PrologueOn July 7, 2014 several incidents happened simultaneously in different parts of India,

seemingly unrelated but as the investigation progressed the investigators started finding

evidences which ultimately not only related these incidents but opened doors for investigation

of a much larger conspiracy beyond anyone’s imagination.

10.30 pm,

July 7, 2014

Deena Dayalu Street, Chennai

Ramamurthy had just finished his dinner. He was preparing to go to bed when his mobile

started ringing. He lifted his mobile and at the same time looked at the wall clock, 10.30pm.

The call was from an unknown number. Thinking it must be from one of them, he pressed the

receive button, “Hello.”

The caller asked, “Is this Ramamurthy?”

“Yes, Ramamurthy here. May I know who is calling?”

“Listen carefully,” the caller said, “come to Big Bazaar at Sir Thyagaraya Street in 15

minutes. I will be waiting for you outside the entry gate.”

Ramamurthy knitted his brows, “Who are you? Why should I come?”

“Don’t worry about who I am. This is about your tomorrow’s Delhi meeting. Something very

urgent has come up. There is not much time... so don’t be late... 10.45 sharp.” Before

Ramamurthy could respond, caller disconnected the call.

Ramamurthy was still holding his phone to his ear, looking stunned. When his wife Jayanti

came and saw his face, she started laughing, “Why are you looking like a ghost?”

Her expression changed when she saw his tensed and worried face, she immediately became

serious and took his hand, “What happened?” She asked.

Ramamurthy whispered as if talking to himself, “How could anyone else know about our

meeting? Dangerous...very dangerous. May be because of the urgency of the matter they

might have confided with someone else too.”

Jayanti shook his hand, “Ramamurthy, what are you saying? What’s the matter?”

Ramamurthy looked at her. She looked worried and concerned, so he forcefully smiled,

“Nn...Nothing… nothing…. nothing is the matter, just a business call. I have to go out for

some time. I will come back in half an hour; you go and sleep.”

Jayanti was still worried. Ramamurthy had been behaving strangely for last four months,

especially since yesterday evening. But she knew Ramamurthy wouldn’t share his problems

with her unless he wanted to. So, there was no point in pressurising him.

She nodded, “Ok, but come back fast.” Then she smiled and added, “Don’t sit with your

friends for drinks, then you will not come back till 2 am. I know when you start drinking with

your friends you forget everything else.”

Ramamurthy again forced a smile and nodded. He was in no mood for small talk. He quickly

changed his clothes. He picked up his bike’s key instead of his car keys, as he had a habit of

taking his bike, if he had to go somewhere close by. His house was in Deena Dayalu Street

and Big Bazaar at Sir Thyagaraya Street, which was less than 2km from his house. He could

even have gone walking but he preferred taking his bike to save time.

He went out and closed the front door. He put the key in his pocket, and then went to his

bike. He picked up his helmet from the rear-view mirror and put it on. He started his bike

and came out on the main street. He took few turns and then he was on Sir Thyagaraya Street.

There was almost no traffic on the road. He increased his speed. At that moment, he saw a car

coming fast behind him. He moved towards his left to give enough space for the car to pass

but when the car came parallel to him, it suddenly swerved to its left. Ramamurthy gave a cry

out of fright as the car nudged him and sped away. The nudge from the car made him lose his

balance and he fell on the ground. He tried to get up but his left leg was stuck under the bike.

While he struggled to free his leg, he saw a big truck coming. He was not worried about the

truck; there was enough space on the road for the truck to pass. But to his surprise, he saw

that the truck suddenly turned slightly to its left and was now coming directly towards him.

Ramamurthy’s mouth fell opened in horror. At that moment, he got a very clear picture of

what was happening. He understood who had called him to come to Big Bazaar and he

realized that their secret meeting in Delhi was not a secret any more. They knew about it and

they were out to kill everyone involved. He wanted to call his friends to inform them and

urge them to run; run for their lives but he knew his end had come and he didn’t have time to

call them. He closed his eyes and waited for his death.

First, the front left wheel of the truck passed over him, crushing half of his body and the bike,

killing him instantly. Then back wheels of the truck passed over him. The torso of his body

was completely crushed.

After passing over him, the truck stopped for few seconds some five feet away from the body.

In the rear view mirror, the truck driver saw a water tanker coming in their direction. When

water tanker came parallel to the crushed body of Ramamurthy, it started releasing water. The

gushing water washed most of the blood and the bloody tyre marks of the truck. Then the

water tanker started moving forward. When the water tanker started moving in front of the

truck, the truck also started moving forward and started following the water tanker. The water

gushing out from the water tanker washed the blood from truck’s tyres. They moved for five

hunred meters like that then the truck turned left and water tanker turned right.

At the corner stood the speeding car, which had nudged Ramamurthy’s bike a few seconds

earlier. Two people were sitting inside the car watching all this. This whole incident took

place within one minute. The car driver took out his mobile and called a number. The

moment, the phone was picked up on the other end, he said, “Job done” and then

disconnected the call. He opened the back cover of his mobile, removed the battery and SIM

card, kept them in his pocket and thought, ‘as instructed I will throw these different parts in

different places on my way.’

