The Case of the Footpath Murderer III: Scandalous Revelations

Chapter III

“Jay... the ideal kid... the topper of his class... the one who had no enemies... the one who had a peaceful life... the one who’s parents loved him... the one who was gay...” Aryan’s thoughts troubled him more than they should.

“Sir, we have a problem.” It just took these few words from Shlok’s quivering mouth, and Aryan sprang up from his cabin sofa. He hadn’t slept in 24 hours now, and it didn’t seem like he was going to be at peace for quite some time.

“We can’t locate the victim’s friend, Harshil Jhaveri. He had caught a flight to Delhi on the night of the murder itself, before we reached his house.” Shlok went on, “His parents said that he has gone for a music festival and it’ll be difficult to reach him. His phone is switched off.”

Aryan looked irritated; frustrated even. “Then why are you wasting your time here? Contact the Delhi police. Co-ordinate with them and get hold of that guy. I will not tolerate a suspect on the run.”

Shlok turned pale, but he still went on. “And sir, we found Jay’s phone and wallet in a dumpster nearby. I’ve kept them safely on your table before the tech team comes in. And, the victim’s girlfriend Miss Divya is here, along with a few of her friends.”

By now Aryan had already straightened his shirt and tidied his hair. “Keep her waiting. I’ll look at his phone first”

A few minutes later, Aryan’s lean figure strode into the interrogation room, and from that very instant he started reading Divya. From her dress, to her make-up, her body language – Aryan analyzed everything in a matter of seconds.

Divya was strikingly beautiful. Her dark brown hair fell in waves around her shoulder. Her skin was milky soft, complimented well by her bottle green dress that would’ve been the talk of the town in any pub around Bombay. For a second, even Aryan got distracted, and Shlok was at his uncomfortable best. Her eyes, however, were distant and expressionless. They looked like the sky after a storm – peaceful, yet devoid of every emotion.

With a soft sigh, Aryan began, “Kevin told me that you were Jay’s girlfriend...”

“You’re right. I was.” She didn’t even look at Aryan.

“I know that you’re a bit shaken up, but where were you the night of the murder?” Aryan was being more civil than he usually is – was it his lack of sleep or her beauty, he didn’t know. He decided to keep himself in check.

“You mean last night? I was out... at this club... Trinity”

“You went without Jay?” Aryan said

“I told you... I was his girlfriend. We broke up a week ago.”

“Did you still love him?” Aryan knew the answer. No one says that they hated a dead man.

“Yes, I loved him. I loved him even when we broke up. But I wasn’t the one for him.” The expression on her face altered as she said the word ‘love’. For that brief moment, her eyes looked alive. As if she’d found what was stolen from her.

Aryan had planned this well, and he was proud of it, as he continued, “And still when he texted you that he misses you, you didn’t reply to him for a long time.”

This is the first time Divya looked towards him. She was genuinely baffled. “But, sir, I replied within 5 minutes of receiving it.”

“Nonsense!” Aryan wondered why she would even bother lying. “He texted you at 11:16 pm and you replied to him at 1:30 am. I have his cell phone right here.”

Now she looked even more baffled. “But sir, I received it at 1:22! I’m sure.” Divya drew her phone out from her purse and showed it to Aryan. Sure enough, it read 1:22 am.

“Interesting”, after a moment’s thought, Aryan asked, “What time did you get home?”

“4... I guess. My friends dropped me.”

“Why did you’ll break up?” Aryan asked

Suddenly, Divya’s demeanour changed. From the sad, distant girl, she turned into someone defensive and angry. “With due respect, I don’t see how will that help you solve this murder and I will not answer questions about my personal life.” Her fiery eyes and clenched teeth may have come as surprise to Aryan, but he didn’t flinch.

“Thank you. You may go now.”

Aryan was back in his office and was sitting calmly on his chair, with his long legs propped up on the table when Shlok entered the room, and said, “Sir, I’ve spoken to all of Miss Divya’s friends. They said that she was with them throughout the night. And sir, you didn’t really think that Divya could do this, right? I mean, she looks like a delicate girl, and the stab wounds were so gruesome! And, Jay would’ve easily fought her off...”

