Chapter 27
Khushi was gone for three weeks now. And I have been away for almost same time. There wasn't any news from her as expected but the cases on my desk still remained unsolved. The association of cult in these killings were obvious by theory but there was no physical link between them. In her absence I decided to treat the cases the way we always do - with forensic evidence and solid leg work. With the imminent threat to city, I was reassigned to a special task force to eliminate the threat. Shukla was looking after the station on my behalf and Keith had taken over the cult cases on the side.
With an area this large, there was no dearth of open cases or the fresh ones that landed on our laps on daily basis. Cult cases moved to back burner but knowing a friend was working on the inside, the burner was always on.
"Welcome back sir ji," Shukla walks in with Arjun on his heels. Shukla looks momentarily flabbergasted when I stand up and return his salute.
"That's Arnav's way of saying he missed you too," Arjun snickers. Keith and Deshmukh come in with cups of tea for everyone and stacks of files.
"Bring me up to speed." I take a long sip of tea and sigh involuntarily. I ignore the looks thrown in my direction and feel happy to be back in my cabin, in my station with my people.
"I am guessing you want to know about the cult case, yeah?" Keith asks and gently pushes another cup of tea in my direction.
"We can deal with the rest later. Tell me what you have been up to for three weeks." I am almost content.
The group exchange looks with each other and after few seconds of weird silent eye conversation, Deshmukh clears his throat.
"Sir, we have been looking at this all wrong. We were looking at forensic evidence and physical evidence but didn't look at the link between current and past victims."
"But we did look at victimology Deshmukh. Baba and Vimal were working with the new Samaj Kalyan Party; Baba was getting into the party with cash and the support he has from his community and Vimal was shelling some serious cash for propaganda."
"That's correct sir. But this pattern goes back to two decades," Keith replies as he walks towards the far end of the room to drag the board. "We have to look at our city and state's political history of the past three decades."
"It's natural for a monastic establishment to associate themselves with a political party. Generally a political party drives its religious afflictions and connotation with these establishment thus borrowing the vote bank indirectly. They work together for improvement of the said community and thus its a mutually beneficial relationship." I am unsure where they are going with this but the thought has crossed my mind.
"That is not the case here sir. SKP didn't get associated with Bhramananda ashram sir. The ashram built SKP from remnants of their association with other political parties, media enterprises and conglomerates." Deshmukh answers. I cannot help but frown. Its practically unknown and unheard of - for a cult working under the guise of a monastic establishment would create a party to operate in forefront.
"Do you have proof for that?" I am curious.
"The proof is in victims sir. The people they chose to kill in that weird and bizarre manner all tell a part of story that's now being played. They weren't simply targets to eliminate political opposition sir. They were hits." Keith chooses to reply.
"What, like contract killing?" That's surprising. I don't buy it.
"Quite possibly sir. But it was more like...good will." Deshmukh says. I look between him and Keith hoping someone would explain it further.
"My mother, Arnav." Arjun interjects. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that but looks like we are talking about it anyway. "My mother was a way to send message to police department that they don't like meddling. It's ironic they chose to kill her the way they did because it was exactly what she was trying to understand. You must understand how police department operated back in the 80s Arnav. More than fifty percent of the force were honest to good people and corruption wasn't this bad. Anyone who tried to investigate the murders came very short of losing their family. The ashram plays the worst possible game possible to man. If you hurt them, they hurt your family. Afflicting psychological pain is the worst sort of punishment for a human being and the guilt associated with the actions which caused their families to die. They couldn't risk it with my mother because I was inaccessible to them because I studied outside the country and she had no other entanglements to speak of. So they made an example out of her. After her death, her research practically died with her."
"Only for Khushi to come in a decade later and pick up where Dr. Suman had left off." I supply.
Arjun nods. He looks tired behind the mask of indifference and the answers he has been looking for are right in front of him. The cost of truth sometimes is a lifetime and sometimes sanity. I should talk to Arjun sometime soon about his mental state and how he has been coping with things unraveling around him.
"Look at this sir," Keith draws my attention to the board where "#5" was written next to photo of a heavy set man in his sixties.
"Who is he?"
"He was killed almost a decade and half ago. He is one of the earliest reported victim of this style of crime; fifth one to be precise. He was owned a real estate company in greater city area and dealt with warehouses and such. One morning he went to salon he usually went for shave and head massage and he never came back. Three days later his body was found in one of the warehouses that was on market. He was dead for two days." Keith explains.
"What about him Keith?"
"Check this out," Keith took few papers and slipped in front of me.
"It looks like a land deal," I reply quickly scanning the pages. "This looks like city corporation report on the bids they received for the land and the internal report on the land in itself." I look at another page and look at Keith. "Why are there two different reports on the land?"
"Because one of them is fraudulent. Our victim number five wanted the land badly and bribed city corporation officials to prepare a report which would make the land unsuitable for human population for decades to come. With a low bid he could easily win the land and use it as a deposit for couple of years later which a new survey would show the land is indeed fit for human living conditions after all."
"It's the oldest trick in the book Keith and in 90s this was most common. What's this got to do with the case?"
"The land in question is where the ashram currently stands." Keith replies.
"And?" I am not convinced yet.
"The victim died even before the bids were officially looked upon. His company was closed two weeks after his death. Second team came in to perform survey at the insistence of some of the other bidders. The report came clean thus bidding amount rose and eventually a new bidder purchased the land. Two months later, work for ashram officially began." Keith finished.
"So, real estate mafia?" I raise an eyebrow. "Keith, this would have been expected of a cult this large with the kind of people associated with it. Even with the information you have gathered, there is no way to link the cult to the death of victim number five."
"There was a witness who saw kidnapping of this victim. There is even a sketch of the person who came in to the salon and forcibly took away the victim." Keith slid a page with a sketch of the said man.
It was Baba.
"You've got to be kidding me." I didn't see that one coming.
"It gets worse." Shukla speaks for the first time. He looks through the file and pulls a slim one out of the lot. "We found some photos of Anjali with some of the main players of the cult." Shukla spreads some photos across the table. They are clearly surveillance photos taken by an honest officer who couldn't prove anything in the end. Next to each photo, Keith places sketches from case files.
"She probably knows about every hit that has happened in the last decade and half. She is seen with people who witnesses have identified as people who were last seen with victim." Everyone's eyes are trained on the photos. There is several moments of silence and I know everyone is waiting for my reaction.
"Get an arrest warrant for Anjali Jha."
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