The Trio Murder Complexity

The Trio Murder Complexity

Prologue

It was a dark cloudy new moon night. The sky seemed darker than ever. No stars were been seen. It would probably rain. Inside a house, a door of a room opens and a dark shadow comes out into the corridor. The shadow moves upstairs holding something in his hand, which can’t be seen due to darkness. There is a pin-drop silence in the whole house except the sound of the feet moving upstairs.

Suddenly the house fills up with a sound of a shriek along with the sound of the thunder outside. Outside it starts raining and inside a person starts singing with a fake shrill mischievous voice –

                                   Raindrop keeps falling on the roof

                                   Just like I killed my father on his chest.

“Now lie down and stay still……………….good job.”

The person laughs out louder than ever.

After sometime, the dark sky, the raindrops, the clouds and the furniture of the room observes a man hanging from the ceiling fan. From this huge world of population 7.4 billion, nobody sees except the non-living things, how two lives leaves the Mother Earth and starts a journey towards, some may say heaven but some may say hell. The red-coloured fluid flows over the wooden floor. This innocent wood suffers the guilt by absorbing the fluid slowly and slowly. The sound of creaking fan slowly stops as the body hanging slowly stops swinging.

Suddenly, when the house becomes silent again, a sound of a gun and a person’s shriek is heard from a room upstairs. After sometime, another body is dragged over the floor and kept in the room where the other two bodies are present. A person turns around and stares at the body sitting on the chair. He suddenly breaks down over the body and starts crying. The only word he kept on saying, mixed with emotions and sadness, was – “Baba!!”

                                                                                  

Aviraj Ray returns

The Rajdhani Express came to a halt at the Platform No. 10 in Howrah Station. Along with the crowd, we came down from the train. Suddenly a childish voice shouted saying,” Dad, see Aviraj Da and Ayaan Da.”

We turned to see a small boy with his father and his mother coming towards us. He was pulling his father’s hands and running, who was having trouble keeping pace with his son, with a huge suitcase.

“You are Aviraj Da and you are Ayaan Da, right? “Said the child with an excited voice. He handed Aviraj Da with a pad and asked for an autograph.

“What is your name dear?”

“My name is Arunava Ghosh.” The boy said with clear and correct English.

After signing the autograph, he asked,” In which class do you read?”

“Class 3”

Now his father said,” He is a great fan of you. The whole day he keeps on asking us, how Aviraj Da do that and all. “

Aviraj Da smiled and said,” Okay. Come to my house someday, I will explain you everything.”

As we waited for our reserved car which we had already booked before returning back, the family also waited. The boy continuously was asking Avi Da questions and the latter was answering them patiently with a smile.

                                                                                      

The 123 murders

As we entered our house, Avi Da’s phone rang.

“………………………………”

“OK.”

“Who was it?”

“Inspector Taranath Babu. As soon as I entered Kolkata, TWO murders and a suicide happened at the dead end of the night. “

After freshening up, Avi Da took out his bike and we reached the spot – CF 11 Area 1D New Town, Rajarhat, Kolkata – 700156. It was a bungalow. The whole house was surrounded with a crowd. Nobody was allowed to enter inside. The gate was blocked by policemen. Avi Da went towards the gate and showed them his visiting card. We were allowed to go inside. An old policeman welcomed us, he was the inspector which I got to know later.

“Where is the spot?”

“Here here, come with me” and Taranath Babu took us to the 3^rd room in the 1^st floor. The room was crowded with reporters clicking photos.

“Taranath Babu, take this reporters and the other policemen outside. You stay here with us. “

It took less than 10 minutes to shoo off the reporters. After that we came inside and Avi Da asked,” Who saw these bodies first?”

“The newspaper boy. According to him, he had come to give the newspaper and he saw that the door was open. He came inside calling the name “Borobabu, Borobabu” but nobody answered. He suspected something was wrong and he came upstairs and saw this scene.” Taranath Babu explained everything.

In the room, there were 3 dead bodies at 3 different positions in 3 different places and killed with 3 different ways. The first body was of an old man, who was the owner of this house, who was probably sitting on a chair reading a book when he was killed with a dagger stabbed on the chest. The second was of his son, 30 years old, lying on the floor killed with a bullet fired into his forehead. The third was the all-time-servant of this house hanging from the ceiling who died from the suicide.

“Call that newspaper boy. “

After sometime a teenage boy stood in front of us. The fear could be easily read from his face. He was scared as hell. He was sweating profusely.

“If I say, you have murdered them?”

“He….”  The inspector started saying something but stopped when Avi Da gestured him.

Seeing the expression in the boy’s eyes, Avi Da said,” Okay go.”

