Wasted Investigation

Its been a year since Inspector Vasu died. Like his many cases, mystery shrouds his death. He was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in his house. A case of unnatural death was quickly converted into a case of accidental death. I am not sure but Inspector Vasu probably sang Metallica's "Frantic". He must have been singing "My lifestyle determines my death style" as he walked down the stairs. His death seemed like a page out of one of his case diaries. 

Inspector Vasu was both an inspirational and a comic figure. But he is not real. He is a character from a TV series based on a real life inspector. The inspector whose name has never been published is believed to be held in high respect by the police and criminals. But many mock him as many of his cases were deemed unsolved. After his death, the details of his unsolved cases reached a newspaper from an unspecified destination. The people at the newspaper could not believe their luck and started publishing the cases. Thus, Inspector Vasu, rose from ashes after 30 long years.

I don't read newspapers but I started reading the Sunday edition of the newspaper to know more about the inspector's cases. I was interested in a specific case. I had written about it five years ago. The inspector was investigating the murder of Gundu Mama. You can find the details of the case here - Inspector Vasu investigates Case VR28391. Last week, the Sunday edition carried details of the case. This sounded slightly different from Inspector Vasu's version as this comes from the horse's mouth. I start the narration from where I had left.

... I was perplexed by the development. Situation seemed to point to the watchman as the killer of the fat man. Prakash is playing trying to place his role of innocence to the T. He claims that he has a perfect alibi. I don't believe him yet. As a matter of fact, I don't believe any human being. Given the right circumstance, anyone can commit a crime. All our brains seem to have a small location designated for crime. Fortunately, it seems to be buried in a remote part of our brain and we don't use it at most times. So Prakash is still a suspect though he has come to the Police by himself. I don't believe this fellow Kittu either. He only utters nonsense and no man in his senses can utter such nonsense. I have a feeling he is putting up an act. He wants us to believe he is stupid and thus take the suspicion off him. Unfortunately, he ran into me.

I don't believe the watchman is a killer. That seems to go against my logic of all humans are capable of committing a crime. No, it does not. He could have committed a crime but I don't think he is the killer. Let me jot down the unanswered questions and try to find the responses for these.

1. Who came to the house with the victim that morning? All we know is that he was big and tall. He was wearing a green shirt and he carried a brown suitcase.
2. What happened to him? What happened to the brown suitcase? Not known yet.
3. What about the Triple 5 cigarette butt? The victim does not smoke. I am not sure about the others. Wait a minute, Prakash smokes. He smoked right in front of me. Which brand did he smoke? Oh God! I did not notice. Prakash is definitely not off the hook.
4. What happened to the watchman? I have to get details.

XX/XXX/19XX

If the criminal leaves all the required clues at the murder spot then the Police force would not be required.

The watchman has disappeared without trace. He is from Calcutta. Bakshi visited the watchman's home at Calcutta. He has not been seen near his house in the last few days. They received the usual weekly call a day prior to the murder. He can still be considered a suspect but I don't think he has the ability to kill. I have no idea of Prakash's whereabouts. I went to the victim's house but Kittu was not present either. No one knows where they are. It all seems terribly suspicious. The postmortem has not thrown any surprises either. It has given one information though. The victim had died off a single stab. He was killed by a person with a sure hand, which, in my opinion, takes the watchman off the list of suspects. Its been a frustrating day. The case has not gone anywhere.

1. The watchman continues to be missing.
2. Prakash and Kittu are not traceable.
3. The victim was killed by a person with a sure hand.
4. The tall and big man in the green shirt remains a mystery.

XX/XXX/19XX

Today was better than yesterday. Kittu and Prakash landed at the station this morning. They were very apologetic and nervous. I get the feeling they know something that they don't want to reveal. Something has happened since I have met them. They tried to convince me that the watchman is the killer. They gave details of an incident between the watchman and victim. They said that the the watchman had stolen a few Rupees from the victim and there was a big fight among the two. They claimed that the watchman might have killed the victim in revenge and would have stolen the money in the brown suitcase. I wanted to question them about the new angle they have brought in with the money in the suitcase but let them go. I need to find more about the victim. My hopes to solve this case without effort is dashed. Why should every case I handle be so convoluted? Why can't the culprits drop some obvious clues at the crime spot?

