CID Written Update: Chawl Mein Murder (23rd November, 2014)

Scene 1

We see two youths Kishore and Vinay riding on a motorbike in their locality, talking. Suddenly, they see a guy harassing Vinay's aunt up on the road ahead, trying to force her to come along. The youths dismount and fight back the guy, who eventually concedes and flees. The lady Sheetal prevents them from going after him.

Scene 2

We see the family having dinner. Vinay is still angry about the incident and his father aka Sheetal's brother Amol suggests reporting it to the police, but Sheetal is hesitant and refuses, saying she wants to enjoy their stay with them in peace. On being asked, she reluctantly says her husband Nilesh didn't call her yet and he usually doesn't. Sheetal goes inside to wash dishes and Vinay's sister Urmila asks her where her chacha is. Sheetal says he's in Rajasthan, and agrees to tell him to get something for her from there. Amol again asks her when Nilesh will be returning. Sheetal asks him if he wants her to leave soon; he sweetly assures otherwise and leaves. Sheetal quietly wonders for how long she'll hide from them about what horrible thing is happening at her in-laws' place. Meanwhile, Vinay gathers his blankets, meets another friend outside and they both go together to sleep on the terrace and discuss the incident. We see the man who had been harassing Sheetal hiding watching them. Vinay and his friend are joined by one Bholu Kaka and Kishore on the terrace to sleep.

Scene 3

We see Sheetal crying in bed. Eventually she gets up and visits the sleeping Amol and his wife in their room, but doesn't have the courage to wake them up. Instead she goes to the living room and starts writing them a letter saying that she doesn't wish to trouble them with her sorrows and is hence ending her life, and requests Vijay to study well and stay away from fights. Making sure Vinay's sister is sleeping, she prepares to hang herself from the fan. The suicide attempt goes wrong, and the fan breaks off the ceiling. The family is woken up and finds Sheetal lying unconscious on the floor. Shocked, they rouse the entire chawl community and take her to the hospital.

Scene 4

At the hospital, the doctor tells Sheetal's family that she's out of danger, but they have noticed horrid injuries on her backside and abdomen indicating she was badly beaten up. They visit Sheetal and ask her who tortured her so badly. Sheetal cries and tries to deny it, but on being pressed reveals that Nilesh thrashes her everyday. Amol is outraged and decides to teach Nilesh a lesson, and leaves.

Scene 5

Amol enters the chawl in a rage and asks where Vinay is. Urmila says Vinay isn't in the house since the morning. One of Vinay's friends turns up. Amol grabs a pickaxe and tells him to start up the motorbike and take him where told. Urmila gets tensed and starts asking everyone about him. One person says he had seen Vinay go up to sleep on the terrace, but not after that. They all go up on the terrace and find the bedsheets lying abandoned there. Urmila finds his watch in a corner, and looking up, sees his tied feet sticking out of a water tank.

Scene 6

Amol starts banging the door to Nilesh's house. A scared Nilesh runs inside to hide while his sister and mother have an argument with Amol. The latter receives a call about some incident in the chawl. After warning Nilesh's family that he'll be back with police, he leaves.

Scene 7

We see duo and Nikhil removing Nilesh's corpse from the water tank. Amol arrives and joins his daughter in grieving their loss. ACP sir consoles and encourages them. Duo point out that Vinay was strangled with some thick wire or rope. There are no other marks on the body except a bandage on his hand. ACP sir says he must've surely tried to defend himself. Amol says Vinay was a good boy and loved by everyone in the chawl. Duo suspect Vinay's friends who had slept with him, but the others explain they were his good friends and cannot kill him. Urmila says Vinay sustained the hand injury when fighting off the man attacking Sheetal. Kishore explains that man didn't belong to the chawl and had threatened to take revenge before fleeing. Sheetal didn't know him either. ACP sir says they need to find out who this man was.

Scene 8

Kishore takes ACP sir, Freddy sir, Purvi mam, Sachin sir and Pankaj to the place where the fight had taken place. The cops question the bystanders but nobody remembers anything. Purvi mam sees an old lady beckoning to them from a nearby terrace. They visit her and she says knows who they are, and like them she keeps a watch on everything in the locality. She knows about Sheetal and the incident, but refuses to tell them unless Freddy sir and Pankaj get milk and make tea for her. ACP sir sends them out to do that.

Scene 9

Freddy sir and Pankaj go to milk a buffalo. 🤢 🤢 🤢 (No more details from me. Anyone interested in seeing the humiliation of a respected senior can readily find the video on YT.)

Scene 10

After being finally satisfied, the old lady says that thug had been trying to stop and talk to Sheetal since about 5 days, but she always pushed past him. The previous day, Vinay and Kishore saw this happening and fought him off. He used to come by a bike whose number she had noted down, and provides them the same. ACP sir tells Sachin sir to track down the man using this number.

Scene 11

The same team arrives at the thug Santosh's house and demands him to open the door. An alarmed Santosh slinks out of the back door just as they break into the house. He gets on his bike and tries to escape, but Pankaj knocks him down with a brick and drags him back. Santosh says he is Nilesh's friend, who had asked him to bring Sheetal back to her in-law's house. He insists he didn't murder Vinay but had seen some man snooping around the water tank in which his body was found. The man's back was turned to him, so he couldn't identify. ACP sir says they need to find this unknown man, and also pay Nilesh a visit.

Scene 12

Abhijeet sir, Kavin, Shreya and Nikhil arrive at Nilesh's house. His mother and sister say Nilesh is out of the house, they don't remember his mobile number and don't even possess mobiles themselves. Amused, Abhijeet sir instructs the others to search the house. Abhijeet sir finds Nilesh hiding under a bed, and graciously pulls him out. He starts crying on hearing of Vinay's murder and insists he didn't kill him. They hear whimpering sounds coming from a cupboard there and find Sheetal tied and gagged inside it. They rescue her, and Sheetal explains Nilesh bribed the hospital staff and kidnapped her from there. She also explains how he along with his mother and sister used to regularly torture her. Abhijeet sir instructs to have all of them arrested and legally prosecuted.

Scene 13

Trio and the others are seen re-searching the terrace. Abhijeet sir finds a brown paper with a spoon, matchstick and silver foil hidden in a crack in the wall. Daya sir points out these are items commonly used in intake of drugs, and guesses it were Vinay's friends who were doing it there. ACP sir receives a call from Dr. Salunkhe saying drugs have been discovered in Vinay's body. He instructs for all three of Vinay's friends to be arrested.

Scene 14

After some not-so-gentle interrogation, Vinay's friend Bholu confesses he was the one addicted to drugs, and Vinay often used to condemn that habit of his. He reveals Vinay had an argument with a man named Gotia.

Scene 15

The trio approaches the bhel-puri seller Gotia and reveals he used to hide drugs in the puris. Gotia tries to escape, but is captured and slapped by Daya sir. He confesses Vinay had found out about his shady business and had decided to report him to the police. Thus he decided to kill Vinay, but the latter somehow managed to hide the packet of drugs on the balcony. ACP sir condemns his evil deeds, and says he'll surely be executed for the same. Gotia is taken away by the juniors and our trio praise Vinay's bravery and console his family.

THE END