Avi Da started investigating the bodies.

“What’s the name of this old man?”

“ Raghunath Das.”

“He knew the person who killed him.”

“How do you know?”

“See the man’s eyes. He was very shocked and this shock only happens when something unexpected happens. He mayn’t have thought ever that “that” person will kill him. But the million dollar question is if it was his son, then who killed his son? If it was the servant, then why did he suicide, he may have ran away. If it was a different person, then why he killed only the son and and not the servant or did he also kill the servant and just to make up the case, he hanged the body from there but then how he has killed him because there are no signs on his body of injury. Then why did he kill the three of them in three different ways in the same room. What were they doing in the same room at the same time at the midnight?”

Avi Da took out his mobile and after tapping something, he said, “Taranath Babu, I have sent my email ID to your mobile.  As soon as you get the postmortem report, send it to me. “

“Ok.”

Avi Da went out and started visiting each and every room of the house. As soon as we entered a certain room upstairs, I shrieked out, “ Avi Da, see the floor.”

The floor had a sign of red blood as if a body was dragged over the floor.

“Wait. Don’t get in.”

Saying this, Avi Da entered the room slowly without hampering the blood print on the floor.

After checking out the whole room for nearly 15 minutes, Avi Da came out.

“The son was killed here in this room. See he was booking a ticket in his laptop to go to Goa.” And Avi Da showed us the pictures from his phone, he clicked inside the room.

He continued,” My belief is that the son was up here doing his work and the murderer first killed the old man and the servant downstairs. Then when he heard that maybe somebody was here upstairs, he came up, saw him and fired a bullet. He was sitting here doing the work facing this door and the murderer entered from this same door. Before the man could have done anything to defend, he was killed. See these marks of blood over the screen of the laptop prove everything.

He took out a piece of paper and started drawing a sketch. After a few minutes, he showed us and said, “ See, the man was sitting here on his chair. When he saw the murderer standing at the door, he stood up and that’s the time when the bullet was fired into his chest and he fell down like this, backwards. But one thing, if the dragging of the body can be seen here due to the blood, then why isn’t it being seen on the stairs. Ummmm.. I think the murderer dragged the body over the stairs like this” and he again drew a sketch.

                                                                           

                                                

                                                                                     

The Confusing Report

 “Aviraj Babu, I have sent you the report. See it and you may get the greatest shock in your life. I think this type of murder has never happened ever. By the way, the handle of the dagger was totally clean, no finger prints.“

“Ok. Let me see.”

Avi Da switched off the loudspeaker and ended the call.

The report said that the three men have died nearly at the same time. The old man has died due to dagger, the son died due to the dagger but the problem about the servant’s death is that – his brain stopped working and his body became numb before his suicide!

Confused, right? Even Avi Da was confused.  

“How can this happen?”

“I don’t know. Will I have to think always, you also must think.”

As usual I went to my room and sat down. It’s my summer vacation going on now. My college will reopen aft 1 month. So there is no work in hand now. I was thinking all these when I heard Avi Da talking to someone.

I went outside and Avi Da kept down his phone.

“What happened?”

“Wait for some time. I am waiting for the phone call.”

After around 30 minutes, the phone rang. Taking the phone call, I noticed that, a smile extended on Avi Da’s face.

Keeping down the phone, he said,“Yes! Yes! I guessed it right.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Get ready. We will go to the forensic lab.”

Actually I was not at all amazed. I have seen this kind of behaviour from Avi Da earlier. This sudden joy, sudden victory and sudden change in mood are not new to me.

Within 30 minutes, we were there. The KPD forensic lab. The best forensic lab in West Bengal. Moreover because it is always connected with the international forensic laboratories so it gets all new ideas and techniques.

“Sir, come this way.” a middle aged man, shorter in height than Avi Da, slightly fat, dark skinned and having a tiny “Charlie Chaplin” butterfly moustache, took us into a room, where lots of doctors wearing white coats, were researching. Oh, this room was not the end! He showed us the way to another room. This was a rather smaller room. I noticed that at the centre of the room, something was lying on the bed covered with white cloth. Yeah, it was a dead body. When a doctor came in and removed the cloth from the face, I saw that it was the body of the servant of Raghunath Das.

“Hi, myself Dr. Albert Pinto, pleased to meet you. “

Avi Da shaked his hand, smiling.

“Show me the X-ray result. “

Dr. Pinto turned off the light and we kept our eyes on the wall where a desktop background of a computer could be seen. He, with the help of his mobile, brought an X-ray report on the wall. It was a full body x-ray picture. He pointed towards the left leg of the picture and we saw that a needle-like thing could be seen.