I visited the crime site and talked to the victim's neighbours about the victim and the watchman. I realized that there is more to the victim than being Kittu's affectionate Gundu mama. The man had a feisty personality and was liked and disliked almost equally by all. A number of people visited him and many a times discussion went on loud till late in the night. The discussions were always loud and the neighbours found it difficult to differentiate them from arguments. Once one of the neighbours complained about the noise. The victim and Kittu mercilessly hurled abuses at him. "If the neighbour had not backed off, he would probably have been beaten" said one of his neighbours. A few of them also talked about Prakash. They did not like him at all and his behaviour with women was disturbing for all. Its time, I had a talk with these fellows.

XX/XXX/19XX

Where the hell is Kittu and Prakash? What the hell are these two upto?

XX/XXX/19XX

Some might call my meeting with Kittu and Prakash as interrogation but I think of it as discussion. I did not threaten them in any manner. I had to be firm in a few occasions but these did not involve any form of verbal or physical threats; only changes in my voice modulation and facial expressions. Thanks to the discussion, I can feel a glimmer of hope. Let me see if I can reproduce the discussion.

Me: Why do you two keep disappearing?

Kittu: We were here only Sir.

Prakash: Very much here only Sir.

Me: Can you tell where this 'here' is? I was at you residence yesterday and did not find either of you. None of the people were aware of your location. There was no response from the phone number you had provided. So where is 'here'?

Prakash: In the city only, Sir. Just going here and there, Sir.

Me: You like to go around in circles is it? I have a lot of time and have always loved going around in circles. So, please, explain to me 'here' and 'there'.

Prakash: I don't understand, Sir.

Me: I want to know where you were yesterday. Every place you visited with the timings, exact location and the reason why you visited them.

Kittu: Oh! We went to a lot of places, Sir.

Prakash: Too many places to remember, Sir.

Me: Are you two kidding me? You two better come out with the details. Now! (I shouted this out while pulling up one of my eyebrows for effect.)

Kittu: Sir, we had breakfast at Drive-in. Then we visited a friend at Alwarpet. He wanted to express his condolence...

Me: Wait a minute! People who want to express condolence usually visit you. Why did you visit him?

Prakash: He was afraid of visiting Gundu's place. He believes in spirits and ghosts.

Me: Give me his name and details. 

I gave a piece of paper and pen to Kittu. Prakash grabbed them from Kittu and wrote down the details. I took the paper from them and gave it to my subordinates for verifying. When I came back to the room, I saw Kittu and Prakash discuss in whispers. They seemed disturbed. I asked them to sit outside. I decided to check the validity of the person and address. An hour later, I got the confirmation I expected. The details provided were fake. I called the two of them back. Once they settled down, I went close to them, sat of the table and looked down upon them.

Me: The details you provided were fake.

I said this very quietly and waited for a response. None came by. Their frightened looks reminded me of children looking at their angry parents. I knew the time was right for an explosion.

Me: Did you actually think that I will not verify the name and address you provided? The address does not exist. The two of you better come out with the truth. 

The two of them looked at each other without saying anything. I waited for a moment before letting out an explosive "now". It was then that Prakash started talking. "The day after the murder we got a phone call from an anonymous caller. He said that he will call us from time to time to find the information about the case. He also said that if we get to know something we have to inform him first. We were not sure what he was talking about and said we had no information. He repeated that if we found any information we should inform him first.We asked him about his identity. He said he was working for a powerful person who was powerful enough to take care of us and ended the call. We got scared and we left the house. 

Yesterday, while we were walking towards the beach, a car with tinted glasses stopped besides us and some people pushed us into the car from behind. We were blindfolded and taken to some place. There a few people questioned us about the brown briefcase. When we said we did not know about it, they asked us to inform them if we got it. They said they will call us from time to time and we have to give any information we have to them."

The incidents that Prakash recounted reminded me of incidents from one of the detective movie. I told him so but he swore upon the Gods and his ancestors about the truthfulness of the incidents. At that moment, I had no choice but to accept his words. I asked for the time at which he received the call and inquired with the Telephone exchange about the caller's details. A few hours later, I was told that the call came from a public phone in Purasawakkam. I noted the details and decided to visit the victim's apartment to have a look at the place. If Prakash's narration was true, a brown briefcase should be present in the premises.

