THE WRITER – CHAPTER 3.2

The Popular Truth

Within few minutes of the murder, media representatives gather at the apartment and start interviewing the people around. The news of murder of a husband and kidnap of wife spreads like a wildfire. People start gathering around the apartment building and many NGO’s start protesting against the inefficiency of police.

News channel A

Anchor: What do you know about the people living in that apartment?

Security guard:  Yes madamji, I know them very well. A couple lived here. They looked like a happy couple. They used to come late in the mid-nights daily and I used to open the gates for them. Madam was so nice to me. She even gifted me money to buy something for my daughter. God bless her. I don’t know where she would be now and what state she might be. I hope she is fine.

Anchor : A happy couple, a happy life torn into pieces by unknown entity. Will the police be able to catch the culprit? Will the lady be rescued? Stay tuned for more information.

News channel B

Anchor : What do you know about the people living in that apartment?

Cleaning staff : The couple were weird madamji. They used to start fighting as soon as they got down from the car. They used to shout at each other a lot. I saw police coming to the apartment few days back. I don’t know who killed whom but I feel that it’s the wife who killed her husband.

Anchor : what’s the truth? Is it a murder or a murder and kidnap ? Is it just another case for police or will the police crack the case within days?  Stay tuned for more information.

News channel C

Anchor : What do you know about the people living in that apartment?

Lift Boy : Everyone is saying that a married couple was living in the apartment but I don’t think they were married. There were 2 -3 guys coming to that apartment but I didn’t see the guys together. All of them used to come to the apartment at different timings. I saw her going out with different guys. One of them might be pissed off with other guy and killed him and took away the girl.

Anchor : This is the mentality of the regular guys. A girl cannot go out with different people and if she does they question her character. We are worried about the missing girl and our prayers are with the victim’s family. What do you think ? whether police will catch the culprit? Please give your opinion on our online opinion poll and stay tuned for more information.

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With different versions of news,the mysterious murder case became a high priority case within hours. Pradeep Singh was getting many calls from higher officials for updates about the case but he couldn’t give them any as he was not having any concrete information. He called up for a meeting with Dileep and other constables.

Pradeep Singh : Did you get the details about the victim and his wife?

Dileep : Yes sir, the victim appears to be  Mr. Arun Yadav. He lives there with his wife Rachna as per the house agreement. He works for Rajneesh, the same guy who owns the apartment. There mobiles are switched off for now. Their last shown location was near the apartment.

Pradeep Singh : Cause of death?

Forensics: Blunt injury on head. He has been hit repeatedly by a blunt object on the head sir, multiple skull bones were fractured and acid has been used to disfigure the face. We are running the finger prints of the victim and other prints which we got at the crime scene to match with any existing data. We could not recover any weapon. We got a mobile phone which was also damaged. We are trying to retrieve the data and also the details of sim card used in that mobile.

Dileep : Victims dress and watch on his hand were identified by security personnel. Preliminarily we suspect him to be Arun Yadav.

Pradeep Singh: What about Rajneesh and his family?

Dileep: He is a real estate tycoon. He is married. No kids. He lives in Panchkula with his wife Sakshi.

Pradeep Singh : Did you get any information from neighbours?

Dileep : No other flat is occupied sir. They are the only 2 people living in the entire building.

Pradeep singh : Any CCTV footage?

Dileep : There are no cameras in the entire building. Process of installation was done but due to only one family living there, they did not activate them yet. There is another building on the road with CCTV facing main road. We are looking into the footage. Hopefully we will find something.

Pradeep Singh: Did anyone see Rachna going out of the apartment? Can we get her photographs?

Dileep: We got their photographs from marriage registration office. Both of them do not have any active social media accounts. We have circulated her photo to every station. We will get her soon sir.

Pradeep Singh : Anything else?

Dileep: Rachna has a weekly session with psychiatrist every Tuesday. She filed a case of Domestic violence against Arun Yadav but she dropped the charges earlier this month.   