“This needle-like thing was injected inside the flesh near his leg bone. As it was injected in his flesh, we are being able to capture the thing. “

“Do you know what this can be?”

“We don’t know but we have sent an email regarding this thing to one of the forensic labs in England and we would be getting the reply very soon.”

Avi Da was silent. He was certainly thinking something. What can be that?

My question went unanswered but answer to the question in our minds came. A man came in and said,” Sir, they have sent the reply. Would you like to see it now?”

Albert Pinto hurriedly went outside followed by Avi Da and me. We got our answer.

In short, it was a thin tube with head pointed like a needle so that it can go inside the flesh easily. This tube may have contained a dangerous harmful fluid which got into the blood after the needle was shot in. Soon, the brain stopped working, the body lost control over itself.

This concludes that after doing this, it would have become easier for the murderer to hang the servant. This means that the hanging of the servant was just a part of the act, to distract the police. So the thing stands out like this that the servant was really murdered, along with the old man.

                                                                                       

The Giant

“I need to interrogate some of the neighbours of Raghunath Das. Neighbours generally know many things about each other.  We will go tomorrow morning. “ said Avi Da. Suddenly the calling bell rang and Avi Da got up to open the door.  

No sooner did he open the door than somebody pushed Avi Da inside and pressed a cloth on his nose. Avi Da tried to fight back but the essence of chloroform slowly made him senseless. I was so shocked that I couldn’t move from my position for a few minutes. When I gained back my senses, I ran to pick up the glass vase. Picking up as I attempted to throw it towards the man, the man was already in front of me.

He was nearly 6.8 - 7 feet tall, with a muscular body of a WWE wrestler, having a square cut face with a French cut moustache. He had a long hair with a pony tail at the back. To my amazement, he broke the vase I was holding, with his head. I punched him in his stomach, kicked him with all my known techniques. But all was in vain. His expression didn’t change instead he became angrier and picked me up holding my neck. I couldn’t even shout because my voice was choked. He tied me up and even Avi Da. Our eyes were blindfolded even. We were carried into a car and we were put inside the dickey. It was in the afternoon and generally at this time, the road in front our house remains deserted, so nobody saw us.

After a really long time, our eyes were opened. We were inside a room. It was a wooden floor. That huge giant was standing in front of us. He opened our hand-tied ropes and went out closing the door behind.

Avi Da slowly sat up. He was still swinging from dizziness.

“Avi Da, now what will we do? How do we get out from here? ”

He held his head and just said,” Ahhh…”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. Just the head is spinning a bit. Wait let me think of something how to get out of here. “

We had not noticed that when that giant had again entered the room.

“Bahar nikal ne ke baarey mey sochna bhi maat…….sar kat lunga.”he said in a bass voice.

Avi Da looked up to him in such a casual and calm attitude, as if nothing has happened, that I was surprised.

He gave us two plates where so-called food was provided. Each plate had two rotis and a bowl of dal. He also kept a jar of water beside them.

“Chup chap kha lena.” He said and went out.

“Go on. Eat it. We may not get food after this. No arguments.”

I silently ate the food.

I didn’t know what Avi Da was upto. He just seemed so damn cool. Wasn’t he having any tension or anxiety?

After much hesitation, I finally asked him,” How will we get out of here?”

“Chill. Relax.”

What the hell!! I will have to chill? I will have to relax? At this moment? When I don’t know even whether I will stay alive or not, whether Avi Da will stay alive or not!

I was boiling from inside by seeing the attitude of Avi Da. If you have anything in mind, say it. No! He would never say anything. This is the problem of him.

After a long time (we were not having any watch), suddenly the door lock clicked and Avi Da sat up. I didn’t fully sit up but didn’t even stay laid down. I was in the half position.

That giant again came with two plates and a jar of water. Again this time the plates had the same food. Don’t they eat anything else or what?

After keeping the food, when turned and started walking, I was shocked to see Avi Da get up and slowly move towards him with a KNIFE in his hand. As the man was going to open the door, Avi Da jumped and perfectly hit the knife on his neck on the side. My mouth remained open.

“Come on. Don’t stare like that and get up. We need to go out.”

“Where did you get that knife?”

“I had it with me.”

“Then why didn’t you hit him when he came to our house?”

“Athithi Deva Bhava” he replied and started laughing.

I didn’t say anything more.

We went outside the room. It was short corridor. The house was made of wood. We went towards the door and on opening it, we saw – Green Earth.

Trees and trees. Chirping of birds, rustling of leaves, sound of insects and various other noises.

“We are in a jungle. How to get out of this?”

We didn’t hear any of these sounds when we were inside the room.