I searched the house but found nothing. I searched the ground around the house and found nothing. I went up the stairs and searched the terrace but found nothing. I climbed the steps and checked inside water tank but found nothing besides water and algae. The water tank was a height of three feet from the floor. I crawled into the small space and checked it. I found nothing. I was struck by an idea. I tapped the floor underneath the water tank. It sounded hollow in a few place. Soon I found a stone that was loose. I pried it open and found myself staring at a brown briefcase. I controlled my temptation to take it out. The existence of the suitcase confirmed Prakash's narration. This would probably mean that the place was being watched. I carefully placed the stone back, posted two police men to guard the terrace and left.

I will leave in another 15 minutes and get the briefcase without anyone noticing it hopefully.

XX/XXX/19XX (2 days after the last entry)

I found the brown briefcase where I had left it earlier that day. I took it out carefully and climbed down through the pipes. I was not sure, if someone was observing still and decided to use the cover of the night. I did not take the briefcase to the police station, instead I checked into one of the lodges near the victim's house. I opened the briefcase and found that it contained a single document. I took it out and went through it. It was a will document, which specified the transfer of a person's property to a lady. The Testator's name seemed familiar. I sat back and searched my head some more but I could not find any further reference to these names in it. I went through the will and kept it back in the briefcase.

Next morning, I asked the my subordinate to find details of the two persons named in the will. He came back fifteen minutes later and said "Sir, the man was a famous industrialist who died recently." I did not remember the industrialist and so asked him to explain. He said that six month ago the seventy year old industrialist had fallen from the Tamilnadu express. There was some investigation but it was found that he had died when the door closed suddenly on him as he was brushing his teeth. They could not trace the lady's name immediately but was on the lookout for information. I decided to find more about the industrialist's family. He had three sons who were taking care of the organizations he had started. All of them were stellar citizens who took part in various public events and were known for their philanthropic nature. All the well known personalities of the city hobnobbed with them. The plot was thickening beyond my imagination.

Three hours later, I received the information about the lady. She had died two months ago. Apparently she had slipped and fallen from her balcony. Gundu mama's case seemed trivial in comparison to what was emerging. But I had nothing in my hands other than speculation. The people involved were powerful and it would have been difficult to catch them with solid evidence. What can one do with speculation?

I spent the day in finding a relation between the industrialist and the lady but could not find anything. They lived in different location, worked in unrelated fields and moved around in unrelated circles. I could not uncover any connection between the two, not even in the gossip circles. I only had two connections between them. First, she was the beneficiary of his will and both had died within a space of four months. This more than anything else tells a story but I am unable to discover anything beyond it.

The next morning, I met the Commissioner early in the morning. I explained to him the case, right from the moment Kittu's phone call landed in the station. At the end of the narration, I showed him the briefcase with the will document. He went through the story and the will quietly. He looked up at me and stared at my face for some moment before saying "Why do you land up with such cases? This is the fourth time you have come to me with such a case. What do you think we should do?"  I wanted to confront the three brothers with the will document and the latest murder. The Commissioner was skeptical "What will you confront them with? How will you prove the genuineness of the document? How will connect all this to them? How can you go beyond speculation?" I did not have an answer to his questions. He asked me if I had found any relation between the latest victim and the industrialist. I had checked but could not find any relation. I speculated that probably the man in the green shirt was related to the industrialist. The Commissioner laughed and said "You cannot go anywhere with this case. You will ruffle a few feathers and then be transferred to some Godforsaken place. Is that what you want?" I obviously did not want that happen.

The Commissioner advised me blame the watchman and close the current murder case. He said "For all you know, the watchman might be a hired killer. Did you not mention that he has been around for only a few weeks? He disappeared after the murder too. So he is probably the culprit. So assign the murder on him, put out a search for him and close the case. Move on!" I asked what's to be done with the brown briefcase and the will. He asked me to leave it with him.

It has been decided! The watchman is the murderer. We are searching for him and have published his photographs in the newspapers and posters. We are on the lookout for a murderer.

Yet another case ends up in the depths of this book. It cannot see the light of the day.