As I was reading a book at home last evening, there was a thunderous knock on the door. I went downstairs to open the door and saw Inspector Amit Rathore with a stern look on his face. This was not our first date, I had met him before for a case in Vimaan Nagar, Police station, Pune. I said, “Good evening sir”, but he remain quiet and after a few minutes asked me, pointing his finger, “Do you know that man”? Just at his back a well- dressed man wearing spectacles was standing in a grave mood. He was held by two police constables. The moment I saw him I said, ‘Madhu’! as I fondly called my best friend.
Madhav worked as theatre artist in Pune. We both are childhood friends.
Although we both are north and south in our thoughts, but not at heart. He is the
kindest person I have known in my life, but now as the situation was tense, it
made me worried about him. In a faint voice I asked the officer, “What’s the
matter sir”? He replied, “ Nothing young man, don’t worry your friend is innocent
he is just helping us in a case.” “In a case”! I exclaimed. He said, “Yes, it’s a long
story, I think we should discuss the matter with a cup of tea”. “Sure, why not”? I
said hesistantly. As the two were seated and I was about to go to the kitchen,
there was a call on inspector Amit’s mobile and he went out to receive it. As
soon as he went out, I bombarded Madhu with my questions as if he had done
the crime! I asked him in a fast tone, “What’s all this is going on”? What’s the matter? Why don’t you tell me about this?” as how a voiceover artist read the mutual fund’s terms and conditions!
Madhav was frustrated and at the same time confused too. He said, “Hold on!
Are you crazy”? Before we could talk further inspector Rathore came back and
said, “Is the tea ready”? A loud voice was heard from the kitchen, “Yesss sir”,
which made me and Madhav anxious and at the same time apologetic, because
the voice was of my assistant Mickie Thomas. The word ‘apologetic’ which I
used truly needed to describe this creature. As Mickie came with a tray of two
cups of tea, as I don’t like tea, inspector Rathore was shocked to see him and
we both were used to this blunder as usual. Mickie has a weird fashion sense
which makes him look miserable. He dressed himself in a full black attire as
if he would give a complex to the night! Black hat, black goggles, black shirt
and pants completing his look with black shoes. Mickie first served the tea to
inspector Rathore and then kept the tray on the table and without any reason
gave a colgate smile to us and went to the kitchen. As Mickie exited we were
about to discuss the case which I was eager to know. Inspector Rathore told
Madhav to narrate the whole story, as he was about to begin, suddenly I saw
Inspector Rathore was uncomfortable. I asked him, “Sir are you alright”? He
replied , “Ya I I’m fine” in a low voice. Within a few minute he started suffocating
and vomiting, seeing his condition I called the ambulance and ordered Mickie to
bring a glass of water immediately. Hearing the voice from inside the two
constables ran inside to know what had happened. In the mean time Madhav
too started suffocating and vomiting. Soon the ambulance arrived and we took
both of them to a nearby government hospital.
After one – hour Dr. Sinha arrived and said, “Mr. Ajeet, inspector Rathore
and your friend were poisoned”. I have tested their blood samples in which
I found poisonous particles. Report will be given to you tommorrow. I
asked Dr. Sinha, “When would they regain consciousness”? the doctor
replied, “Within two or three hours”. I will call you when they regain their
senses. “There was nothing suspious when Mickie had come to serve the
tea” I thought. The cups were of same size, colour, and design and the
arrangement of the cups were normal then how the killer had managed
to mix the poison in the tea in Mickie’s presence? Giving a deep thought
into this matter I got my answer, answer was Mickie!
He must have forgotten to close the window which is in front of my gas
stove. The killer must be standing near the window pane observing Mickie
and waiting for the opportunity to execute his plan. I immediately ran home
to talk to Mickie about it. As soon as I reached home and was about to ring the
doorbell, the door opens and there Mickie again in his flamboyant appearance!