Avi Da looked around. Then he looked up.

“The sky is bright. That means it is now morning, ok, and the sun is not exactly at the top of us, so, that side is the east, our house faces the east, so we need to go towards the opposite i.e. towards WEST. “

“Oh. What a talent you have Avi Da! “

“Hmm. Ok. Now walk fast.”

It was tiresome journey. The jungle seemed never-ending. Even the time seemed. The sun soon went above our head. We were feeling warm already, and moreover it was mid-summer going on.

“Look Avi Da, a road.”

After a really long time, we noticed a pakka road. We fastened our speed. Soon we started running. I fell down thrice.

Soon we were standing on the road. Finally we were out of the jungle. Now some may think were there no animals in the jungle? Not even a monkey or a deer? Yes there were some monkeys but except that I didn’t notice anything.

We started walking along the road. After walking a long distance, we heard a sound of a vehicle. Turning around, we saw a truck coming. We stood in the middle of the road lifting our hands to stop it. Yes we were a bit desperate.

“Dada, yey kidhar ja raha hai?”

“Kolkata, babu.”

“Acha, hum log ko chor do gey zara?”

“Aiye aiye. Zaroor chor denge.”

                                                                                         

Many things revealed

Finally we were back in our home. I went to the washroom and refreshed myself. What a journey it was!

“Take rest. We will go out for that “incomplete” interrogation in the evening.”Avi Da said.

It was 6:15 pm and we were sitting in Ramu Kaka’s tea shop. He was preparing tea and answering Avi Da’s questions.

“What did Raghunath Babu do as in what was his occupation?”

“He was a bank manager of United Bank of India.”

“Tell something more about him.”

“Babu, firstly I was shocked to hear when I heard that Raghunath Babu was murdered. I thought the murderer was his elder son, Chetan…..”

“What? Elder son? Didn’t he have only one son and why did you think he would murder him?”

“No babu. He had a younger son also. As much as I remember, his name was Sudeep.”

“Taranath Babu didn’t tell me any of these.”

“I think he doesn’t know. Anyway, most of the people don’t know anything of Sudeep. He had left his father’s house 15 years ago and after that day, nobody knows where he is. Nobody knows if he is even alive or dead.”

“But why did you think the elder son would have murdered?”

“Aree Babu, each and everyday, quarrel used to go on between Chetan Babu and Raghunath Babu. He was the black sheep of the family and Raghunath Babu naturally didn’t like him at all. He used to pressurize him everyday for money which he used to expend it in parties, races, brothels and so on. Simply he used to do no work and just waste the money. Raghunath Babu used to be sad everyday for his younger son.”

“But why did Sudeep leave the house?”

“Ohh. That’s another story. From childhood, Sudeep Babu was just the opposite of Chetan Babu. In the childhood, Chetan Babu didn’t study at all but just enjoyed himself whereas Sudeep Babu never used to go to parties and all but concentrated on the studies. Soon Sudeep Babu got a well-paid job but Chetan Babu didn’t get. Sudeep Babu always used to support his father. So Chetan Babu couldn’t get any money from him due to his brother’s support. One day, Chetan Babu insulted his brother so much that he had nothing else to do but leave the house without his father……….”

Suddenly Avi Da’s phone rang. We were so immersed in the story that we jumped up in shock.

“Yes Taranath Babu say.”

“……”

“Oh. Really! Of which country is it ?”

“………”

“Great. Ok. I am coming. Kaka, now we need to leave. We have some work. Thank you very much for your help.”

We headed towards the taxi stand.

“What were you talking about country and all?”

"Come. Let’s go. You will understand everything soon.”

                                                                                       

A Clue is Found

“See this message. It was sent from Raghunath Babu’s cell no to this no which is of Singapore. “

Your father is going to die today. Your brother has planned to kill me. I heard him taking vow to himself. Stay healthy and my blessings will be always with you and your family. Always take care of your sister and make her marry with a good person.

“Sister!! They have a sister also!”

“That’s what I am also seeing.”

“Ramu Kaka didn’t say about her.”

“Who is this Ramu Kaka?”said Taranath Babu.

“Oh. He is an owner of a tea shop opposite Raghunath Babu’s house. He told me the whole story of this STRANGE family. But he didn’t mention anything about sister. Ok you do one thing. Find out the details of the owner of the Singapore no.”

“We already have the details. Check this.” Saying this, Taranath Babu handed over a paper.

Sudeep Das

20 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square, Singapore - 039595

+65 6861 **54

“What is our destination now, Avi Da?”

