CHAPTER 2
"Woh hamein aap batayengi, Miss Riya Mukherjee," Rathore said as she turned to look at him.
Riya sighed and obliged, "Poochiye."
"Aap Rohan ko kaise jaanti hain?" Rathore asked the first question.
"College mein mera senior tha. Tabhi se jaanti hoon. Lekin ek saal se utna contact mein nahin tha. Recently kuch che mahine pehle phirse contact mein aaya hain," she answered. She was being quite frank and wasn't hesitating even a bit.
"Rohan tum se milne kyun aane wala tha?" Arjun asked her.
"Main nahin jaanti thi ki woh mujhse milne Pune aane wala tha. Agar pata hota tho main usse mana kardeti. Kyunki main khud Mumbai aa rahi thi. Yahaan aane ke baad main vaise bhi usse mil hi leti.." she said, quite confused herself.
"Aap Mumbai kyun jaa rahin thi?" Rathore inquired.
"I had to attend to an important matter," she said a little hesitant to reveal it.
"Aur kya hain woh important matter jiski vajehse tum kisiko bina bataye bhagi thi ghar se?"
Riya shot Arjun a glare, "Bhaagi nahin thi. Dad jaante hain iske baare mein. Main mere Mamaji ke yahaan ja rahin thi. Woh bhi jaante hain ki main wahaan aa rahi hoon. Chahe tho unhe phone karke verify kar sakte hain."
Arjun was surprised to hear that, "Tho phir Poonam.."
"Maa aur Di nahin jaante hain. Agar maa ko pata chalta tho woh mujhe kabhi jaane nahin deti," she explained.
"Aap hamein aapke Mamaji ka number de dijiye, hum verify karenge," Rathore said.
Riya looked at Arjun with a troubled look on her face.
"Main jaanta hoon unhe. I'll talk to him," he told Rathore.
Now, Rathore was irritated. She was a murder suspect and Arjun's way of dealing with her was unacceptable to Rathore, "Waise hain kaun aapke Mamaji?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice..
"Hello, Raghu sir? Main Arjun bol raha hoon," Arjun said, his eyes fixed on Riya and Rathore got his answer. Shree and Chotu looked at each other and shrugged.
"Kya Riya aapke yahan aane waali thi?" he asked.
"Haan. Kyun kya hua?" Raghu asked, worried. Arjun calling at such an hour in the night and asking about Riya meant something wasn't right.
"Kuch nahin, woh mere saath hain abhi. Pune se aate waqt raaste main mili thi. Main usse aapke yahaan drop kardunga," Arjun cut the call after reassuring him that Riya was safe.
"Riya sach keh rahi hain," Arjun concluded.
"Theek hain, lekin aap hamare permission ke bina Mumbai se baahar nahin jaa sakti hain," Rathore said. But he wasn't done with the questioning, "Kya aap bata sakti hain ki Rohan Pune mein kisse milne jaa raha tha? He was your friend. Zaahir si baat hain, kuch tho pata hoga."
"Pune mein.." Riya wondered, "Haan! Nisha.. She's Rohan's girl friend."
"Nisha? Pune mein hi rehti hain?" Arjun asked.
"Nahin. She's a famous model. Aaj ek photo shoot ke liye Pune aayi thi. Rohan told me this morning, isiliye mujhe pata hain," she said giving them the answer to their next question too.
"Nisha se aapka matlab, Nisha Kapoor?" Shree asked who had already started finding out about Nisha.
"Yes, Nisha Kapoor." she said nodding in agreement.
"Woh kaafi popular hain aaj kal. Kareeb saat saalon se modeling industry mein hain. In fact news ye hain ki ye uski comeback hain. Do saal pehle woh modeling duniya se achaanak gaayb ho gayi thi. Che mahine huye hain usse waapas aaye huye," Shree gave them the information he could find out. Finding out the rest of the information would take some time.
"Tum kuch aur bata sakti ho uske baare mein?" Arjun asked, a little surprised that Riya had friends in those circles too.
"I don't know. Main usse sirf Rohan ke through jaanti hoon. Rohan ek professional photographer hain aur ussi Modeling agency cum Fashion house mein kaam karta hain jiske saath Nisha ki contract hain. Sirf ek ya do baar mili thi usse, chaar mahine pehle jab India aayi thi. "
Arjun frowned. He had no idea she was in India four months back. But, he decided to ignore that as it didn't really matter to him.
"Sir, wahan ke jhadiyon se ek bike mili hain. Uske paas hi ye bag hain. Isme Rohan ke kuch kaagzat hain, jaise ye ID.." saying so Chotu handed it over to Rathore, "Ye kuch magazines hain aur.." Chotu opened the bag and showed them some lenses and other accessories in a smaller bag present in it.
"Photographer hain. Koi tajub ki baat nahin hain," Rathore said.
"Ek baat hain Rathore, agar Rohan ka identity chupana hi that ho, uske ID chodke kyun chalegaye?" Arjun pointed out.
"Lekin uska wallet aur mobile tho gayab hain. Aur uske chehre ko kyun bigada gaya hain?" Chotu voiced his doubt.
"Jalaya gaya hain. To be more precise.." Riya interrupted. All the four heads turned towards her and Rathore raised his eyebrows.
She gulped, "Koi bhi keh sakta hain usse dekh kar. Moreover, woh sirf second degree burns hain, ya phir a little on the third degree side. Chehra poori tarah se nahin bigda hain."