“Everyone is a suspect Shlok, and even though you’re captivated by her looks, I’m not. I just got a text from Shalini. She’s done with the forensics. Our victim’s blood alcohol level was so high that he may not even have been conscious when he was stabbed.” Before waiting for a reaction, Aryan continued, “Do you have any idea why is the time stamp in Jay’s phone 11:16 pm and why does Divya’s phone say 1:22 am?”

“I... I have no clue.” Shlok wouldn’t have dared to speak even if he knew.

“That’s because you’re not observant. Listen carefully now. These are not traditional text messages. This app uses internet to send messages. Jay here didn’t have mobile data enabled on his phone. He depended on WiFi. When he typed this message and pressed send, it didn’t get sent because he didn’t have internet access. But his phone time stamped it at 11:16 pm. It got sent at 1:22 am because that’s when he probably got a WiFi connection. Take this phone to Harshil’s place and find out if he has WiFi or no. I’m sure that you won’t find any router there. Then, from Harshil’s house walk back towards the victim Jay’s house and tell me when his phone gets connected to an open WiFi source. That’s where he was at 1:22 am.”

Shlok’s eyes were wide with amazement and awe, but before he could flatter his boss, the door opened and a beautiful girl entered the room. Like Divya, she was impeccably dressed. But her makeup had smeared and her eyes were red and puffy. With tears still streaming down her face, she began, “Sir, I’m Amisha. Jay and I had been best friends for a long time and I want to make sure that he gets the justice he deserves.”

“Have a seat, and please have a glass of water.” Aryan said, while he lowered his legs switched on the voice recorder.

“When we got to know about Jay, all of us had just gotten home from the pub, and we rushed here as soon as we could. All of us were upset, except Divya. She seemed so... normal. Sir, their break up was so sudden. Overnight, her love had turned into hatred. She adored him one day and loathed him the next! And she wouldn’t even tell anyone why. I still remember the day of their break up... it was Jay’s birthday and we had given him a surprise party at Harshil’s place. In the midst of all the celebrations she suddenly walked up to him and slapped him hard. The next minute she strode out of the house. Even Jay didn’t know why it all happened.”

After a moment of silence, she continued, “But sir, Jay was a great guy. Very pure at heart. And, that’s why I decided that you had to know... last night at the pub, a few of us were dancing and a few of us were at the bar. But towards the end, Divya wasn’t with any of us... and when we were leaving, at around 3:30 we met her near the gate.”

“One question, was Jay into drinking alcohol?” Aryan asked

“No... Jay won’t touch it! In fact, he always said that your life should give you a better high than any liquor.”

“You have been very helpful, Amisha. Thank you.” Aryan had a soft triumphant smile on his face.

After Amisha left the office, Shlok had a grave look as he said, “Sir, I think we have found our murderer.” With a small chuckle, he added, “or should I say, murderess?”

(To be continued)

The Case of the Footpath Murderer II: Perfection Tainted

CHAPTER II

Part 1

As Aryan was pacing about slowly across the interrogation room, he was actually assessing his suspect’s body language. Mr. Manish sat there, his eyes lowered, staring at a fixed spot on the ground. His hands were clasped together firmly, and they were sweaty... was it nervousness, or was it simply the heat, Aryan didn’t know. As Aryan evaluated him, he knew that this was one tired and frustrated middle aged man.

Puzzled with the long silence, Mr. Manish finally looked up at his interrogator, only to find Aryan’s dangerously black eyes staring back at him. It was as if he was looking right into Manish’s soul. Feeling even more uncomfortable now, Manish returned to staring at the ground.

With a deep breath, Aryan asked, “Where was your son supposed to be?”

“At his friend’s place... Harshil Jhaveri” Manish quickly replied.

“Where does he live?”

“Just a few buildings away... He has been Jay’s friend ever since childhood.”

“Good... Now tell me more about Jay...”

Manish now measured his words well. He spoke slowly and carefully. “He was a great son. He was doing engineering from one of the best colleges of the city! He already had a good job offer from an MNC. He was just... perfect. He was every parent’s ideal son. I loved him a lot. Everyone loved him, in fact. His graduation ceremony was supposed to be conducted sometime next week. I had dreams of watching him in his black robes, but now...” His voice trailed off and his eyes were brimming with tears.