“SINGAPORE. Raffles Boulevard. “

                                                                                

The Game Begins

As we landed in the Singapore Changi Airport, Avi Da started his lecture,”Singapore Changi Airport  or simply Changi Airport, is the primary civilian airport for Singapore, and one of the largest transportation hubs in Southeast Asia. It is currently the World's Best Airport.”

We found out our pre-booked car and headed towards PanPacific Singapore hotel. The best part in this hotel is for which I was excited more is that this hotel avails free wifi for their visitors. However it’s very natural in Singapore. Free wifi hotspots are available all around the city.

It was a great hotel. The check-in was very smooth. The room layout of our room was awesome. The club lounge was the nicest place. It had a 360 degree panoramic view of the Marina Bay and city area. The staffs were very friendly and helpful.

When a hotel staff was taking our suitcases in the lift, Avi Da asked him,” Do you know how far is this address from here?” and handed over the paper we saw that day.

“Oh. It is very near, Sir. In a car, you will take hardly 15 minutes from here.”

Entering the room, I saw that our room was the sea-view room. It had a really large window through which the city and the sea could be seen.

As usual, Avi Da sat down with his laptop checking out the address in the google maps. I ignored him and enjoyed the scenic beauty.

Lying down on the bed, I took up a tourist spots catalogue and started reading it. There were so many tourist spots with long descriptions that I am writing only the important spots with mere description.

1.     Heritage Tour

a)     Lau Pa Sat – the most attractive skyscraper in this city

b)    The Merlion – Situated at the mouth of the Singapore River, it is the city’s national icon.

c)     Chinatown – the must-see cultural enclaves for tourists

d)    Kampong Glam – an ethnic district, the heart of Singapore

2.     City Sights Tour

a)     Singapore Flyer – the world's second tallest observation wheel. A 60 minute ride on the wheel will offer you a bird's eye view of Singapore's skyline and its surroundings.

b)    The Integrated Resort – it offers a wide variety of shops

 I thought whether we would be able to visit these spots once.

                                                                                    

Many Things Happen

“Sir, where do you want to go?”

“20 Raffles Boulevard.”

The cab driver nodded his head and started his cab. It took us exactly 14 minutes 40 seconds to reach the address. We got down the car. He looked around. We were standing in front an apartment. Trying  his luck, Avi Da asked the security guard if he knows Sudeep Das.

“You have come to the right place. He leaves in the…wait let me check…yes, in the 27^th floor in Block B.”

“Thank you very much.” Avi Da said smiling, and walked inside followed by me.

It was called the Boon Teck apartment.

Ding Dong! Avi Da pressed the bell of the flat in 27^th Floor whose door was embedded with a name plate –

Mr. Sudeep  Das

Mrs. Avantika Das

Nisanth Das

Shreya Das

“I think this Shreya is his sister and Nishanth is his son.”

A short, white lady wearing a long frock and an apron opened the door. It was not hard to understand that she was the maid.

From inside, a lady voice asked,” Who is it, Naim?”

In turn, she asked us,”Who are you?”

Avi Da handed over his visiting card. She went inside. After sometime, a tall, beautiful lady came and opened the door.

“Please, come inside. But why a private detective has come to us?”

“Where is Sudeep  Das?”

“He is in his office.”

After she came back with some snacks and tea, Avi Da explained her everything. She was listening to everything intently. We hadn’t noticed that a girl had come in the room, was standing and listening to us. The whole family was tall! This girl was also tall, skin colour like us (Maybe this was Shreya), standing quietly and silently. I noticed tears in her eyes.

“This is Shreya, Sudeep’s sister. She is now studying in National University of Singapore in 2^nd year.” Avantika aunty said and pointed to the girl whom I thought was Shreya.

I thought to myself,” Ohh. Same age. I am also in 2^nd year.”

“Wait. I am calling him and asking when he will come.” Avantika aunty said.

She went inside and came back after 5 minutes. ”He said he will be here within an hour. He said you to kindly wait. Shreya, you take him inside and talk. I think he is feeling bored. ” 

“You” here means myself. I went to her room with her.

After coming inside, her total behaviour changed. She was not at all quiet although she seemed still sad. Obviously she would be because her father had died but she didn’t have the news before. She asked me,” What is your name?”

“Ayaan. Ayaan Ray.”

“Myself, Shreya Das.” And she forwarded her hand to shake my hands.

“Are you sad?” I asked an idiotic question.

“A bit. “

“Why a bit? After all he was your father.”

“Even though he was my father, his thoughts never used to match mine. He never used to consider me as his child which most Indian families think when a daughter is born. He never told anybody that he had a daughter. I was almost like a secret daughter. I couldn’t share anything with him. Whatever I shared was with Sudeep Da. So I didn’t have much feeling for my father. I was weeping at that time on hearing what my father said about me at the end of his life.”

