffee is ready,' he said, unaware of anything else.

  He handed me a cup at the dining table. That’s when he saw my face.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he said.

  I told him about Rathod’s phone call. He listened patiently and then said, ‘Alright, make sure your stomach is full.’

  He made six cucumber sandwiches and wrapped them in a silver foil and then went upstairs. Shadow sensed something was happening, so he waited by the door, holding his leash in his mouth. I tried to think hard about how maa could have stayed healthy. The questions that had come to my mind earlier about how and where she would have been held after Zakkal had been arrested came back with a resounding echo. That she was healthy did not make sense. Also, why had she been kept alive at all? I felt guilty asking that question but there was no reason why a person would be abducted, their bathroom would be splashed with blood and then would be missing, presumed dead for sixteen years only to be told by a kidnapper and killer that she was alive by leaving her hair at another crime scene.

  I was snapped out from my thoughts when I heard Radha and Rahul coming downstairs two minutes later. They were both wearing jeans and T-Shirts. They grabbed their sweaters and we were on our way to the CID office

  We reached in less than fifteen minutes. I went to Rathod’s desk while Rahul and Radha stayed in the waiting room with Shadow. He took me straight to the basement in the ME’s office. Dr. Sonia Joshi and Bhalerao were already present. I realized they ha
d been waiting for me. Dr. Joshi’s eyes were heavy. From the looks of it, she had worked through the night. Just then, the elevator door opened and ACP Shukla walked out. He buttoned his blazer.

  ‘Thanks for coming so fast everyone,’ Sonia said without wasting time. ‘Let’s get started.’

  We followed Sonia past two doors and into the morgue. The blast of cold air and the smell of formalin hit me hard. It reminded me of my meetings with various medical experts while I was investigating maa's disappearance. This was my first time at an autopsy. Police officers do not like lawyers or private detectives hanging around at their workplace.

  ‘First up on the agenda is the pollen grain. Good news. Ten minutes ago, I got a match for the partial fingerprint we got from inside the bag in which the pollen was kept.’

  I heard my heart thud in my mouth. Finally, a solid lead.

  ‘The fingerprint belongs to a man named Dhruv Kataria. He’s an inmate at Yerwada.’

  Rathod cut in, taking out his phone. ‘I’ll call Warden Shetty—’

  ‘I already spoke to Warden Shetty,’ Sonia said. ‘Dhruv Kataria was killed six days back.’

  ‘How?’ I said, my heart sinking. He was our only connection to Zakkal and the Bedroom Strangler. He was now dead even before we knew it was him.

  ‘A fight broke out in the jail. He was stabbed and punched. He sustained heavy injuries. He was under observation in the primary care unit of Yerwada Jail. He died two days later from internal bleeding and trauma.’

  ‘Wasn’t there an investigation into the death and the fight?’

  ‘There was. It’s still going on. It’s a jail, Siya. You know better than us how it is in prisons. It’ll be a miracle if the case is ever solved.’

  ‘Who did he fight with?’

  ‘There are multiple gang members accused. Questioning is on-going. The jail warden is investigation it himself.’

  ‘Can the CID take over the investigation?’ I said, turning to Rathod and Shukla, knowing it was going to be a long shot.

  ‘Not without pissing off Warden Shetty,’ Shukla said. ‘I’ll see what I can do. There might be an easier way out as this is directly related to a murder investigation we’re conducting. I’ll call him now.’

  ‘You won’t get reception here,’ Sonia said. ‘You’ll have to go up. I suggest you wait till I tell what I found in the autopsy. You’d want to hear it. You’ll anyway need time with Warden Shetty to convince him to let you run an investigation.’

  I made a mental note to look into Dhruv Kataria later. He was Zakkal’s link to the outside world in some way. At least now we knew how Zakkal got the pollen in the first place. God knows what else he had gotten.

  ‘We should search Zakkal’s cell,’ I said. ‘Who’s to say he has not gotten anything else from outside?’

  Everyone’s gaze turned to Shukla. I could again tell he was not liking this one bit. He knew I had a point.

  Rathod backed me up. He said, ‘That’s a good idea.’

  Shukla tried to maintain a straight face. ‘OK. I’ll mention that to Warden Shetty first thing when I speak to him.’

  ‘What was Dhruv Kataria in jail for?’ I said.

  ‘Warden Shetty sent me a file on him. I’ll forward that to you,’ she said and glanced at Shukla.

  I followed it and saw Shukla shaking his head. I ignored him. ‘What about the pollen itself? What did you find there?’ I said.

  ‘I called Dr. Raghav Barve earlier in the evening. He has taken it for his own analysis. He said he can’t say how much time he’ll need.’

  Which is why I wanted him to have it as soon as we got it. Identifying a pollen's history was painstakingly time-consuming unless there was a straight match.

  Sonia said, ‘But I can tell you it was clean and has no kind of DNA evidence. It stopped germinating only a few days after being put in a plastic bag.’ She paused and then broke step for Supriya Kelkar’s body that was in the middle of the morgue.

  Her body was covered with a white sheet up to her neck.