Aryan couldn’t stand the sight of men crying. They looked like the most miserable creatures on this planet. He frowned, and continued... “Your son was stabbed to death Mr. Shah, and this wasn’t any mugging. Your son was murdered.”

He stopped to let Mr. Manish digest the news. His big beady eyes were aghast. “But... But... But... Who would? Why? Jay had no enemies! How can you be so sure? There must be some mistake... There has to be!” Mr Manish got even more agitated as he stammered away some more gibberish.

Aryan put on the most soothing voice he could manage, and said, “We are doing everything to find out who has killed him... but we need the full co-operation of your family. We will be retaining the body until the post-mortem is complete, and none of you can leave town until our investigation is over.”

He turned to face Shlok, who had been standing in a corner like a lamp-stand and said, “Get the address of this Harshil from Mr. Shah and pick him up. He must be the last person to see Jay alive. I want him here in 45 minutes. Meanwhile, I’d like to talk to the younger son.”

With a final look at Mr. Shah, Aryan walked out.

Part 2

This is one child who was completely devoid of every ounce of self esteem and self respect. His shoulders were drooping; his eyes didn’t even dare to make eye contact with anyone; he was constantly fidgeting with his knuckles and finger nails. Aryan could read Kevin Shah like a book. He was most probably bullied in college, and he was reeking of self depreciation. However, apart from all of the negativity and sorrow, there was an emotion hidden deep within – Guilt. But it was Aryan’s experience that had taught him, that it was not merely the feeling of guilt which made someone the prime suspect, it was the reason behind that guilt which mattered more.

Aryan knew that if he wanted to get out any information about Jay’s life, all he had to do was, intimidate Kevin.

“So, Kevin Shah... Tell me everything you know about Jay. His college life, his personal life, his relations with family... everything. And make it quick. I don’t have time.” Aryan was now talking in a strong and assertive voice.

“Umm... Umm... Jay... Uhh...” The rest of what Kevin said was drowned in a loud boom as Aryan’s hand banged on the table. “Tell me quickly you nut head! If you hide anything, remember, I’ll put you behind bars for obstruction of justice. Do you have any idea of how much shame will you bring to your family?”

Aryan had seemed to hit a nerve. The poor kid was scared out of his wits! Aryan turned around to let the kid recuperate, and he almost smiled as the kid began stuttering out everything that Aryan needed to know.

“Jay... was the perfect son. He was the one mom and dad loved. They adored him! He... he was very smart... very good with his studies. He had a beautiful girlfriend too, Divya.”

He almost jumped when Aryan said, “What’s her full name and address?”

 “Umm... Divya Singh. She lives in Bandra, some 20 minutes away from home. But sir, I really don’t know why anyone would do this to him. I heard dad telling mom that someone had deliberately murdered him... but it is all so weird... He was my parents’ perfect son...”

Aryan knew that no one could be so perfect. There was always that one mistake, that one secret, and he wasn’t disappointed.

As the kid continued, he looked up for the first time, right into Aryan’s eyes, and said, “But sir, lately, he didn’t seem to be okay. He didn’t seem to be normal. He was hiding something. Something was horribly wrong.”

Aryan prodded him to go on, “What was it Kevin? You know it don’t you? You know what was wrong?”

This seemed to be all the persuasion that Kevin needed. His next few words were uttered hurriedly – almost as if he wanted to get them out of his mouth as soon as he could.

“He was gay”

(To be continued)

The Case of the Footpath Murderer

Chapter I

His phone ring sounded louder than usual in the silence of the night. He glanced at the digital watch at his table before he picked it up. He recognised the number very well, and the odd hour at which he was receiving this call meant just one thing.... A dead body lay cold in one of the quiet lonely parts of the city, and a killer was at large, waiting to get cuffed.

Five minutes later, Aryan was buckling up his seatbelt, ready to race off into the night in his black SUV. He checked the address one more time before his engine roared into life.

This one was in the suburbs... but his self induced rule of always driving above the speed limit got him to the awaiting crime scene faster than expected. This one was in the by lanes of Vile Parle, in a fairly residential neighbourhood.

