He had used his siddhis to possess her body, but she had been unable to withstand the shock of possession and had died instantly. Guided by Shukra, Vishwaraj had used his powers to keep her body alive while his atma possessed it and had found out where Dhruv lived.
It was Vishwaraj who had approached Dhruv, in Diya’s body, on the day that Maharishi Dhruv had died. As a precaution, in case anyone was watching, he had created the illusion of Shukra’s appearance, complete with eyepatch, so no one would ever know that Diya had turned up at Dhruv’s house. Once he had confirmed Dhruv’s identity, he had vanished, using his power of instant travel, and Shukra had materialised inside the Maharishi’s house.
Vishwaraj had then discarded Diya’s body. It was no longer of any use to him.
But he also knew that his earlier encounter with Trivedi would send out warning signals to the Sangha. They would know that he had turned.
Finally, Shukra had told Vishwaraj about their own connection. Shukra had known immediately that Vishwaraj was his direct descendant, through his daughter Devyani. The relationship had made Vishwaraj proud. He had realised that he was unique. And it explained his immense power in the siddhis even at such a young age. He had always been one of the stars of the Gana, and would have shortly become a full-fledged member of the Sangha; possibly the youngest ever.
But that didn’t matter any more.
The Sangha was impotent. It had outlived its purpose. The present and the future belonged to Shukra. His plan was grand. It was infallible.
And Vishwaraj would help Shukra succeed.
He looked around one last time.
Everything was packed.
Only one thing was left to be done.
He took two steps towards the second bedroom. It was tinier than the master bedroom.
The wail of a police siren burst upon him.
No.
Not now.
Not when he was on the cusp of leaving.
How had they found him?
What terrible timing. He grimaced.
Vishwaraj didn’t have the inclination or the time to deal with the police.
He threw a second, wistful glance at the spare bedroom.
He had wanted to cover his tracks. Ensure there was no evidence. But that would take time.
And time was something he did not have now.
He had made a promise to Shukra. A promise that he was determined to keep.
The spare bedroom would have to be abandoned. The police would find what was there. It would incriminate him.
But what could they do?
Hang him?
He laughed to himself. That was a joke.
Actually, it would give the sadhs something to be puzzled about.
Forget it.
Vishwaraj picked up his suitcase.
And vanished.
Chapter Thirty-four
A Shocking Discovery
Lajpat Nagar
Kapoor alighted from the jeep and looked around as the sirens wailed.
A crowd had begun gathering, curious to know why a convoy of police vehicles had suddenly converged on the neighbourhood park.
‘Barricades,’ he ordered. ‘Keep those idiots out of my hair. Let’s move. Fast.’
The posse of policemen in the accompanying armoured trucks spilled out of their vehicles and took up positions outside the house that was their target.
‘Second floor,’ Ajit informed Kapoor, who nodded grimly.
‘Follow me.’ He strode briskly towards the gate, drawing his revolver, opened the gate, and sprinted up the staircase that led to the second floor.
Just a week ago, Ajit had made a stupendous discovery. One that promised to lead them to the bottom of the mystery at the heart of this case while simultaneously muddying the waters.
Along with Tiwari’s mobile number, another mobile number had been identified from Diya’s call records.
It was an outstation number.
Ajit was cast from the same mould as Kapoor. He had begun digging deeper, since Diya seemed to have made and received quite a few calls in the last two months from this number. Eventually, he had traced the number to Allahabad.
It belonged to someone called Vishwaraj.
When Ajit had informed Kapoor of this development, the DCP was initially unable to accept the serendipity of it all. It was too great a coincidence. Everything in this case had pointed to Allahabad so far. And here was one more piece in the puzzle, located in Allahabad, no less.
It had to be the same Vishwaraj who had spoken to Tiwari before he died and whom Updadhyay had taught in Allahabad.
And if it wasn’t, he now had a chance to figure out just who this Vishwaraj was.
It had taken some time through the backchannels to identify a possible hideaway for Vishwaraj. Since there was very little concrete evidence, it would have been impossible to get a warrant to obtain the information from the telco. So Kapoor had to rely on his contacts and pull strings to obtain cell tower locations that were used primarily at night and triangulate to work out possible locations based on other cell tower data.
It had to be a nondescript colony where Vishwaraj could blend into the crowd without being noticed and lead an anonymous existence.
After several days and nights of speculation and brainstorming, they had managed to home in on this particular address.
And now Kapoor would find out if he had been correct.
If he was, he was going to turn up at Vishwaraj’s doorstep. And give him a nasty shock.
The policemen, carrying assault rifles, clattered up the stairs behind him.
Kapoor knocked on the door. ‘This is the police,’ he announced. ‘Open the door!’
Silence greeted his demand.
He looked back and nodded, then flattened himself against the wall of the staircase to allow two burly policemen to push their way past him.
The two men looked at each other and then, with one accord, flung themselves against the wooden door.
The lock gave way easily, and the two policemen tumbled into the sitting room.
‘Spread out! Search the flat!’ Kapoor ordered, even as he realised that there wasn’t much room to spread out. It was a small flat, and obviously empty.
Damn! The bird had flown the coop.