  Sonia panned her vision across all of us. She said, ‘The full reports on the body, the crime scene and the lock of hair are ready. I'll talk about the first two together as I've found a link between them. You'll see why. As I had said earlier, the marks on her neck and the crushing of the bones in her neck hinted that she died from asphyxiation. My autopsy confirms that the killer repeatedly pressed and released her neck. The victim would have felt like she was going to live, but just then he would have put his hands around her neck again.

  He drew blood from her hand. This is where it gets interesting. I don't know if it is anything much. But it's my job to tell you everything I find. When a person dies, blood begins to clot. I can see the change under a microscope.' Sonia turned to me and continued. ‘The blood for the message the killer left had no clotting, suggesting once again that Naina Rajput was alive when blood was drawn from her. On the other hand, the blood in the bathroom was clotted. That means it was drawn much later. I would say about three hours after Supriya died. I found something else as well. Supriya's vagina showed sign of recent penetration. As you know, the vagina normally becomes moist on arousal. In this, there's no evidence of that, which suggests Supriya was penetrated after she had died.'

  ‘The killer had sex with Supriya’s dead body?’ ACP Shukla said.

  ‘The evidence certainly points to that. I also found traces of latex inside her vagina, indicating the killer used a condom.’

  ‘Wouldn’t sex leave behind some DNA evidence on the bedsheet or room?’

  ‘I'm afraid not. The killer had come prepared. The bedsheet on which our victim was kept had been changed. It was a fresh sheet. I asked the husband and he said he did not recognize the bedsheet, suggesting the killer had brought it with him. The condom shielded his sperm. The condom also indicates that the sexual act was premeditated.'

  ‘So, the killer stalked Supriya when she was alive and then raped her dead body,’ I said, thinking about the killer’s connection to Zakkal. How did the two even know each other?

  ‘The world is full of twisted people, Miss Rajput,’ Sonia said. ‘There’s no way to know for sure, but it could have so happened that the killer drew blood from Supriya after he had sex with her dead body. That could explain the three-hour gap.’

  Silence.

  ‘There’s more,’ Sonia said. ‘The human body has between four and a half to six litres of blood. It’s difficult to give an exact figure, but roughly one litre was splashed in the bathroom. An additional two hundred millilitres leaked out of her body. Given all the blood loss, she should not have lost more than a litre and a half of blood. But I found she had only one litre of blood in her body. I can’t say this for sure.’

  ‘So, is there’s a chance that the killer took Supriya’s blood with him?’ Rathod said.

  A stunned silence played in the room. First necrophilia and then taking the victim’s blood. Everyone was trying to take it all in.

  Sonia said, ‘Estimating the quantity of blood is always difficult so it may not be accurate. But the blood we found is lesser than the volume of blood there should be in a human body.'

  ‘What did you find about my mother’s lock of hair?’ I said.

  ‘Hair is interesting by itself. At times, it is better than even DNA. Especially in the case of missing people. A strand of hair grows continuously. So, different parts of a strand have different characteristics. They echo the conditions in a person’s life when it was growing. The hair we found had footprints from eighteen years back. I can tell what sort of a life she has lived by analysing it.’

  ‘My mother went missing sixteen years back.’

  ‘Yes, her hair must have been of a certain length then. In fact, I saw a drastic shift in her lifestyle post her kidnapping.’

  The words stung me and the reality of it all encompassed my mind. My mother was out there somewhere right now, somehow fighting on against a monster.

  ‘What sort of change?’ I said.


  ‘Earlier, before the disappearance, her lifestyle was fairly regular. Her diet was good and she was living a healthy lifestyle. Then, sixteen years earlier, it made a drastic shift.' Sonia pointed at a screen behind her. She used a remote control in her hand to zoom into the picture of a hair strand. It was divided into bands of blue, yellow and red of different tints – dark, medium and light. ‘The shades won't mean much to you but I was using them for reference to measure certain attributes. But to give you the gist, the light-yellow shade is a healthy lifestyle.' She pressed another button. The strand was labelled by a timeline. ‘As you can see, in 2018, the colour became darker—almost red. At this stage, I found evidence of increased stress in her life. Also, she was regularly given heroin. Victims kidnapped for such a prolonged time are likely to be drugged. Mind you, the study that concluded it did not have a big sample size by any means.'

  I tried to process what Sonia was saying. The severity of being kidnapped for such a long time had never hit me before with such a strong intensity. My mind numbed thinking about all the things maa would have had to endure.

  Sonia continued. ‘I know this is hard for you, Siya. Do you want a minute?’

  I waved her off. ‘No. Go on, please. This is important.’

  ‘As you can see later, the colour of the strand is between dark orange and dark pink from the time she was kidnapped for about eleven years. This is 2013.’

  That was when Zakkal was caught.

  Sonia said, ‘Yes, Zakkal was arrested around the same time. I suspect she was being looked after by someone else because her lifestyle changed big time. Heroin was stopped first up. But she was still drugged, albeit by a less harmful drug. I could see traces of Propofol. It is a drug used by doctors to induce sedation. Famously, Michael Jackson's cause of death was an overdose of Propofol. This would have put your mother in a deep state of unconsciousness. The reason the colour of the strand got lighter is that her nutrition got better. I can't again say for sure but if I were to guess, she was put on an IV with the right vitamins and minerals.'