***

Jayanti woke up with a start. There was loud and insistent banging on the front door, her

neighbour was shouting, “Jayanti open the door…Jayanti open the door.”

Jayanti was groggy with sleep, feeling disoriented, she looked around. There was no sign of

Ramamurthy.

She got up and went into the bathroom, hurriedly washed her face and went to open the front

door. She was expecting only her neighbour but her mouth fell open with shock to see so

many of her neighbours standing at her door with some police officers. She thought ‘maybe

there has been a robbery in a nearby house and they have come to inform her.’

Her friend and neighbour came and hugged her, with tears flowing down her cheeks, “I am

sorry, Jayanti…..I am very sorry…. Jayanti.”

Jayanti was still disoriented. Not understanding as to what was going on, Jayanti took hold of

her friend’s hand and pulled her inside the house. She made her sit down on the sofa and gave

a glass of water to her. Jayanti’s friend started crying loudly and the others including the

policemen standing at the door watching Jayanti were also moved.

Then Sub Inspector decided to take the lead and asked people to move out of door and he

himself came inside the room, “Mrs. Jayanti Ramamurthy, please sit down. I have some bad

news for you.”

Jayanti sat on the sofa like a robot, then it dawned on her, that all this commotion, must be

about Ramamurthy, as he had not returned home the entire night. Her friend knew something

bad had happened to Ramamurthy that was why she was crying. Now the policeman had

some bad news. She shuddered involuntarily.

Before the Sub Inspector could say anything, the whole world started moving around her, but

she didn’t lose all her senses, she could hear Sub Inspector, “… he met with an accident and

died on the spot…. and you will have to come to the morgue to identify the body.”

***

10.30pm, July 7 2014

Lower Parel, Mumbai

Rajsekhar took out his house keys from his pocket, and opened the front door. He was feeling

slightly drunk so he sat on the sofa and thought of sitting there for sometime before going to

bed.

Rajsekhar had a few drinks in the evening and had his dinner in a bar with some of his

colleagues. He was living alone in this house since February. He was transferred to Mumbai

from Nasik branch of his company as Regional Manager. He had told his wife to go to her

parent’s house in Bangalore, and had assured her that once he gets himself and their house

settled, he would call her to join him. He ate all his meals at a restaurant, as he did not feel

like cooking at home. In any case, he did not have a gas connection until that morning. He

thought, at least he would be able to make tea at home the next morning and would have

breakfast at home before leaving for the airport. He thought of buying bread, butter, eggs,

milk and tea in the morning from a nearby store.

He closed his eyes and thought about his day at the office and then he thought about his wife.

He had applied for three days leave in the morning, as he was going to Delhi the next day for

some important meeting with his friends. He thought about his visit to Delhi. He was worried

about this meeting and its outcome. ‘Could he and his friends, really do something with the

evidence they had with them?’

In the beginning, he was not interested in their reasoning and flimsy evidence they had in

hand but after reading yesterday’s SMS, he was more or less convinced that there was

something in their reasoning and they had to do something about it. The action they would

take, would depend on their on the outcome of their meeting.

He was worried and scared because he and his friends were going against someone very big,

very powerful and very popular, who had contacts with highest authorities in both political

and judicial level. He opened his eyes and went into the bedroom. While he was changing, he

heard the sound of running water in the kitchen. He wondered if he had left the sink tap open

in the morning. He rushed to the kitchen. The moment he opened the kitchen door, his nose

filled with an acrid smell. He wondered, ‘Is the gas leaking? Those idiots didn’t connect the

cylinder properly.’

He saw two gas cylinders below the black granite counter top. He bent down to check the

connection. At that moment, he heard the kitchen door being closed and the bolt being put

from outside. Surprised, he turned. His movements were slow, as he was slightly drunk and

tired, and the acrid smell of gas was making him nauseous.

“Hey, who is there?” He called out.

There was not reply. Puzzeled, he thought, ‘Who could it be?’. He slowly stood up, turned

back and started walking towards the kitchen door. He had hardly taken two steps when

suddenly both the gas cylinders exploded one after the other. His body tore to pieces. Blood,

pieces of his bones and flesh splashed all around the kitchen and immediately charred under

the immense heat. Parts of his torn body, whatever was left of it, flew towards the door. The

whole kitchen was engulfed in fire. Everything blew out; including the window shutters.

There was a big hole in the floor, where the two gas cylinders had been standing a few

seconds earlier and there also was a huge hole on the sidewall now.

People from his building were running out. People from other nearby buildings started

coming out of their houses, and started gathering below his building, looking up towards the

burning kitchen. Within a few minutes, a small crowd had gathered on the road below.

Someone called the fire brigade … “Yes… yes... We heard loud explosion, I think it was the

gas cylinder…ust have blasted in the kitchen of first floor apartment…opposite to our

building across the road…. no... luckily… no other house has been damaged...this kitchen is

on the corner of the apartment and it is facing the road on two sides…no… there is no

damage to any other building, please come fast...yes... the kitchen is still burning.”