Vishwaraj must have figured out that the police was on his trail and decided to disappear. There were no clothes or any other personal effects in the house. It was clear that Vishwaraj was not planning to return any time soon.
The one solid clue, the one link that Kapoor had thought was within his grasp, had just disappeared.
‘Sir!’ Ajit called from the doorway that led to the smaller of the two bedrooms.
Kapoor didn’t like the sound of Ajit’s voice. He sounded too much like Harish when he had called him from Panna on the night he claimed to have been hounded by demons.
‘What’s the matter?’ Kapoor asked, still irritated that he had been unable to catch Vishwaraj. If only he had arrived sooner …
He walked past Ajit and stepped into the tiny bedroom.
And sucked in his breath sharply.
A small bed, and not much else, occupied the room.
But it wasn’t the size of the room, or the bed, that jolted Kapoor.
It was what lay on the bed.
Chapter Thirty-five
Unexpected Encounter
Maya’s Dorm
The Gurukul
Panna National Park
Arjun smiled wryly at the squeals and laughter that could be heard even through the closed door of the cottage. Shaking his head, he knocked loudly.
There was no response.
He knocked again.
The boisterous noise inside suddenly stopped and he heard the sound of someone running to open the door.
It was Adira. She flung open the door, then stood there, stock-still.
For some reason, Arjun found himself fumbling for words. ‘Er … um, Adira,’ he said.
Then he found his
tongue. ‘I’m looking for Maya.’
There was a moment of silence.
Almost as if Adira was disappointed.
‘Let me check in the dorm,’ she replied, and hurried up the stairs.
Arjun waited.
‘She isn’t there,’ Adira reported, as she jogged back to him. ‘She’s probably gone for a walk. You could try the classroom block. Maya goes there sometimes when she wants to be alone.’
Arjun nodded. ‘Thanks,’ he said, but made no move to walk away. It was as if he was rooted to the spot.
Adira stared at him uncertainly.
Arjun suddenly realised the awkwardness of the situation.
‘I’d better go look for her.’ His laugh was forced.
‘Yeah,’ Adira agreed, rather perfunctorily.
Arjun gave her a silly grin and walked away wondering what had come over him.
Behind him, the door of the cottage slammed shut and squeals and laughter floated out once more.
The Rishi Practice Field
‘Maya!’
Surprised, Maya stopped in her tracks and turned.
It was Arjun’s voice.
She waited, seeing him racing towards her, past the Assembly Hall.
‘Hi,’ Arjun panted. He stood with his hands on his hips, trying to catch his breath.
Maya stood watching him silently, patiently.
‘Hey,’ Arjun said finally, having got his breath back.
‘Hey, AJ,’ Maya responded.
The two stood there for a moment, looking at each other, each wondering what to say.
‘About last night.’ Both of them spoke together.
For some reason, they both found it funny and doubled up with laughter.
That seemed to ease the tension.
Arjun held up a hand. ‘No, let me go first. I … I want to say that I’m sorry I took off on you last night. I didn’t mean to blame you for anything. I was just … disappointed.’
Maya nodded. ‘I know, AJ. But so was I.’
‘But why? I mean, I’m not being unreasonable. The fate of the world is at stake. If we’re the ones who are destined to find the prophecy, shouldn’t we be the ones looking for it?’
Maya shook her head. ‘We’re not the ones who make the decisions, AJ,’ she replied. ‘A day will come when we will make the decisions. But not today. If the Sangha has decided something in their wisdom, we should either argue with them and try to change their minds or accept it. That is how disagreements should be settled. Agreeing to disagree and then acting independently is not the solution. This is the time that the Sangha and its members should be united. If we are divided, what chance do we have against Shukra?’
Arjun stared at Maya. She made sense, but he didn’t want to give in so easily. ‘What if they are wrong?’ he demanded. ‘Despite all their powers, they’re as human as we are; as the sadhs are.’
Maya winced. She was still a sadh for all practical purposes. A gifted sadh, but a sadh nevertheless.
Arjun was oblivious to her reaction. ‘Today they say that the Saptas don’t exist. Or at least, that we are not the Saptas. Tomorrow, they will take some other decision without any justification. The least they can do is give us a chance to prove that we are the Saptas! Is that too much to ask? Am I being unreasonable?’
Maya said nothing. A part of her agreed with Arjun. But she couldn’t bring herself to join a rebellion against the Sangha, which seemed to be the only thing standing between humanity and Shukra.
‘I think the Sangha is too caught up in its own importance, in its role of protecting humanity,’ Arjun carried on. ‘They are not open to new ideas.’
Listening to him, Maya recalled what Satyavachana had said on the night when she had first met him; when she had travelled in her atmic form to his ashram and he had arrived on her balcony in the guesthouse. He had said two things. He had mentioned the Saptas and referred to her as one of them. And he had said that the Sangha were navel gazing. Clearly, there was no love lost between the Maharishi and the Sangha. She remembered how Satyavachana had refused to address either the Sanghanetras or Jignesh by their rightful titles. It was as if he did not believe in the institution at all. Maya wondered why the Maharishi had renounced the Sangha to live in exile in his ashram. Was it for reasons similar to those that had caused Arjun’s disillusionment?