“You were so quiet outside but when you came inside, you just changed.”

“Yeah. I generally remain quiet in front of elders.” Saying this, she giggled.

Hearing her answer, I laughed.

“From when are you wearing the clips in your teeth?”

“Class 9.”saying this her face seemed saddened.

“What happened?”

“I look bad in this clips, right?”

“No man. Not at all. You look nice in them.” saying this, I smiled, which was a genuine one.

In the next hour, we became very good friends.

Our gossiping was going on when the calling bell rang and she said,”I think my brother has come back. Come.”

We exchanged our cell numbers and went to the drawing room.

“I heard about you from my wife. So why have you come here? How can I help you?” Sudeep  Das said.

I still couldn’t see his face because he was facing Avi Da and we were at the back of him. From behind, he seemed a muscular, strong man.

His wife narrated him the whole story. His face hardened.

“But I didn’t receive any kind of message like this?” his face now seemed very surprised.

“How is it possible?”

“See my mobile.” And he showed it to him.

Avi Da gave it back. He became very serious. He must be immersed in his thoughts. An awkward silence had filled the room. Suddenly Avi Da said,”Thank you very much for your help. If I need, can I come again?”

“Yeah, sure. You are always welcome. You are handling my Dad’s murder case so I would help with all my abilities.”

After coming downstairs, I asked,”What did you understand?”

“The fish is too clever to get into a trap but it is nearby.”

Sometimes what Avi Da tell I never understand. This time was no exception. I preferred to stay quiet than to get a rain of enigmatic codes of Avi Da.

“Back to hotel.” Avi Da said to our cab driver.”Can you be a tourist guide for my brother? Can you drop me in the hotel and show the city and tourist spots to my brother? I will give you money for being the guide.”

“Yes, Sir. I can do that. But no Sir, I don’t need extra money.”

I was going to say Avi Da about this change in decision but he looked at me and gestured me to stay quiet and see the city. He has to stay alone in his room and think for sometime.

 Our cab driver, Nu Chang, was an efficient guide. He showed me a few spots. I couldn’t see more because Avi Da called me and asked me to come back.

                                                                                         

The Mystery Deepens

“Sudeep Das is lying. He had received the message but he is denying it. I had seen the delivery message in my own eyes in that paper and I know Sudeep’s no is the same one in which the message was sent by Raghunath Babu.”

“Why is he doing so?”

“I wish I had known the answer.”

“How do you know Sudeep’s no is the same one as the….”

“When I took his mobile, I gave a missed call in my number and then I removed it from his call list.”

Next day, Avi Da said that he had some work so he would go out but he would not take me because I must see the city and not lose this opportunity.

What to do? Avi Da went out. Suddenly I got an idea. I called Shreya and asked her if she could show me the city around.

She agreed to me and we met in front of our hotel after half-an-hour. She showed me almost whole of the city. We ate the breakfast and lunch outside. We ate the famous food of Singapore – Wanton Mee in the restaurant where this food is made the best. Fei Fei Wanton Mee was the restaurant name. The food is eaten ‘dry’, drenched with some light sweet sauce, slices of pork and wanton dumplings filled with pork, with a small bowl of soup on the side. They will ask if you want spicy or not. I preferred spicy. The spicy type has chilli being mixed into the noodles, while the non-spicy kids version will have tomato sauce mixed. The food was fantastic. What a taste it had!

                                                                                     

The Sudden Attack

“What work did you have?”

“Sudeep had been out of station the time when his father was murdered. The reason to go out of station was his business. He, at first went to Australia, then to Cairo and after that, his travel couldn’t be traced. He left Cairo on 26^th May and the murder happened on 28^th May. In this timespan of 2 days, where did he go? He didn’t come back to Singapore because he returned here on 31^st May. We came here on 2^nd June. Did he visit Kolkata? If so, then why? If he had visited Kolkata, then did he not know about the death of his father? He can’t be the murderer of course, he loved his father. He couldn’t have killed him. But then……”

“So many questions! My goodness!”

We were talking when my phone rang. It was Shreya. I took the call.

“Ayaan, you know I had just opened my father’s mobile to do some work of mine, and I saw some images of you and Avi Da’s in it.”

“What!!!! What are you saying?” I shouted so loudly that Avi Da was startled. He turned round and inquired of me.”Acha. Can you send me those images?”

“Yeah sure. I am sending.”

“What happened? Why did you shout out? ” Avi Da asked me.

“Shreya saw a few images of you and me in Sudeep Das’s mobile.”