Someone else had called the police and was giving details.

Two people stood outside a car parked fifty feet away on the road. Few seconds ago, before

pressing the button, one of them had seen Rajsekhar entering the kitchen and bending down.

That person waited for a few seconds and when he saw his partner coming out of Rajsekhar’s

building, at the same time, he saw Rajsekhar getting up and turning towards the kitchen door,

he pressed the button of a mobile like object. He immediately heard the gas cylinders

exploding and saw flames coming out of the windows. He was sure Rajsekhar would have

blown into pieces.

He signalled his partner to sit in the car as he climbed into the driver’s seat. He took out his

mobile and called a number; he said smiling, “Mission accomplished boss” and then

disconnected the call. He immediately after disconnecting the call, he removed the battery

and SIM card from the mobile.

***

10.30pm, July 7 2014

Qutub Minar, New Delhi

Amar Singh was standing on the third platform of Qutub Minar. It was raining heavily and

there was no place to take shelter, so he moved to the slanting side of Qutub Minar, to get

some protection from the rain.

He thought, he should have carried a raincoat with him while leaving home but it was not

raining at that time and he had left home in such a hurry. However, knowing Delhi’s

unpredictable rain, he should have carried it. He cursed himself for not carrying his raincoat

with him.

He looked at his wristwatch again. Wiped the water drops with palm of his other hand. In the

feeble light coming from the main road, he saw 10.30. He gave a frustrated sigh; and thought

‘What is taking them so long? They told me to be here sharp at 10.30pm and I have been

waiting for them for last ten minutes.’

Had this meeting not been this urgent, he would have gone back home to his wife and had

dinner. The thought of dinner made him hungry.

He thought about the call he had received earlier.

His wife was preparing dinner and he was watching news on TV when the call came. Before

lifting his phone he had looked at wall clock, 10pm, then he had looked at caller’s number, it

was an ‘unknown number’, he thought, ‘it must be from one of my friends.’

He pressed receive button on his mobile, caller asked, “Amar Singh?”

“Yes, who is calling?” he replied, frowning.

“Listen carefully, come to Qutub Minar,” he heard caller's gruff voice, “park your car

outside the gate, you will find the side gate open. Come to Qutub Minar and climb stairs up to

the third platform and wait for us there, understood.”

“Yes, but who are you?” he asked again.

“Don’t worry about who I am. This is about the discussion you had with your friends who

are coming to meet you tomorrow. Something urgent has come up and there is not much

time left. Don’t be late, 10.30 sharp. You have enough time to reach Qutub Minar.” The

caller disconned the call.

Amar thought, ‘the caller must be from one of us, who else would know about our

tomorrow’s meeting.’ He knew all of them were scared, they would not reveal about this

meeting to anybody else.

His wife called from kitchen, “Amar, dinner is ready, come to the dining room.”

Amar went to the kitchen, “Dipti, you have dinner, something urgent has come up, I have to

go out now, for an hour or so, I will come back then have my dinner.”

She looked at him with raised eyebrows, “Where to? Why so late in the night?”

Then her expression changed to concern as she saw Amar looking tensed, worried and

thoughtful.

Amar had been like this since the previous evening. He was not talking properly, looked

worried and had become very secretive. He was trying to call someone but the call was not

getting connected. He had received and made several calls until late in the previous night, but

he never spoke on the mobile in her presence. Whenever she had asked him about those calls,

he brushed her by saying “Office matters, don’t worry.”

Had she not known him so well, she would have thought he was having an affair, but she

knew him well enough, hence was worried about him.

Amar took the car keys from the key holder at the back of the front door and then opened the

door. Dipti came to him, “Come back fast, we will have dinner together. I will wait for you.”

Amar smiled and touched her face lovingly, “See you soon” and went outt. Dipti closed the

door after him.

Now, for the last 10 minutes, he had been waiting for the caller and he was sure that the caller

was one of them but wondered which one, as he didn’t recognize the voice.

There was no sign of any other living being there. The only sound he heard was of the roaring

wind and falling rain. Then he heard footsteps of a pair of legs walking in a pool of water.

He turned towards the sound and saw a person coming towards him. The moment he saw the

face of the person, he gave a stifled cry. The person standing in front was not one of them,

but he knew who he was. He found his mouth suddenly became dry and his feet were rooted

to the ground. He was petrified. He wanted to turn and run, but he couldn’t move a muscle.

His body froze, his eyes dilated with fear and his mouth opened in an ‘O’ shape.

The person gave him a wide smile. At that, moment Amar felt some movement behind him.

Before he could turn, he felt his head explode. Another person had come from behind and had

banged his head hard with a stone. Amar’s legs crumpled and he fell; face down on the wet

platform. The person in the front gestured the other person to take Amar’s left arm, he

himself took Amar’s right arm holding him from the armpits, and they both lifted Amar’s

unconscious body. They supported Amar on his feet, keeping him in standing position. The

parapet was three feet high. They lifted Amar and put his chest on the parapet so that his head

and both hands were hanging in the air. Then they took hold of Amar’s legs and threw him in

the air. Amar’s body fell into the darkness below. Few seconds later, they heard Amar’s body

hitting the ground below with a thud.

