The unexpected

The Connection

It was early evening, the sun had not set yet thus, the streets of Triple Cross Street, New Delhi were still alive. Light gossiping was heard in the local streets, midst the noise caused by the traffic. The streets were busy as many people were returning home from work. Even the birds flew back to their nests, just like the people retired to their homes. The streets usually get empty after dark. Many believed it was not safe to be roaming around at this time of the day. Crime was common around this area.

Among the crowd, Shivansh held his soon-to-be fiancée's arm tightly. "Should we go to the nearby Bazaar? Are we still going on that date tonight?" he asked her. "Yes dear, I am too worked up due to this case. I am sure the two murders are connected, but Shekhawath doesn't seem to agree with this. I just hope we can take over that case, it will be much better than the things we are handling right now." she replied. "We will see, it will be hard for us to convince them. It is natural for anybody to disagree with us due to the lack of evidence. All we can do is try our best." he replied. 

"We can go to the bazaar later this evening I want to get changed, we will go to my place for sometime." she replied answering his previous question. When they reached her apartment she told him, "You take the keys and go upstairs, I will be there in a minute, I have to collect some of the groceries which are with the watchman right now." He agreed and left. 

Shivansh, opened the door and was startled when he heard some noise from inside. He took out the gun and shouted "Who is this intruder. Come out right now or you will be sorry." A young man of around twenty came out, "Who are you? How did you get inside?" Shivansh asked holding him on gunpoint.  "Who are you? Why are you as an intruder looking for more intruders." he asked. "Plus, I got the key to my sister's place, from under the mat. But how did you get the key?"  Akhila entered and was surprised to see her brother. "Hi, Arjun I didn't know you were coming." she said. 

"Arjun as in is this your brother?" Shivansh asked now looking embarrassed. He went to him and shook his hands. "You looked quite different in the photo, she showed me." he said. "This is my soon-to-be brother-in-law?" Arjun asked looking at his sister. "I have heard a lot about you." he said looking at Shivansh.

Later that day they went to the Kulfi stand. "You know, this is my favorite place in Delhi." Akhila said. They bought three Pista Kulfi each. As they were eating, Shivansh said "We are having a meeting with Shekhawath and the bureau right? We need to be sure of what we say there." "I know, I feel really confident that the cases are connected, both the victims are 22 years old females who have been brutally raped and murder. The victims were wearing the same type of dress as well. What more do we need?" 

The next day, there was a meeting in the bureau. Shekhawath claimed that the two cases had no connection at all, and that the second case had already been closed. Akhila and Shivansh continued to justify their opinion. The Bureau head finally announced, "Inspector Shekhawath, has been handling both the cases. He will brief, Agent Shukla and Agent Venkat about it. The case cannot be transferred to the CBI as the it had been established as two independent cases and one case has been closed as well." Shivansh and Akhila decided to meet Shekhawath regarding this the next day.

Shekhawath was talking in the phone with his wife, "Relax Paru, the eighth month has just begun, you are not going to labor for another two months, such pain is normal during pregnancy, just wait till I come home from work. This is why I asked you whether you wanted to go to your parents' place for the delivery. My job is this way. I can't spend every minute with you." He hung up the phone sat down on his chair, he asked the constables to let in the people. 

Shivansh introduced himself, "I am Shivansh Shukla and this is Agent Venkat, you should brief us with case." "There is no evidence that support your claim of these cases being connected, but since you have asked me I will do my job and brief you on these cases. The first case happened on January 20th, the victim's name was  Rithu Meghwal, she was a 22 year old girl, she used to work as a nurse, in Avanth medical care center. She was last seen by her colleagues. They claimed that it was a regular day at work and Rithu left the place at 7pm as usual. Since she didn't return home that day her parents filed a missing person complaint. The next day her body was discovered somewhere around a dark alley. Her parents identified the body. The autopsy proved that she had been stabbed to death. Neither her colleagues nor her parents suspected anyone, she didn't have a lover or anything." Shekhawath took a sip of water and continued.

"The second case happened in July 15th around six months after the first case. The victim's name was Munira Sayed. She used to work until late nights. Her family was very unprivileged it consisted of her sick father and her younger brother. She used to do night shifts so that she could support her brother's education. She was always a loner at her work places. Even when we questioned her colleagues we couldn't get any information as they all claimed they didn't know her. It was impossible for her to have enemies as she had no friends. Her body was discovered a few hours after she had been murdered, near trash cans. This was surely a gang rape case. Her body had multiple scars. Her brother reported the murder, he said a middle aged lady had discovered her body and had tried to help her but unfortunately it was too late." Shekhawath stopped the story. "I still do not see any connection here except the girls being around twenty two years of age and both of them being from poor backgrounds. This is just a coincidence." he said looking at his listeners.

"Both the victims were wearing similar attires right?" Akhila stated. "I think you are mistaken agent Venkat, that is the type of salwar every lady in Delhi wears. It is very cheap, even my wife has bought 3 of those type." he continued. "Besides one of those cases have been closed already, the victim's brother himself doesn't care anymore. I feel you people have a very good imagination and a lot of time. I on the other hand have neither of these." His phone rang again as he was about to walk out. "Do you have any information-" Akhila started. "Just give us information regarding the current locality of the victims family members" Shivansh demanded. Shekhawath had no intention to allow these people to interfere in the case. At the same time, a constable Thambe said the MLA's sister-in-law was waiting to ask about the whereabouts of her missing jewelry. He was impatient to go to the high profile case as soon as possible. He ended up answering the question. "Rithu's parents have moved back to their village, she was their only daughter. They didn't want to live here after her demise. Munira's brother Afthar now works in the construction site near Ujjwal street." saying this he left the room and went to talk regarding the missing jewelry case. He noticed there were three missed calls from Paru's number. Shekhawath had no luck over the missing jewellery case and had to give a disappointing report. He scratched his head with irritation. 

Shivansh and Akhila went to meet Afthar, to see if they could get any lead on the case. Afthar was a young man of about eighteen years. He told them "I lost everything when my sister passed away. It was her dream that I should have a better life. She wanted me to somehow complete my education and get a job in an office. She worked really hard day and night to fulfill this. The case was closed because I didn't sit in the station all day. I couldn't afford to do that. I have to go to work everyday so that I have enough to admit my father in a hospital. Going behind the case will not get my sister back." the man said. 

"Can you tell us what happened that day." Shivansh asked. The man started with tears in his eyes, "My sister didn't return home after work, it was quite usual that she worked late. So we didn't report anything. The next day we came to know that her body was found near the trash can. A middle aged woman told me that she found her in critical condition, but couldn't help her. The woman apologized multiple times. Formal enquires were done I had no idea that the case was closed." he stated and got back to his work.

"None of this seems to help right?" Akhila asked. "We got no more information than what we had. But I am very sure that the cases are connected." "Well even if you are correct what can we do until we have any more evidence? We are not to investigate anything until we are given approval. All you should do is put your mind to rest until then." Shivansh replied. 

A month after this, one evening there was a news that caught everyone's attention. Rithika Jain, a nineteen year old girl who was a child actress, and was seen in a popular soap series was stabbed to death. "She was the girl who played Vandana right? Thambe was telling his colleague she died in the series a few months ago. It is such a tragedy that something like this should happen." said Shekhawath confused by this case. "The girl was found with the same clothes those two murdered girls were found in. Her body was found in a dark alley as well." he told his team. "So, are these cases connected?" one of the listeners asked. Shekhawath became more agitated by this question. "Yes, now this case will go to the CBI." he stated and sighed as he sat down and grabbed his water bottle. The case garnered the attention of media. People were full of questions.