Crime Control Squad

Chapter 25

After questioning the security men at Bright builders and acquiring all the needed records, Vedant and Sagar headed back to their station. It was nearing 6.00pm. It was already dark due to the stubbornness of the sun not to peep out of its home. There was no sun set as there was no sunrise in the first place, figuratively speaking. Except from the rhythmic sound of the wiper dancing on the front glass of the car, shoving away the faint droplets of rain which had housed itself on the glass, no words were exchanged between the two officers. Both were lost in their own thoughts, thoughts about the case, of course. The case was the most complicated jigsaw puzzle they had to solve in the entire existence of their task force- 6 months. Till date, their cases were mostly straight forward to their standard and their main task was to track and capture the people behind the crime.

The squad room was in a busy buzz when Vedant and Sagar entered. Every officer was in a flutter- on the telephone, on the computer or busy immersed in some papers. The air was pumping with energy.

"Update!" said Vedant loudly and briskly as he stood at the head of the room by their murder board.

"Lohan and Shulya are being taken into custody by H-12 police. I spoke with both of them before they were taken away," said Ruby. "Shulya wasn't ready to talk openly. She was still holding something back. Lohan denied knowing anything initially, but when informed about Tejesh's arrest and a witness who had seen his van and his name printed on the windshield, he began talking."

"He accepted to being part of Rajesh's murder?" asked Sagar.

"No. He said he knew nothing about the murder. Lohan and Tejesh knew each other for years through Rajesh. They weren't friends but Tejesh being Rajesh's friend, and Rajesh being his brother-in-law brought in the connection. Lohan had used Tejesh to deliver messages to Rajesh when Rajesh left Shulya. He had also asked Tejesh to put some sense into Rajesh when he was ill treating his sister. That's how they knew each other well. So when Rajesh was dead- or murdered, Tejesh informed Lohan about the same and requested for his assistance. Lohan was more than happy to help. Rajesh's death brought him relief. He did ask how Rajesh died, but Tejesh asked him not to worry about that. He had asked him for a van and Lohan happily provided one. He did doubt Rajesh could have been murdered, but since he played no part in that, it didn't concern him much. He was happy that his sister was finally free."

"So he accepted he provided the van? Did he know anything about the mastermind?" asked Sagar.

"Sadly...No. Tejesh was the only point of contact and all the dealings happened in less than an hour. Tejesh returned the van the following morning and it was normal life to them again."

"And Shulya? Did she know?" asked Vedant.

"Yes. Lohan told her immediately. She was sad but relieved. It didn't affect her in any way. Her marriage was over long back." Ruby paused before she continued. "But there was something else Tejesh requested Lohan to do after few days of Rajesh being cremated."

"What?" asked Sagar.

"Seal the fate of Samar," replied Ruby. "Tejesh knew Lohan and Shulya hated both the Lala brothers. With Rajesh dead, they began planning the fate of Samar. Samar was due to be released in the next 1 year or 2. They didn't want that. Tejesh proposed a plan - an easy attack on Samar which would result in him being in jail, probably forever."

"But Samar accepted to the crime because Rajesh blackmailed him, right?" asked Sagar confused.

"Nope. That's where we were wrong. Samar was blackmailed- not by Rajesh but by Tejesh. Tejesh had sent him a photo shopped picture of Shulya and Lohan burying a body- the body apparently being Rajesh's. Tejesh had threatened Samar to accept to the crime he would be accused of in the future- Veerkaran's murder- else he would let the truth of Rajesh's death and subsequently Shulya being the murderer out to the police."