Both men looked around for any sign of movement. There was no movement anywhere. Then

they came down the stairs and went to Amar’s body. Amar had fallen on his head on the

stone pavement. His head was crushed and his neck was twisted in an unnatural angle. It was

obvious that his neck was broken and he was dead. Both men were careful to avoid stamping

on the pool of blood around Amar’s head; the blood was slowly being washed away by the

rain.

One of the men took a folded paper, wrapped in a plastic sheet, out of his pocket and shoved

that in Amar’s pant pocket. Once again, they looked around for any sign of movement.

Satisfied, both men started walking towards the gate. Once they came out of the gate, one of

them took out his mobile and called a number, and said into the mobile, “Job done” and

disconnected the call. Then he removed the battery and SIM card from the mobile, and gave

them to his partner, “Throw all these on the way, different parts in different places.”

Other person simply replied, “Ok.”

***

Dipti was watching TV but her mind was not there on the TV program. She looked at the

wall clock again, 12.35am. She was getting worried now. All the while she was thinking

that Amar might have been stuck in his meeting. She had called him earlier at 11.15pm but

the message she got was ‘mobile is out of coverage area’ then she kept calling every 10

minutes. Every time she got the same-recorded message. She thought that the network was

not working due to heavy rain.

She wondered whom to call at this hour. She thought of calling the police but if Amar came

back after the call, she would look foolish. So, she decided to wait for some more time. As

she had not eaten dinner, she was feeling hungry. She went to the dining table and took some

food on a plate. She did not bother heating it. She ate a little then came back to the drawing

room; the clock showed 12.55am. She called Amar’s mobile repeatedly. She got the same

message, ‘out of coverage area’ every time. She decided to give another 10 minutes then try

again. She kept her head on sofa and closed her eyes.

As she was tired, she fell asleep. Suddenly, she got up with a start. She thought she heard

something. She looked around thinking maybe Amar was back, but there was no sign of

Amar. She rushed to the door and opened it. There was no sign of Amar or his car. She closed

the door and came inside. She looked at the wall clock it was showing 3.30am. She realized,

she had slept for two and a half hours.

Now she was sick with worry. She now knew something was definitely wrong. The only

reason she could think was, that Amar might have met with an accident.

She immediately called an emergency number from her mobile. The call was instantly

received by someone with an authoritative voice, “Delhi Police, What can I do for you?”

Dipti started talking very fast. She tried to explain that her husband had left home at 10pm

and had not come back until now. She started sobbing in between.

Police on other side said, “Madam, please calm down. I do not understand whatever you are

saying. Please calm down and start again. Say whatever you have to say, very slowly and

clearly.”

All this time, she was suffering alone. Hearing someone else’s calm and supportive voice

broke the flood of emotions that was pent up within her, which she was holding bravely for

so long. She kept crying for some time then wiped her tears and she somehow took control of

herself and said into the phone, “I am sorry, Sir.”

“No problem, Madam.” Said the police, “Now...first…. tell me your name.”

“Dipti Singh”

“Please give me your address.”

She gave him her address

“Now tell me, what is your complaint? Very slowly and clearly.”

She took a deep breath, “Sir, my husband, Amar Singh, had received a call at around 10pm

and left home saying he will be back in one hour but has not returned till now.”

“Madam, do you know who called?

Dipti said exasperated, “No...”

“Normally we take missing complaint only after 24 hours but we will do whatever we can.

Please give me details of your husband, like, his height and weight, colour of hair, any

identification mark etc.”

“He is, 5’8” and weight around 80kg, fair skin and black hair.”

“How did he go?” asked the policeman, “I mean by a two-wheeler or a car, give me the

vehicle make, colour and number.”

“Santro, red colour,” and she gave him the car number.

“Madam, this much information is enough for now. We will inform all police stations and

patrol cars to look out for Amar Singh. As soon as we get any information, we will inform

you. Madam, this is central office. Someone from your jurisdictional police station will

contact you. Please give them all these details. They may have a few more questions. Please

remain calm; we will get back to you as soon as we can.” Then he disconnected the call.

Dipti looked at the wall clock; time was 4am. She felt emotionally drained and lonely. She

wanted someone by her side. Her parents lived in Noida and her in-laws in Greater Kailash.

She thought she would not be able to handle this situation alone anymore and so she decided

to call her parents. The phone rang and rang, at last her father picked up the call. The moment

she heard her father’s voice, she broke down and started crying, then in between her sobs, she

gave him all details and asked them to come to her as early as possible then she said, “Papa

will you please inform Amar’s parents also and ask them to come? The police might be

coming to my house anytime.”

“Don’t worry beta. Everything will be fine. We will leave immediately.” Her father assured

her.

“Papa, please come fast.” She urged again.

“Don’t worry Dipti; everything will be fine.” he father repeated, “There must some simple

reason why Amar has not come back till now, don’t worry, we will leave immediately.”