"Hamne tumse poocha?" Arjun asked annoyed.
"Nahin.. main tho bas.."
"Tho phir chup raho. Varna case mein bevajeh phasogi.."
Riya understood why Arjun wanted her to shut up. Such information can only be known to forensic experts or the person who has caused it, that is the killer himself.
"Case mein tho aap vaise hi involved hain," Rathore's remark was meant for Arjun but he had his gaze fixed on Riya, "Tho itni precisely aapko kaise pata ki uske chehre ke saath kya hua?"
"Graduation in Forensic investigation and Applied Criminology. Research bhi ki hain maine isme.." she explained.
Arjun shook his head, "Hum vaapas Nisha ke baare mein baat kare.. Kya woh abhi bhi Pune mein hi hain?"
"Pata nahin. Lekin Rohan ke colleague ka number hain, a common friend. Shaayad usse kuch maalum ho?" she asked.
"Call karo usse.." Rathore said, "Lekin usse Rohan ke baare mein mat batao.."
"Sure," Riya said took her mobile out but realized that it was switched off. She opened the bag she was carrying and fished out a Tab. Fortunately that was working..
"Just a minute.." she said as her finger tips worked their way through multiple windows on the screen, "Got it!"
She held out her hand towards Arjun which meant she needed his mobile.
He gave it to her and said, "Speaker pe rakho."
She dialed the number and the five of them eagerly waited for a response.
"Hello?"
"Sam? It's me Riya," she said in a surprisingly pleasant tone.
"Wow.. long time! What's up?" he said with sudden excitement.
"Umm.. well it's about Nisha. Is she still in Pune? She was supposed to be shooting, right?"
"Nah.. she left in the middle of the shoot. God knows what's gotten into her. Sounded so crazy in the evening when she left. Rajat's pretty pissed right now. I know he's a really good friend of hers. But, when it's about work, who wouldn't be?" Samuel aka Sam said.
Everybody around was now alert, "What? She isn't in Pune? I mean what happened?"
"Donno.. But there's this talk. She got a call from Rohan and it was after that she left, pretty frustrated," Sam said in a lowered voice.
Arjun tapped his watch and Riya asked, "Oh really? When did she leave?"
"May be around six o'clock in the evening. But, why are you worried? That too at this hour? We sometimes have to work round the clock. But, what's with you?" Sam asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
Riya faked anger, "What should I say now? Rohan is such a jerk! He's not even taking my calls. I figured Nisha would be still shooting and this guy is there.. chilling with his girl friend."
"Huh.. forget it. By the way, is this your new number in India? I better save it.." Sam said.
"NO!!!" she almost yelled, "This is not my personal number.. I'll text you mine okay.. later."
"Okay. That's it?"
"Yupp.. Will call you soon. Good night," Riya said ending the conversation there.
Sam cut the call, wishing her a good night.
"Tho phir kahan ho sakti hain Nisha? Uske ghar ka address ya kuch aur.." Arjun turned towards Shree.
"Ghar ka address tho uske agency se hi milega," he said, "Main immediately pata karne ki koshish karta hoon."
"Aap jaa sakti hain," Rathore said looking at Riya.
"Thanks," she said and was about to leave, Arjun stopped her, "Gadi mein wait karo. Hamein vaise bhi Mumbai hi jaana hain. Main tumhe chod dunga."
Riya rolled her eyes, but followed Arjun's order. She was too exhausted to argue with him.
"Police ko phone kab aayi thi? Aur uss aadmi ne woh laash dekhi kab?" Arjun asked Rathore
"Main bhi Pune se hi laut raha tha. Mere saamne hi uski gaadi ne control khoyi thi aur mujhe achaanak gaadi rokna pada. Yahaan jam hogaya. Sirf woh aadmi hi nahin, main aur kuch aur log bhi the uss waqt. Kuch gyaarah baje ke kareeb," Rathore said, "Mujhe lagta hain hamein iss Nisha jald se jald milna hoga."
"You're right Rathore. Nisha Rohan se baat karne ke baad nikli thi wahan se aur woh bhi pareshaan thi. Zaroor kuch connection hain."
"Sir, uss Rajat se meri baat huyi hain abhi abhi. Aaj ke shoot ka photographer hain woh. Pune mein hi hain. Kuch last minute shooting kar rahe hain. Nisha Mumbai mein akeli rehti hain. I got her address," Shree informed them.
"Theek hain. Rawte, tum aur Shree Nisha se milne jao. Main aur Chotu iss Rohan ke baare mein dekhte hain," Rathore instructed them and walked towards Chotu.
Arjun and Shree walked towards the SUV. Arjun got into the driver seat and saw Riya leaning against the door on the passenger side, outside the vehicle. He knocked at the window and Riya turned around, to realize that Arjun was already inside.
Both Shree and Riya reached for the handle of the door at a time. She looked at him. He looked at the handle first and then at her. She immediately pointed at the seat; said, "All yours," with a dimpled smile and left to occupy the seat at the back. Shree got in and Arjun started the SUV.
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Hey guys! I'm back with an update! I know I'm late, I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting.
This chapter was mostly about the case, but it was necessary, trust me. I hope you'll like the case as well. *finger's crossed* 😉
I'll update asap!
Please leave your comments! They mean a lot to me! 😊
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