This time the theme is white. He appeared in a full white look as if going for a
detergent ad shoot! He said, “Sir! What happened, is everything alright? I was
coming to the hospital to meet you”. Paying no heed to him I entered the house
and straight away went to the kitchen. Then I called Mickie and asked him, “Did
you see someone or heard some unusual voice from outside the window”? He
said, “No sir”, after a pause he exclaimed further, I went to the store room where
we kept our grocery items, in search for tea masala packet”. I asked him, “Did
you take the tea masala container with you”? He replied, “No sir”. Great! I
exclaimed. “How much time did you take to come back from the store room”?
I asked further. He said, “Around 10 minutes sir”. I was irked with his answer
and said, “10 minutes to search a tea masala packet, like seriously”!
in a taunting way, “Sorry sir” he cried.
After that I ordered Mickie to bring the tea leaves and tea masala container and
two pieces of plain paper. I placed the two pieces of plain paper on the kitchen
platform and then I took out one pinch of tea leaves on one paper and one pinch
of tea masala in another paper. Poison must be mixed either in one of these
substance, I said. Then I asked Mickie to tell me the time, he said, “Ten ‘O’
clock sir”. Doctor Batra would be there in his laboratory, I said. Dr. Batra is my
dear friend and a forensic expert, so I sent Mickie with the two samples to give to
Dr. Batra. Then I called Dr. Batra and informed him about the incident and said,
“Its an emergency doctor I want the report till mid –night”. He replied, “I will try
my best Ajeet”. After that I went outside the kitchen area to investigate further.
As I was examing, I found a piece of crushed paper there. I opened it and there
was a blackish powder on it. Then I searched near the window and I got the
same blackish substance spread on the wooden ledge of the window. I clicked
the picture of it from my phone. There I also found a torn shirt cloth stuck on the
nail. I took out my handkerchief and carefully picked the torn shirt cloth in my
hand and went inside the house. I went to the living room, opened the drawer,
and took out a zip pouch and put the shirt cloth in it. Then I took a broad
cellotape and went back to the kitchen. Again with the help of handkerchief which I had rolled on my finger, I cut a strip of cellotape and stuck it on the edge of the wooden ledge. After a few minutes I pulled off the cellotape strip and I got the fingerprints of the killer. I carefully put the cellotape strip into another zip pouch and kept both pouches into the drawer. As Mickie came back, I said, “Lets go to sleep, tomorrow be ready,
we have to go to the hospital”. He nodded his head and went upstairs.
Next morning, I traversed to and fro in my living room, because the report was
not yet mailed by Dr. Batra, and we were getting late. As soon as I was about to
call Dr. Batra the doorbell rang and in the mean time there was a text message
on my mobile which I had missed. I kept the mobile on the table and went to
open the door, a big surprise was waiting for us outside. It was police! Sub –
inspector Raj Arora with his team had come to arrest Mickie on charge of
attempt to kill inspector Rathore and Madhav. Sub-inspector Arora asked,
“Where is Mickie Thomas”? I called Mickie and requested the inspector to
listen to the whole matter. I narrated him the whole story and claimed that
I can prove that Mickie is innocent . I immediately ran towards the drawer and
took out the two zip pouches in which a torn shirt cloth and cellotape strip were
there. Showing him the pouches I said, “This torn shirt cloth I found near the
wooden ledge, and this is the fingerprints of the accused found on the edge of wooden ledge.” Then I picked up my and saw Dr. Batra’s message but ignoring that I showed him the picture of the particles. With the help of the photo I explained to him, “Suppose
if Mickie would have done the crime, why he would have hung on the window ledge”?
As Mickie is 6 feet tall he could easily mixed the poison by stretching his hand”. That means the accused would be shorter in height about 5 feet, I concluded.
Sub- inspector Arora exclaimed, “Now the case is clear to me”. The evidence
clearly shows that your assistant is innocent. Then I forwarded him the mail of
the reports sent by Dr. Batra. Inspector Arora said, “We have to take Mickie’s
fingerprints for investigation”. Mickie replied, “Sure sir”. He exclaimed further,
“Till then Mickie has to be in the police custody”. “I understand and respect
the law sir, and I hope Mickie too” I responded in a kind way. After this episode,
I went to the hospital, disguised myself as a health care agent to meet inspector
Rathore and Madhav. They both were in a stable condition. First they both were
surprised to see me, then Dr. Sinha disclosed to them my identity as he had
already told me on the phone the present situation of the hospital. Some goons
had disguised themselves as ward boys to keep an eye on Madhav’s activity.