Within 5 minutes, I received 15 images of ours clicked by somebody. I showed them to Avi Da and said everything.

“Some are of when we were in tea stall. See. Somebody was sitting far away from us and he clicked these. Then these are in our house. Somebody clicked it from outside. “

“And these are in Raghunath Babu’s house, right?” I asked.

“Yes. Right. That means the newspaper……..and then they attacked us, first in our house and then…..”

“What do you mean by “then”? They attacked us only one time.”

“Nope. Today some men attacked me in a deserted area far from the market area. I went to the market and then I was standing there and waiting for the cab. I was not able to cope up with them. Thank goodness the cab arrived at the right time. Seeing the cab, they ran away. I was not injured though.”

“Nobody attacked me.”

“Yes because Sudeep knew you went out with his sister and he didn’t want his sister to be injured. “

“Be careful. Keep your eyes and ears open. Anytime anything can happen………”

He had not finished his sentence when suddenly the window broke and a man jumped in holding a rope in his hand. Oh man!

Avi Da got up.

The man jerked his head on both sides and ran towards him shouting. Avi Da tried to give a punch on his face but as soon as the punch was going to hit that man on his face, he slid down and slipped through under Avi Da’s legs and jumped up to give him a blow. From the corner of his eye, Avi Da saw his opponent’s other arm begin an upward trajectory. He ducked this time, and his hair ruffled with the force of it.

Avi Da bent downwards and with his fast legs, he gave a helicopter kick and dropped him on the floor. Again when he got up, Avi Da charged with a roar like a bull. The man sidestepped and whirled to face him. Avi Da attacked. He avoided one flying fist, only to provide Avi Da a blow.

The blow perfectly hit his ribcage. In front of him, Avi Da held his ribcage and sat down. He was moaning slightly with pain. That man walking around him, laughing and teasing.

I was going to get up and do something when Avi Da gestured me to stop. The tables turned. Suddenly Avi Da got up and moved far from him. Now Avi Da was facing his back to the broken window.

That man ran towards him a roar. Avi Da flipped over him and he …….

Avi Da looked downwards from the window and then drew the curtains.

“Now I have understood who is behind all these. Now I need only one thing to know who murdered the father because the equation is not matching. If Sudeep has murdered the elder brother out of enmity, then who murdered the father and the servant?

Acha you go out for a while. I need to go to draw.”

I nodded and went outside.

You all must have shocked on hearing what Avi Da said. What !? Draw? At this point of time!?

Yes. Literally, he will draw. But do you know what?

He actually closes his eyes and tries to imagine the crime scene, and then he draws sketches of the scenes. Just an arbitrary sketch! Sometimes this works, sometimes this fails.

I started roaming around the hotel. I went to the swimming pool and sat there for a while. I was sitting when, from where I don’t know, I piece of paper hit me on my head. I turned around to see nobody. I picked up the paper and opened to see

Uska picha chor de nehi toh…….sar kat lunga

THE GIANT WAS BACK! This was the dialogue of his. I ran towards our room. Opening the door, I gave the paper to Avi Da, panting. When the paper was not taken from my hand, I turned to see Avi Da lying down on the bed, eyes closed.

I called out shaking him with full force,” Avi Da, Avi Da.”

But he didn’t speak anything. I checked his pulse. What to check? I felt NO PULSE.

                                                                                     

Aviraj Ray Dies(Maybe)

I didn’t know what to do. I called the hotel manager and asked him to call an ambulance.

“We need to admit him to a hospital immediately. Please call an ambulance.”

“Sure Sir.”

I was having a hectic time. The hospital was 30 minutes far from the hotel.

I was so angry on hearing this news that I shouted over the innocent hotel manager.

He slowly said with a low voice,” Sir, where is my fault in that?”

I shut my mouth. Seriously where was his fault if the hospital was situated far away. I thought of shouting over the hospital manager. They are the main culprit. My wish was anyhow not fulfilled.

On the way, suddenly Avi Da woke up and he was rather surprised to see oxygen mask and see himself lying inside a car. He opened everything and sat up.

“Avi Da, you  are alive?”

He looked towards me and made such an expression as if I had asked the most idiotic question asked ever.

“I think so.”

I was so happy that I hugged him tightly. The tightness was so much that he was nearly choked by me.

“Ok ok. Relax.”he said.

I sat down again.

“Now tell the driver to stop the ambulance.”

On coming back to hotel, I asked him,”Why couldn’t I feel your pulse?”

“Nothing. Just an injection.”

“Do you know that giant has come back?”

“Yes. Obviously. He had given me the injection.”saying this, he started laughing.

I didn’t find this incident funny at all but rather a serious one.