The moment he disconnected Dipti’s call, he called Amar’s parents. When Amar’s father

picked up the call, he slowly explained the situation to him. Then he told him that he and his

wife are going to Dipti’s house and asked him to come to Dipti’s house as early as possible.

Dipti’s parents reached her around 6am. Amar’s parents came immediately after that. They

all were sitting in the drawing room, trying to console Dipti.

At around 6.15am, there was a knock on the door.

Dipti’s father went and opened the door.

He saw a Sub Inspector of police standing there with two constables.

Sub Inspector asked, “Is this Dipti Singh’s house?”

Dipti’s father replied, “Yes. Please come in, I am Pratap Singh, I am Dipti’s father.”

The Sub Inspector stepped inside the drawing room but both the constables stood outside the

door.

“I am Sub Inspector Kumar, I am from the Hauz Khas Police Station.”

Pratap Singh introduced everyone present in the room, pointing his hand, “This is my

daughter Dipti, my wife Prema, this is Mr. Rohit Singh; Amar’s father and this is Mrs. Geeta

Singh, Amar’s mother.”

During introduction, Sub Inspector was writing their names in a notebook.

When Pratap Singh finished introduction Sub Inspector Kumar said, “Mrs. Dipti, I will read

out the details which you had given to central police station, please tell me if all the

information we have is correct or not and if any changes are required. Ok?”

Dipti nodded.

The Sub Inspector readout all the details from his notebook. When he finished, Dipti nodded,

“It’s correct.”

“See, our patrol cars all around Delhi had been informed to look out for Mr. Amar’s car. If

we get the car, we will get Mr. Amar. In the mean time, I would like to know some more

about Mr. Amar Singh, like where he works, who his friends are...”

He was interrupted by a knock on the door.

One of the constables peeked into the room, “Sir, please, can you come out for a minute.”

The Sub Inspector went out feeling somewhat irritated.

All of them could hear the Sub Inspector and both constables walking towards the police

jeep, which was parked just outside the gate.

The Sub Inspector came back after give minutes with one of his constables. The Sub

Inspector was looking grim, he looked around, hesitated for few seconds, “There was a

message on my wireless, we have found Mr. Amar’s car and …”

He stopped when everyone present in the room filled with joy and started saying, ‘Where?...

When? How is Amar? Then, when they looked at Sub Inspector’s grim face, everyone

suddenly fell silent, they knew, they were about to hear bad news…

Sub Inspector took a deep breath, “One of our patrol cars found Amar Singh’s car parked

outside the Qutub Minar gate and we have found a body below the Qutub Minar, which we

think is of Amar Singh. We found his ID card in his wallet and identified the body with the

photo in ID card and we also found a note in his pant pocket, it simply read, ‘I am sorry’. It

seems Amar Singh had committed suicide by jumping from the top of Qutub Minar.”

Hearing him, all were stunned for a few seconds. Then Dipti fainted; Mrs. Prema and Mrs.

Geeta started crying.

Pratap Singh rushed to his daughter and Rohit Singh slumped on the sofa.

The constable rushed to kitchen to fetch a glass of water and came back running. He handed

over the glass to Pratap Singh, who sprinkled water on Dipti’s face. After sometime, Dipti

opened her eyes and looked around. Seeing her mother and mother-in-law crying she asked,

‘What happened? Why are you all crying?

Dipti’s her eyes were wide open and dilated.

The Sub Inspector understood Dipti’s condition, he went to Pratap Singh and said in low

voice, “Your daughter she has gone under shock. She needs immediate medical attention. I

will call the police doctor, please wait.”

The Sub Inspector took out his mobile phone and went out to make a call. Then came back

immediately, “The doctor is on the way. He will reach here in 10 minutes. In the meantime,

either you or Mr. Rohit Singh will have to come with me to the morgue to identify the body.

I will drop you back here after identification. In any case, I will have to come back again. I

need some more information from Mrs. Dipti and also from all of you with this new

development.”

“I will come with you.” Rohit Singh said. Then he looked at Rohit looked at Pratap, “Pratap

ji, please take care, I will come back as soon as possible.”

It was difficult for him to talk and tears were flowing down his cheeks. Then he went out of

the door with Sub Inspector.

***

In the other part of India, someone was opening the back cover of his mobile phone and

removing the battery and SIM card from his phone. He was thinking, ‘this was the last call I

was expecting. Now that all the three jobs are done successfully, my problems are solved... I

do not want to come to this situation again.’

He started his car, and after around 3km, he started throwing the mobile parts, one part at a

time. Once he had thrown all parts, he turned his car and started going towards his house.

He took out another mobile from his pocket and dialled a number. When the phone was

picked up at other end he said, “Good Evening, all three problems are removed, now you can

relax, no one is coming tomorrow.” When he heard “Good” from other end, he disconnected

the line.

CHAPTER 1

8am, July 8 2014

Hauz Khas, New Delhi

Tamanna was sitting in her office facing three inspectors, who were sitting on chairs across a

large table and behind the inspectors, twelve sub inspectors stood in a semi circle.