‘AJ,’ Maya ventured, once Arjun had finished railing against the Sangha. ‘If I ever feel that the Sangha is wrong or that they are taking decisions that will vitiate our battle with Shukra, I will be the first one to stand with you. But today I don’t feel they are either committing an injustice or disabling us from rallying against Shukra. I agree with them that you, I, and the rest of what you call the Saptas, are neither ready nor proven. Until we give them proof that we can do something substantial, something big, how can we assert ourselves? Killing a few pisachas here or there as part of Gurukul projects,’ she shuddered at the thought, not having mastered this herself, ‘is hardly a justification for what you are demanding. When we come up against Shukra, none of us will be able to stand against him. The Saptas will not survive more than a few minutes. I have seen Shukra’s power. He murdered my father, who was a powerful Maharishi, before my eyes. That memory is indelibly etched into my mind. When I think of what he did to my father, I have no reason to believe that you, I, or any of us can stand against Shukra. I don’t blame the Sangha for their lack of faith in us. They have too much at stake to place all their bets on a bunch of children who, let’s face it, are greenhorns.’
She paused for breath.
Arjun took the opportunity to speak.
‘Forget all that,’ he said, coming to the point finally. ‘I was looking for you because I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I … I just don’t know what came over me last night. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. We’ve had fights before.’ He grinned as a memory came back to him. ‘Remember the time you didn’t speak to me for a week because I made fun of the guy you had a crush on?’
Maya nodded, smiling at the memory. ‘You were pretty beastly then, AJ. But you did turn out to be right. That guy was a loser. I don’t know why I ever liked him anyway.’
‘Doesn’t matter,’ Arjun said, hurriedly, afraid that the conversation would, once again, go off on a tangent. ‘I was wrong to diss you last night. Whether I was right or not, that’s not the way I should be treating my oldest friend.’
‘You’ve changed, AJ,’ Maya looked at him frankly. ‘You’re more … I don’t know … commanding? And I guess you should be. You’re the One. You have to lead us all into battle against Shukra. You can’t do that if you start giving in to everyone. You need to have your own opinions, your own convictions, and follow through on them.’
‘And I need to have friends like you who can tell me where to get off,’ Arjun laughed. ‘That’s the mark of any great leader, isn’t it? To be able to listen, to accept contrarian opinions and change course when required?’ He shook his head. ‘Fat lot of good it will do me if I cannot lead. I cannot impose my opinions on others. Either I have a convincing argument or I have to be flexible. That’s something I have to accept and learn.’
‘You’re already learning that, AJ.’ Maya smiled at him. ‘Isn’t that what you are doing right now?’
‘So, you’ve forgiven me?’
‘How can I not?’
‘Go for a walk?’
Maya smiled happily at Arjun. Despite the darkness around them, the sun was shining brightly in her world once more.
Chapter Thirty-six
The Mystery Deepens
Raman Kapoor’s Office
New Delhi
Kapoor glared at Suresh, who sat across the desk from him. He was seething. Every single clue, every lead that popped up in this case, seemed to be pre-destined to end in a blind alley. Like a matchstick that flickers briefly before burning itself out, every lead seemed to hold enormous potential before dying a natural death.
The latest instance was the man they had di
scovered in Vishwaraj’s flat in Lajpat Nagar, five days ago.
When the police had burst into the tiny bedroom, they had found him lying prone on the bed, apparently dead. Rigor mortis had set in and the man clutched a sheet of paper in his right hand so tightly that it had been impossible to prise open his fingers and remove the paper to find out what it was.
An ambulance had been hurriedly summoned and the body transported to AIIMS where doctors confirmed the rigor mortis. However, to the surprise of everyone present, the medics at AIIMS had also detected a pulse and discovered that the ‘body’ was actually breathing.
Was there a possibility that the man was actually alive?
He was instantly admitted into the ICU under the care of a team of doctors who were specially summoned for the task.
But the case had baffled them too.
And now, after five days, Kapoor wanted answers.
‘Well?’ he demanded. ‘You said you wanted to meet me and discuss the report in person.’
Suresh nodded. ‘I did.’ His voice was unusually soft.
‘I’m waiting.’
Suresh cleared his throat uncertainly. He didn’t know how to break it to Kapoor. ‘Well, er,’ he began, ‘this case is similar in some ways to the Diya Chaudhry case.’
Kapoor groaned and buried his face in his hands.
Suresh waited.
‘Don’t tell me,’ Kapoor said finally, ‘that the man died two weeks before his body started decomposing.’
Suresh saw an opening here. ‘Actually, no,’ he said. ‘That’s where the difference lies. The man you found in the flat is not dead. He is alive, but in a coma.’
‘But the rigor mortis? Doesn’t that happen only after death?’
‘Yes, and that’s how it’s similar to the Diya Chaudhry case.’
Kapoor frowned. ‘Explain.’
‘Um, as you just stated, rigor mortis happens after death. It is a temporary condition, usually lasting around 72 hours.’ Suresh looked apologetic. ‘I will have to explain some of the science for you to understand what has happened in this man’s case.’
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