Pradeep Singh: Ok. Keep tracking the mobiles of Rachna and Rajneesh. Ask constable Aditya to stay alert and inform us if he gets any information. Meanwhile lets go and meet Sakshi.

Pradeep Singh and Dileep reached Panchkula to meet Sakshi. The grandeur look of the house from outside gave Pradeep Singh an estimate of the wealth Rajneesh owns. They introduced themselves to the helpers and asked for Sakshi. They were asked to sit and meanwhile a hot lady in her mid 30’s was walking down the stairs. She had a straight bob with shaved temple hairstyle. Her nose ring and diamond ear studs were shining, adding glow to her elegant look.  She was holding a glass of wine in her left hand and a cigarette in the right hand . She was wearing denim shirt which was complementing her dusky complexion. She came and sat in front of Pradeep Singh with a very casual attitude.

I am inspector Pradeep Singh and this is constable Dileep. We are investigating  murder of Arun Yadav. He works for your husband. Do you know him?

Sakshi just nods her head inferring no. There was no change of any emotion on her face.

Pradeep Singh: We believe this murder is somehow related to your husband. We are not getting any access to your husbands location. Do you know where he is?

Sakshi: I don’t know where he is and I don’t care. I am with him only to enjoy his money. He has his own life and I have mine. You will have my cooperation if you have any questions regarding me. I don’t have anything to say about my husband. Now if you will excuse me, I have a date. Saying these words Sakshi gets up and goes inside.

Pradeep Singh was not ready to ask her anything more because he knew that she was not ready to share any information. Dileep was also annoyed with her responses. They started back to police station and meanwhile Pradeep Singh gets a call from Aditya.

Aditya : Sir!! We got the location of Rachna. She is at Vandana Resorts in Kasauli.

Pradeep Singh: Send a team there immediately and ask them to wait until I reach there.

Pradeep Singh speeds up the vehicle. The case was about to come to an end, sooner than he expected. Rescue team reaches the resort before him. He calls up the resort manager to ask about how many people were there with Rachna. To his surprise she was alone. Police surrounds the room where Rachna was staying. Everyone was ready with guns just incase something goes wrong. Waiter rings the doorbell twice but there was no response. Pradeep and his team breaks the door and enters inside the room.

                                      A beautiful young lady with curly hair and fair complexion was sitting on chair staring at them. Pradeep asks everyone to stand down. They identify her as Rachna. He could sense that she was not afraid of them. Rachna takes a sip of wine and starts talking “Do you know how painful it is to watch someone you love die? After marriage Arun was my life.I craved for his approval. I did everything he asked me to do. I became a puppet in his hands but still he tortured me. I loved him but what he gave me was only pain. I thought that by killing him I will get my revenge but the pain is still with me and I am unable to take the pain anymore. He got what he deserved”

Pradeep Singh could sense her pain. He thought of calming her down but before he could do anything Rachna gave a smile and shot herself in the head with the gun she was carrying in her right hand. With that close shot, Pradeep knew that she would be no more. Ambulance was called and enquiry was moving further.

            “Why did she kill her husband? Why did she kill herself? What would have happened and why did she destroy his face? I need some answers Dileep” shouted Pradeep Singh in peaks of frustration of losing the key evidence of case. He was disturbed by her death.

Aditya: Sir, I need to show you something. I was trying to recover the sim from the damaged mobile which we got from the crime scene and its done. As soon as I activated the sim we got info on Rajneesh mobile location.

Pradeep Singh:what do you mean?

Aditya :  The forensic report has come just now sir. DNA from the body couldn’t match the DNA recovered from other samples of the house.

Pradeep Singh: So???

Aditya: I think victim is Rajneesh and not Arun!!!

Pradeep Singh and Dileep looked surprised.

Pradeep Singh: What was the last dialled number? Just give it a call

Aditya was calling the number with the mobile on speaker mode.  Everyone present there were listening curiously to the dialer tone

– “You are calling Mr. Arun Yadav. Your call will be answered soon.”

(To be continued as chapter 3.3)