“Who could’ve decided to get themselves killed in the dead of the night?” thought Aryan to himself, but then again, who was he to comment upon the growing number of Insomniacs in the city of dreams.

He stepped out of his car, lighting his cigarette at the same time, his eyes fixed upon the corpse lying beyond the cordoned off area. This locality would’ve been dreadfully quiet, had it not been for the blood covered body lying at the side of the road. Now, it was bustling with police personnel, the forensics team and a small group of crying, miserable-looking people who seemed to be the family.

As his eyes quickly scanned the area, his junior, Shlok Chowdhary rushed up to him with a file. “We got an Id on him, Sir. His name’s Jay Shah, lives just a building away. There was no phone or a wallet on him, but a local recognised him when he was leaving for the airport to go to Bangalore and called us. We have detained him for you to question. Oh that’s his family there, by the way.”

Aryan nodded to him in acknowledgement and walked up to the corpse. Shalini Prabhu, one of the best forensic experts of the city was leaning over it, collecting skin and blood-splatter samples from the body. She instinctively moved to let him have a better look. It was pretty grotesque, even for Aryan’s taste. His stomach lay cut open and his tee shirt was soaked in blood. An expression of shock lay upon his cold, unflinching face and his sleeves were torn, his hands and shoulders were bruised.

After closely inspecting the body, Aryan looked up expectantly at Shalini. She was smart enough to know when she was supposed to speak, and Aryan loved that about her.

Her matter-of –fact voice chimed through the mid-night air. “If you’re thinking that it’s a mugging gone astray, then you’re very wrong. Those bruises were inflicted on him after he died, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you found out that the killer tore his tee shirt after the actual killing.”

“So it was made to look as if he was mugged. But the motive had always been murder...” This was the first time Aryan actually spoke, ever since he had reached the crime scene. “What’s the time of death?”

“He wasn’t dead for more than an hour before I got here, so I guess it would be between 2:30-3:30 am. He was killed with a sharp metallic object like a knife, but I’ll be able to tell you more once I get this down to the lab.”

Aryan shot one more look back at the body before he started looking around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No lost piece of paper, any suspicious footprints or tyre marks. The lack of clues always baffled him more than anything else.

He now turned to Shlok, who, by the way, had been at his heel all the time. “Scan the area and nearby dumpsters for his wallet and phone. Also, get his number from his family and put it on surveillance. It must be switched off by now, but I want its last location. And keep an eye out for a bloody kitchen knife.” Shlok noted down every word that cold but crisp voice uttered. He, personally, feared Aryan, but he knew that he had no choice unless he wanted to quit his government job. After a firm salute, he went off to the other police personnel to hand out instructions.

Aryan was now walking towards the grieving family. He dreaded this part. He was known to be devoid of all human emotions and his non-sympathetic front towards the victim’s family often proved to be a hindrance in every investigation he had conducted. So, putting on the kindest expression he could, he stepped out of the cordoned off area, to confront the family.

On his first glance at them, he had realized that they had been a family of four- a mother, father, and 2 sons. Apparently, the victim was the elder son. A policeman was already taking notes, but he stepped aside to let Aryan take lead. “This is the father, sir, Mr. Manish, and the mother, Mrs Bhavana; their younger son, Kevin. Our victim was 21, studying...” Aryan had just signalled him to stop. He had known all he wanted to from the hawaldar.

Aryan made eye contact with the father’s teary eyes and said, “I am Detective Aryan, Mumbai Police. I am in charge of finding out which bastard killed your son, so don’t worry, you’ll find him behind bars sooner than you think. But you’ll need to co-....”

His voice was cut off by the loud quivering voice of the mother “Can you bring him back? Can you? My son is dead. I don’t care who you catch, but I want you to bring him back. Can you? CAN YOU?”

This is the part which Aryan hated. These are the kind of people Aryan couldn’t stand – Over emotional, panicky Indian moms. Yes of course he couldn’t bring the dead guy back! That was common sense!

He pushed off all his frustration aside and spoke in the calmest voice he could “Madam, I cannot bring your son back and no one can, for that matter. But the best I can do is find out who did this to him and squeeze a confession out of him. If you want to get your boy a drop of justice, then please co-operate.”