The large table was covered with a green tablecloth under a thick glass top. On left side of the

table there were three telephones, in front of phones there was a triangular wooden block, in

which it was written ‘Tamanna Datta, IPS, Asst. Commissioner of Police’. On the right side

corner of the table, there was a stand with flag of India. There was a side table on her left,

kept perpendicular to the large table. Many files were kept neatly on them. In front of her,

there was an open file and on her right, next to the file, there was an open laptop.

All eyes were on her beautiful face; all eyes were serious. Almost all the people present there

were older than Tamanna, in fact some were twice her age.

Her 5’6” frame looked small while sitting on the chair. She had tied her hair back in a classic

bun. They could see her long neck, broad shoulders, her thin slender arms, both hands resting

flat on the table with open palms facing down, firm round bosoms trying to break free from

her khaki shirt pocket. Any other women with such a figure would give reasons to men to

fantasize but not Tamanna.

They knew Tamanna’s fragile looking figure was very tough. She was a karate and judo

champion, they had heard that during the police training, she had dislocated the instructor’s

shoulder joints with just one blow. She was also a top shot with guns with a record of 10 on

10 with all bulls eye hit with her service revolver and she could draw her revolver from its

holster and shoot in less than 2 seconds.

Tamanna respected every staff member of the police force. She was always ready to listen to

any of their problems and always helped them within her powers. Each member of the staff

of police force respected her and was ready to do anything for her.

Whoever knew Tamanna knew that she hated criminals and that was the reason she had

joined the police force. She had been a brilliant student throughout. She had an MA degree in

Psychology and she had scored a very high rank in the Civil Services Examination. If she

wanted she could have joined Foreign Services or Civil Services or Revenue Services, but

she chose to serve the Police. They knew that Tamanna’s father had expired before her birth

and her mother and grandparents had raised her.

When Tamanna was 14 years old, her grandparents had died in a car accident. They were

coming home after attending a party late one evening when a speeding BMW driven by a

businessman’s son hit their car. This boy was returning home from a late night party with

some friends. They were all drunk. Tamanna’s grandfather saw the car coming from behind

at a very high speed but before he could do anything the BMW hit his car and his small

Maruti 800 was thrown away high up in the air and when it landed on the road, it rolled

several times. Her grandparents died on the spot. The BMW went straight ahead without

stopping. There were some eyewitnesses. They told police later that the BMW was travelling

at more than 140km per hour. The next day, police arrested the businessman’s son and his

friends, but later released them due to lack of evidence. Actually all these boys proved that

they were not in Delhi for last few days and they had come to Delhi the same morning.

Tamanna’s mother did not have energy to follow up with the police on a day-to-day basis and

decided to let it go. She poured all her energy on Tamanna’s upbringing but that incident left

a very deep impact on Tamanna. That was when, Tamanna had decided to join police force

and made promise to herself that she would not let this happen to anyone - all criminals must

be punished. She was very close to her grandparents; she loved them and still missed them

very much.

Now, Tamanna was summing up her meeting, “So, this is all that we have received from the

Interpol. I will sum up this meeting. As per the Interpol, there has been a surge of Heroin

drug supply in many countries since the last few years. Heroin, as you all know, is an illegal

drug which can be taken orally, by intravenous injection, intranasally or smoked or vaporized

and inhaled.”

She paused to see if everyone was listening to her, then continued, “Police in many countries

have caught drug peddlers but with very small quantities of Heroin. What was surprising in

all these cases was that they found the colour of Heroin slightly yellowish unlike other

Heroin, which is pure white. Also, they have found the potency of this new Heroin about 50

percent more than the other Heroin, which makes it the purest form of Heroin they have seen

so far. The other surprising thing was that earlier the Heroin they had caught were, loose

powder, wrapped in paper but this new Heroin was in 500mg capsules, like any other

medicine. This has made it very difficult for the police to catch people with drugs, because it

is difficult to differentiate between the medicine and drugs, as they look alike. All the people

they caught so far were only small time peddlers; and they had no idea of who their supplier

was and what was the origin of this drug.”

She paused then continued, “This new Heroin has baffled the police throughout the world; no

one knows where this drug is coming from but they only have indications that origin of this

drug may be India. They indicated India as origin of this new Heroin because of the capsule

cover. As this kind of capsule cover is made only in India. They had sent the samples of the

Heroin capsules to Delhi Police. The Narcotics Department had done the lab testing of the

Heroin and capsule cover. The Interpol had sent a circular to the Delhi Police Head Quarters

with a request to circulate this information to all police stations in India and the

commissioner had sent circulars to all the police stations around India immediately.”

Tamanna smiled, “The commissioner knows that our job is not to follow drug related cases as

there is a special department for this, that is, the Narcotics Department and they are experts in

drug related cases. However, we all have to help the Narcotics Department with any lead we

get. The commissioner’s instructions are very clear, to all police personnel, whatever

department they are attached to, ‘keep your eyes and ears open’, talk to your informers,

someone must know something. Any lead you get, inform me immediately, I will inform the

commissioner and the Narcotics Department, and from there they will follow up the case. Our

job is to only pass on the leads to them, if we get any.”