“Why did he give you injection?”

“Go and ask him……..See this.” And he showed me the picture he had sketched.

                                                                                   

The Successful Trap

We were standing inside Boon Teck Apartments, not inside Sudeep Das’s flat but beside the entrance of the stairs and lift. We had placed our trap and were waiting for the fish to fall into it.

Sudeep Das came out of the entrance and saw the sketch lying on the tiles. He first picked it up and saw it at a glance. When he saw it with more concentration, he jumped with shock. He looked both sides and then muttered,” From where this has come? Who clicked a photo when I was there? Nobody was there. Then how?”

Then he folded it and kept it inside his photo. This side Avi Da pressed the stop button of the recorder. He started clapping and headed towards him. Sudeep Babu turned towards us. His face turned white.

“What happened?”

“We heard you.”

For sometime, he was silent. Then he said,”But nobody will believe. Do you have any proof?”

Avi Da took out the recorder and played the audio. As it finished, he jumped to snatch it away but Avi Da’s quick hands put them back into his pocket. He stood there with a facial expression that he has lost everything and then he suddenly pushed Avi Da hard. Being unprepared, he lost his balance and fell down. Sudeep Das turned to run away, but within seconds, Avi Da got up and took out his gun and pointed at him.

“Don’t try to run away or I will shoot you definitely.”

We went towards him. Avi Da held the gun on his head and said,”Now say everything. I can understand that you had killed your brother. Then why did you kill your father?”

“First look there, see who is coming. “

We noticed that THE GIANT was coming towards us with angry eyes. He was roaring with anger.

“Take Sudeep upstairs. I am taking care of this.”saying this, he pushed us into the entrance.

I became sad because I couldn’t see the fight. Then an idea came to me. I took him into his flat and closed him inside a room. Shreya, Avantika Aunty and Nishanth were shocked.

“Don’t open the door. Avi Da is coming. Shreya, tujhe meri kasam, don’t open the door. We will come and open it within a few minutes.”

I took the lift and went down. A great fight was going on between them. I noticed that The Giant’s both legs were wounded. I was sure that Avi Da must have fired. But his gun was now lying far away. They were fighting hand to hand. Although the giant was not being able to stand properly because of the injury, he was still fighting and Avi Da was not being able defeat him. I ran and picked up the gun. It had the silencer attached. I knew that a person without a license can’t kill anybody with a gun. It’s a crime. So I knew I must not fire. I hit his head hard with the gun. He threw Avi Da on the floor and caught me by the neck with a dangerous roar. I threw the gun towards him. He perfectly caught it and …….

A bullet was hit in the medulla oblongata of The Giant. He was no more that I was sure. Although Avi Da was angry on me for coming down in between the fight, he praised me for my cleverness and bravery.

                                                                                    

The Mystery Unfolds Atlast

“So tell everything. You are caught. I know everything. But I need to hear it from you. Just speak up otherwise I will be compelled to call the police.”

His head drooped.

“When I received the message from Dad, I took the first flight from Cairo to India. I reached there and the first thing I did was that I fit a spy to give me information about everything happening in the house.”

“Was it the newspaper boy you had bribed and asked him to give you news?”

“Yes. I then bought a gun. I thought that this was the best time to finally get rid of Chetan. But I was a little late. When I reached the house through the back door which was kept open intentionally by the servant whom I said to do, I saw that my brother had killed Dad as well as the servant. Then I started finding him. I feared for the fact whether he had not run away. But fortunately, he was upstairs doing something in his computer. When he saw me, I didn’t give him time to react, I simply fired a bullet into his head. The target was simple for me because I was the State Shooting Champion in childhood.”Moving up his head towards us, he continued.”But I really don’t know what happened before my arrival in the house.”

“I can understand now what had happened.”

“What?”

“Your servant was asked by the brother to stab Raghunath Babu. When he was going to stab, your Dad was shocked to see his old, faithful servant would do this. Then after he was killed, Chetan asked the servant to sit or lie down and he injected the needle inside the servant’s flesh so that he can’t defense to what Chetan was going to do afterwards. He hanged him to the ceiling and cleanehttps://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6650569548886139032#editor/target=post;postID=7813758376075955048d the handle of the knife. This was a well played game to confuse the police. “

“Why did you try to kill so many times?”

“On the next day, the newspaper boy informed me that you had come to investigate the matter. He told me how dangerous you are. I got scared that if you find out you will send me to jail but I had my family and so I bought that Giant from an agency and tried to hold you back. “

Everybody became silent. After sometime, Avi Da said,” I will not send you to jail.”

…………………….........................................THE END……………………………………...................................................