The woman was just about to start off again, but Mr. Manish laid a constraining hand on her shoulder. “We will co-operate. You can ask me or Bhavana anything you want.”

It was within these 2 minutes that Aryan had made all the assessments he needed to about this family. It was a usual Gujarati family, the father called all the shots, the mother was overprotective as usual, the victim was the apple of their eye, but the younger son – Well that’s what was even more interesting. The 2^nd born meant nothing to his parents.

(To Be Continued)

A dream of... A Rape-Free India

One... Two... Three... Four... Five... And maybe, Six?

Six men lost their respect, their virtue, and their character in a school bus on the eve of 16^th December 2012. Yes, you read it right – the MEN lost their virtue. It’s odd, and almost difficult to digest, isn’t it? Wasn’t it the woman who was raped? Didn’t the headlines read something similar to “Ek Medical student ki izzat looti gayi”?

There’s one thing that needs to be made clear to the people of this nation – if a girl is raped, the man loses his character. It is only then that we may be able to dream of a better India; an India with gender equality, an India with a better demographic ratio – we may be able to dream of a ‘Rape-free India’.

A lot of feminists and women rights activists have said that a compulsory death sentence for all convicted rapists will reduce, if not entirely stop rape incidents in the country. At the same time we have an accused from the Nirbhaya rape case telling the BBC that hanging rape convicts will simply force rapists to kill their victims with the intention to seal their mouths forever. Now this statement may seem outrageous to a law abiding civilian, but it describes the accurate mentality of a rapist right from the horse’s mouth; and we have to unwillingly believe that this may be the thought process of other rapists too.

The BBC documentary starts by saying that in India, a woman is raped every 20 minutes. Shocking isn’t it? Shocking, because this truth seems improbable for the society in which we live. However, the India that they are talking about is a very different one from what most of us have seen. It is unjust, unfair, and above all, helpless. It is an India where a young boy witness’s domestic violence as a household chore – practiced every night by a drunken father and a hurt, crying, but silent mother.

This is the stage at which the judiciary and police should interfere. Only if they stop the most primitive form of expression of dominance by the male, will they be able to inculcate the values of gender equality in the generations to come. Be it the villages or the cities, domestic violence has to be strictly dealt with.

The second step is educating children through compulsory moral education lectures in schools and spreading awareness that rape is morally wrong on the man’s part. This message has to spread through all age groups, and all economic and social classes.

A rape is more of a man’s expression of power and dominance than a fulfilment of his sexual drives. A rapist receives his satisfaction more from the submission of the woman, and less from her body itself. Thus, all measures taken by the authorities will be futile if the women remain silent and allow themselves to be dominated. There has to be total intolerance for eve teasing and rape, and they must be given a voice loud enough and courageous enough to help their message ring clearly across the nation without being blamed for the crime itself. However, these are just corrective measures. Young girls must be taught basic self defence and given access to technology like sending SOS messages to their parents when they are in distress. These preventive measures, clubbed with a bold conscience and a co-operative police force will be enough for the inception of fear in the mind of a potential rapist. The day this society can make a rapist fear a woman, instead of women fearing rapists, we will see a huge difference in the number of rapes occurring in this country.

However, the responsibility of curbing rape not only lies with the judiciary and the executive, but also with the legislature. Apart from passing stricter laws against rapists, molesters and eve teasers, the leaders have to stop giving controversial statements in favour of these rapists just to increase their vote banks. I’m not just hinting at a certain politician, but I’m pointing a finger at every leader who has fed fuel to the fire of a highly patriarchal society. A ‘Rape-free India’ will only be possible if every pillar of our democracy – the government, the parliament, the judiciary and the media passionately work for the cause.

Now for some reason, the term ‘Rape-free India’ seems bizarre to me. But tough as it may seem, it is not impossible to achieve. It has taken numerous law amendments, uncountable uprisings and many candle lit marches to arrive at this stage of mass awareness, and I’m sure that the journey doesn’t end here.

The road ahead is long,

The path treacherous and uncertain,

But we will reach our destination one day,

And it is only when we do,

Will the Daughters of India be able to breathe again.