Tamanna look around, and then asked, “Is the message clear?”

In unison everyone said, “Yes madam.”

“Any Question?” she asked.

In unison they said, “No madam.”

“Good, now you can get back to your work. Jai Hind.”

All replied, “Jai Hind.”

They all stood in attention, saluted her and turned to leave.

“Inspector Rahul, you wait.” Tamanna said.

‘Yes, Ma’am,” Inspector Rahul turned and sat back on the same chair he had earlier

occupied.

When everyone else left the room, Tamanna asked, “What do you have on Amar Singh’s

case?”

“Amar Singh’s father had identified the body at the morgue.” Rahul replied, “Sub Inspector

Kumar had gone to drop him back and he spoke to Amar Singh’s family again. Both parents

and in-laws said Amar and Dipti were happily married, they never fought, Amar had a good

job, and there was no reason for him to commit suicide. His parents and in-laws say they

can’t believe that a person like Amar can commit suicide, his wife Dipti also says the same,

but she said something else…”

“Oh! What was that?” asked Tamanna.

Rahul continued, “Dipti says, Amar was very tensed and worried since yesterday evening,

she doesn’t know the reason. She said she had asked Amar several time but Amar always

brushed it off by saying ‘it is office matter, do not worry’...One more thing, ma’am... Dipti

had said that Amar had received and made many calls day before yesterday evening. He was

on phone until late that night and since yesterday morning, he always went out of the house to

make or receive those calls, as if he didn’t want Dipti to hear his conversation. She doesn’t

know to whom he was calling or who was calling him and for what.”

“I see.” said Tamanna thoughtfully, “Check his call records, all incoming and outgoing calls

for last two days; I think something will come up from his call records...has Sub Inspector

Kumar come back?”

“No Ma’am, he has gone to the morgue to collect the post-mortem report, he should be

coming any moment now.”

“Ok…..now tell me... what do we have on Amar Singh?”

Rahul opened his diary, looked down at it, then raised his head, “Amar Singh, 30 years old,

was a B. Pharma Graduate, his first job was with Ranbaxy as a Medical Representative, had

worked with different Pharma companies for better post and better salary before joining

present company. Married Dipti two years ago, no children, happily married, now he is,

sorry, was working as a Regional Manager for Sri Tapas Sankar Ayurvedshala.”

“Rahul you don’t go out on field now, wait for the post-mortem report, when it comes, bring

it to me immediately, then we will discuss this case. I would like to meet Amar’s wife; Dipti,

after that.”

She thought for sometime, “I know Sri Tapas Sankar has an ashram in Odisha and has done

some great social work in India. He has changed the face of Odisha, but I do not know much

about him. Rahul, I need full report on Sri Tapas Sankar, his ashram in Odisha and his

Ayurvedic medicine business. These Guru kinds of people always give me the creeps. I want

full details; give me the details of all the people who are closely associated with him, there

must some business group and politicians behind him. I also need the details of all top

management people of Sri Tapas Sankar Ayurvedshala. You got it, Rahul?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ok then, Rahul, once the post-mortem report comes to you, bring it to me immediately, Jai

Hind.”

Inspector Rahul got up, “Jai Hind”, he said then saluted her, turned back and went out of the

room.

Tamanna sat thinking about Amar’s case and Tapas Sankar. She vaguely remembered some

things she had read in an article about Sri Tapas Sankar, that, he is one of the most popular

spiritual Gurus of India and has one of the largest spiritual ashrams in Puri, Odisha. He also

has spiritual ashrams in many other countries.

Suddenly she remembered; she had to call her mother. She had left home early in the

morning and had promised her mother that she would call her once she gets some free time.

She picked up the receiver of her office phone and dialled her mother’s mobile number.

***

Dr. Rashmi Datta, Ph.D. in Mathematics, worked as professor in Delhi University. She was

getting ready to go to the university. She was an older version of her daughter; she looked

exactly like her daughter. Even at an age of 53, she was slim, without an ounce of fat

anywhere in her body. People mistook her for Tamanna’s elder sister.

She was expecting a call from her daughter. She reached for her purse and her mobile. The

moment she picked up her mobile, it started ringing. She looked at the caller’s name, smiled

and pressed the receive button.

She heard Tamanna voice, “Hi mom, how is my beautiful mom doing this morning?”

Rashmi said smiling, “As usual, I am rushing to the university. I have only two classes today.

After finishing my classes, I should be back around 3pm. How are you? Who are you chasing

now?” She laughed.

Tamanna shook her head sadly, “I don’t know mom. There are so many things happening at a

time. One case came this morning, someone happily married and having a good job,

committed suicide by jumping from Qutub Minar. Nowadays people have very less tolerance.

To escape their problems they commit suicide, without thinking about the people they are

leaving behind. How selfish can a person be?"

“I know, but this is the darker side of the modern world, Tamanna,” said Rashmi, “See,

where you have landed yourself. I kept telling you to get into the teaching line, become a

lecturer or professor and lead a happy and peaceful life but you chose to become an IPS

officer. You are so beautiful...by now you should have been happily married and leading a

happy and peaceful life with a husband and children.”