Hence, inspector Rathore gave me a blank paper in which he had summarized
the case. I put the paper into my shirt’s pocket and left the place.
I again disguised myself as a painter and went to a stationary shop and bought
a pencil and sharpner. Then I halted in a cheap and ordinary lodge in Agarkar
Rd, Pune,because the unrevealed case has a link to this area. After registering
myself with a fake identity, I straight away went to my room. I switched on the
lamp which was on the study table, and I sat on the chair. Then I took out pencil
and sharpner, sharpened the pencil, then took out the blank paper from my
shirt’s pocket and started shading it with pencil. Whatever was written was now
visible on the paper. It was written in block letters, but was not clear. So, I
overwrote it to make me understand what was written. The letter states that,
“ON 7TH NOV 2018 GAURAV MEHTA A THEATRE ARTIST AND A
DEAR FRIEND OF MADHAV WAS FOUND DEAD IN THE GREEN
ROOM OF OMKAR THEATRE WHICH IS IN AGARKAR RD, PUNE.
THE POLICE INVESTIGATED THE PLACE ENQUIRED THE FELLOW
ARTISTS AND CREW MEMBERS BUT NOTHING SUSPICIOUS FOUND
THAT INDICATE IT IS A MURDER NOT A NATURAL DEATH. AFTER 2
HOURS MADHAV CAME TO THE POLICE STATION CLAIMING THAT
GAURAV HAD BEEN MURDERED. HE TOLD US THE REASON
BEHIND IT. IT IS THAT GAURAV HAD LEARNT THAT FEW MEMBERS
OF THE THEATRE WERE INVOLED IN ILLEGAL ACTIVITY SUCH AS
SMUGGLING OF YOUNG GIRLS IN THE NAME OF ACTING. MADHAV SHOWED US THE VIDEO WHICH GUARAV HAD SEND HIM IN WHICH
WE CAN HEAR OF A DEAL OF GIRLS AND MONEY BUT CANNOT SEE
WHO TWO WERE TALKING AS THE VIDEO HAD BEEN TAKEN IN THE
DARK. BUT THE FORENSIC REPORT SAYS THAT GAURAV DIED DUE TO CARDIAC ARRST. NO OVER DOSE OF DRUGS NO POISON
FOUND IN HIS BODY THAT PROVES HE WAS MURDERED! FOR
HELP YOU CAN CONTACT ARORA. NO: – 9341206018.”
“This is really strange, no over dose of drugs or poison found in his body still
he was killed!” I exclaimed. I contacted sub- inspector Arora and told him to
investigate the hospital as something is fishy there. I told him that either the dead body or reports were changed. The police investigated the hospital and as I
suspected that happened. The police caught a ward boy of the hospital named
Satpal Yadav, who had change gaurav’s report. He had revealed to the police
That he was bribed to do this by Rohan Mehra the owner of the Omkar Theatre.
The original reports suggest that Gaurav died due to over dose of heroin drug
was found in his juice, which provoked sudden cardiac arrest. Police then
arrested Rohan Mehra on charge of murder of Gaurav Mehta. After the special
treatment of the police he accepted the crime and said, “Gaurav had learnt that
it was me behind the illegal activity, that why I killed him before he could revealed anything to the police. He also revealed that he had hired a contract killer and
told him to mix the poison in the tea masala to divert the mind of the police from
the case.
Sub- inspector Arora called me and said, “The case is solved, the
mastermind is our custody”. Inspector Rathore and Madhav were
Discharged from the hospital and Mickie too was released. In the evening
at my house, we all were enjoying a gala time, inspector Rathore came
to me and said, “Thank you for your help Ajeet”, I said, “Don’t thank me
sir, all credit goes to Madhav, you should thank him for showing up the
courage to speak out”. There are people who don’t want to help the police
either due to fear or family. “You are right, people should co- operate with
the police and help them if they know something about the matter”. “Let’s
enjoy the tea party” I said, as All’s well, that ends well”!
