The Poetry of Deaths(on Hold)

Chapter 5

Ashutosh says, "She called me there."
Sidharth could see fear on his face.
"Who? Who called you?"
"Divya."
"Divya? Who is she? Where is she? Is she a student here?"
Ashutosh looks away and lost in the thoughts he murmurs,
"She.. is dead."

Sidharth pulls out his phone and shows him the photo of the portrait made by Vikas on the description given by Sana.
"Is she Divya?"
Ashutosh gazes at the photo and shakes his head.
"No. I don't know her."
"Who is Divya then?"
"My junior. She.. had committed..committed..."
"Y0u are talking about Divyanshi Gupta. She committed suicide by jumping from the roof of Dr.Sundar Shah PG Hostel, about 6-7 months ago. "
Ashutosh just stares at him not saying anything further.

"You had received a call and you went there. You are studying to be a doctor and you believed that a dead girl was calling you. And you happily acknowledged the ghost and went there with a camera to shoot a vlog. Doesn't this sound strange?"
Ashutosh mumbles, "I didn't believe it at first.. but she kept calling me..right at 2:45 am. I knew it was her."
"Were you both very close?"
Ashutosh doesn't reply.
"Right. You were not close. Then why did you rush after midnight? Why?"

"Ashu, you are not saying a word now."
Sidharth turns to see an older man at the door. He is tall, thin and dusky skin. He has grey hair, combed neatly and white thin moustache. He wears a cream shirt and expensive grey suit, golden rimmed glasses and an expensive watch.
"Who are you? Why are you harassing my son? He just defeated death. He is yet to recover."
Sidharth smiles, "Dr. Subroto Bagchi, indeed your son defeated death, but don't you want to know why he went there to face it in the first instance?"
Dr.Bagchi stares at him, "Inspector, he is young. The kids these days go to places that we never can think of going just for doing these videos. "

"ACP...ACP Sidharth Shrivastava, Crime Branch."
Sidharth extends his hand to shake. Dr.Subroto takes a moment and then slips his hand to shake.
"ACP? You saved my son? Thank you."
"We did our duty to save him. Now our job is to find the truth. Ashutosh is the survivor of the attack. He could help us catch the real culprit. I know he is recovering but he is in a state to talk. So let us do our duty. Please stay outside."
Dr.Subroto's face turned serious,"Ashutosh will not say anything right now. Ashu, take rest."
Sidharth nods his head and smiles, "Fine. Dr.Bagchi I won't disturb him. But he has to come to the headquarters when summoned."
Turning towards Ashutosh,
"Ashutosh, get well soon and don't answer any calls from the dead."

Sidharth walks out of the cabin.
"I want security for him. No one should be allowed inside without my permission. And keep an eye on him."
Ranne says,
"Ashutosh is our key Sir. He can give us the reason behind these murders. "
"I know. He was about to say something but then his father came up. He won't let him share the details anymore. Divyanshi Gupta. I want her file on my table."

Sidharth sits down and drinks water from his glass. Gaikwad, Ranne, Kambli and Bhonsale enter the room.
"So, what do we have?"
Sidharth asks.
"Sir, these are the post mortem reports of the other victims. The cause of death is the same, heart attack. The only difference is Tony's."
Kambli says, handing over the files to him.
"The cause of death is strangulation. Right."
Sidharth says even before reading the file. Kambli nods his head.
"Anuraag and Sipra, both have injection marks on their arms, just like the others."

"Hmm.. We have a pattern here now. The killer calls the vloggers to an alleged haunted place outside the city. He injects them while they are busy looking around. And after they are dead, he posts their videos."
"But this isn't the case with Tony. Then do you think he has been killed by someone else?"
Gaikwad says.
"I.. I am not sure but I feel the killer is the same person. Perhaps Tony had found something and the killer murdered him to save himself. What we still need to find is the motive. And it has something in the victims' past. I need all the details of every single victim and Ashutosh's too. Did the tech people find anything suspicious?"