“Oh Mom! Not again. How many times I have told you, if everyone wants to lead a peaceful

life then who will catch the criminals. If there is no one to catch the criminals then no one

will be able to live peacefully. Because of few people like us many are leading a peaceful

life.”

“Yes I know, you and your philosophy.” said Rashmi with a sigh, “But you know... I am

proud of you. Take care. Just remember...do your job well, that’s all. You can’t solve

everyone’s problem. I will have to rush now, call me after 3pm if you are free and I hope you

will be back home by 7pm.”

“Sure mom, I will try to be back by 7pm. Oh! Mom, I almost forgot to tell you. You know,

the person who committed suicide this morning was working for an Ayurvedic Company

owned by Sri Tapas Sankar. I have asked for the details of Sri Tapas Sankar, his ashram and

his Ayurvedic Company.”

Hearing Tapas’ name from Tamanna’s mouth, Rashmi’s face drained all blood. It was

difficult for her to remain standing, she almost dropped her mobile and her mind started

buzzing.

Tamanna was saying, “Hello…. Hello… Hello.. Mom are you there? HELLO MOM? What

happened?”

Rashmi slowly came to her senses, “Yes.. Yes.. I am here. The line is very bad, what did you

say? I missed it.”

“I was telling you that the man who committed suicide this morning was working for an

Ayurvedic Company owned by Sri Tapas Sankar. Do you know about Sri Tapas Sankar, he

is a spiritual guru, having a very large ashram in Puri, Odisha? I have asked for his detailed

background.”

It was difficult for Rashmi to speak, but she said, in a very low voice, “Yes, I know, everyone

knows about Sri Tapas Sankar, he teaches Pranayama and meditation. He has done a lot of

social work all over India and has many schools and colleges in Orissa. Also we had studied

in the same university, same batch.”

Rashmi somehow wanted to stop talking, she wanted to disconnect the line, “Ok, Tamanna,

see you in the evening, I am getting late, bye.”

“Bye mom, see you.”

Tamanna replaced the receiver slowly wondering, what happened to her mom suddenly. She

must really be getting late for her class or maybe the talk of Odisha made her sad. Whenever

her mother said ‘Orissa’, Tamanna tried to correct her, saying the name of the state had been

changed from ‘Orissa’ to ‘Odisha’ in the year 2011. But her mother could never bring herself

to say ‘Odisha’.

Tamanna was worried about her mother. This had happened before also, whenever someone

talked about Odisha, her mother always became sad. Maybe, she misses Odisha too much.

Odisha was her birthplace; she was born and brought up in a town called Rourkela in Odisha.

Her mother loved that place; she had told her many beautiful stories of her childhood in

Rourkela. Her mother had told her that Rourkela; a pollution free town is surrounded by hills,

and she used to go to Koel River for picnics during her winter holidays. She had told her

about Rourkela’s extreme climate; very cold winters, hot summers and heavy rainy seasons.

She had also told Tamanna that she had celebrated festivals like Durga Puja, Ganesh Puja and

Sarswati Puja in Rourkela during her school and college days. Tamanna had heard so much

about Rourkela that she always wanted to visit Rourkela. She had asked her mom, grandma

and grandpa several times since her childhood to take her there, but somehow they were

never able to go to Rourkela for some reason or the other. Tamanna had resolved that one day

she would take her mother to Rourkela.

Tamanna’s phone started ringing; she came out of her reverie and picked up her phone.

***

The moment Tamanna disconnected the call; Rashmi somehow dragged herself to the sofa

and slumped on it. She felt her body being drained out of all energy, as tears flowed down

from her eyes. She wanted to close her eyes and go back to her past, to her Tapas, her love.

But before that, she had to call the university and inform them that she was not feeling well

and would not be coming today. She picked up her mobile and called Babita; her friend and

colleague. She heared Babita’s mobile ringing, then she heard Babita’s voice, “Hi Rashmi,

where are you? When are you reaching?”

“I am not feeling well Babita. I don’t think I will be able to come today. Will you please

inform the HOD?”

“Sure, I will do that, but what happened? Is everything all right? You don’t sound very nice.

Want any help? Want me to come?”

“No...no...Don’t worry. Just have a cold and feeling feverish since morning. I think a little

rest and one Paracetamol will do.”

“You know I am here for you. Don’t hesitate to call me if you need any help. Take care of

yourself. Bye.”

After disconnecting, Rashmi lay own on the sofa. She closed her eyes as the memories from

her past started flowing back to her. She remembered the day she was preparing to go to

Bhubaneshwar to meet her Tapas... long... long ago…..

***

Available at Amazon. Click on http://lrd.to/DbtbhRTdu4

Also read another intense thriller “I am not a Terrorist” by Sunil Sinha.

Available at Amazon. Click on http://lrd.to/i-am-not-a-terrorist

To connect with Sunil Sinha visit his website http://www.authorsunilsinha.com or his

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/authorsunilsinha