Graves Beneath the Feet (Complete)

Chapter 14

Sana screams,"Sidharth move. Look up." Sidharth looks up to find a light crashing down towards him. Gaikward standing near him pushes him and moves away. Sidharth falls down and the light crashes on the floor with a loud thud, few inches away from him. The glass shatters into several pieces. Sana runs towards Sidharth along with everybody else. Gaikward and others try to help him get up. Few glass pieces has made cuts into his arms and hands. Sana holds his bloodied hand and starts crying. Sidharth looks around and tries to calm her down. He says," Miss Kaul, please don't worry. These are minor cuts, you should leave my hand. Miss Sana.. please. every one is here. Relax."

Sana realises where she is and she leaves his hand and back off. Wiping off her tears she looks at him from a distance. Sidharth assures her that he is alright. He himself pulls out few pieces of glass from his arm. He sits down on the chair and Rastogi gets a first aid box. Rastogi says," Hey Bhagwan, yeh sab kya ho raha hai. Aaj hi ke din yeh saab hona tha. Sir, are you alright? I have called the doctor, he is coming." Sidharth starts to laugh making every one confused. Bhonsale who was dressing his hand, stops and looks at him. Sidharth stops laughing and says,"Seriously, itna darr." Rastogi fearing he is being blamed for something says,"Sir,Kya bol rahein hai..I didn't.." Sidharth looks at him with a smile and says," Don't worry Rastogi I don't need a doctor and I was not talking to you as well. I am just fine. Please carry on the work allotted to you. Bhonsale, you leave, these are nothing. You go with others and close all the exist. Make sure everyone stays here."

Rastogi gulps down his fear and goes to talk with his Assitant. Bhonsale gets up and goes towards the exit with two constables. Sidharth starts putting cotton wool on the cuts to stop bleeding. Ranne says," Sir, are you alright?" Sidharth nods his head. Kambli says," Sir, agar aap ko kuch ho jata.." Sidharth smiles and says," Hey, you guys are getting emotional or what? I am alive and healthy. Just go and check from where this thing came.", pointing to the broken light. They both leave to investigate how the light fell down. Gaikward comes to Sidharth and says," Sir, aap thik hain?" Sidharth looks at him with a smile and says,"Yeah. All thanks to you." Gaikward says," No sir, I haven't done anything. We should thank Miss.Sana." Sidharth says," Hmm.. You go and see where we can interrogate these people." Gaikward leaves and Sana slowly comes towards him. She takes the cotton wool and tries to wipe away the blood. Sidharth whispers," Sana Don't worry. I am just fine. You don't have to do this. Everyone is looking at us." Sana looks at him with watery eyes and says," I really don't care." She puts ointment and ties a bandage on the cuts. Getting up, she says," I had felt something wrong was supposed to happen, but only if I knew.." Sidharth replies," But you saved me..Thank you for that..Don't think too much."

Ranne comes to Sidharth and says," Sir, somebody had.." Sidharth interrupts him and says," It was intentional and not an accident. Right." Gaikward and Kambli arrives and Ranne nods his head. Kambli says," The rope used to tie this light has been cut using some knife or something sharp." Sidharth smiles and says," I knew that. Our killer is here among the people here. That's why I asked to close the exists. Gaikward make sure people from every department are in their groups. I want to meet them all. Not a single person should be left out." Ranne asks," Don't you think he could be from light department." Sidharth says," Can't say? Anyone from the crew here could get up do his deed. He is scared and that's good thing."

It is difficult to see, let alone interrogate each and everyone of the movie crew. There are several departments like production, direction, lighting and camera, art etc. Each department had many crew members working at different levels. Rastogi fearing another thrash from the CBI had submitted the list of people working on the film. After a brief talk with groups, Sidharth decided to talk to lighting department guys first.

A group of 7 men stand in front of him along with the Gaffer or the chief lighting technician and best boy who handle the rentals and logistics of this department. Sidharth remains silent while his team asks questions. Nothing much is found out, apart from the thing that the light that fell on Sidharth was an old one and not a part of the logistics. It must have been lying around in the corner of the studio. But the question remains how it went to the roof and landed on the floor ultimately.

Sidharth then calls the production team. The list of people here included Line producer, Production Manager, Unit Manager, Production Coordinator, Assistant production manager and Production Assitants. Then there were few AD or Assistant Directors. Sidharth remained quite again observing everyone. People seemed nervous when being questioned. It appeared pretty normal to him. After the so called accident with a police officer, every one would obviously be shaken up.

Sidharth noticed one person who seemed somewhat different from the others. The Production Manager Shantanu Kumar appeared not a bit nervous but infact cool and pretty laid back. Sidharth speaks for the first time during the interrogation. He says," So Shantanu Kumar, what you have to say about the accident that happened now?" Shantanu replies," I am really sorry about that. Well you see this is an old studio and sometimes such accidents happen. The old lights are easy to find here, still hanging on the roof. Thank God you are okay." Sidharth smiles and says," How did you know it was an old light when you were not in the location?" Now the laid back, cool guy starts to falter. He says, "N..o..actually such accident happens you know..in this..studio I mean..this is an old studio.." Sidharth holds his hand and pulls it towards him. He asks," Did you have some kind of accidents too? Seems like your hand has got injured too. I mean like had a cut from something sharp, like while cutting a rope may be." Shantanu gulps down the saliva and says," No sir..I didn't do anything." Sidharth says,"Bhonsale check him and his bag or whatever he has got."

Soon a small Swiss knife is found from his pocket and Kambli gives him a tight slap. Ranne holds him from his collar  and asks," Tune Sir ke upar light pheki thi? Sir, this is the killer then." Shantanu joins his hands and starts begging," Please I am not the killer. I didn't kill anybody." Another slap from Gaikward and he starts crying," I am saying the truth. I was blackmailed to do this light incident. I actually tried to save you by reflecting light into Sana's eyes. And she saw the light falling down. Trust me. I never intended to do this. But I was blackmailed."

Shantanu had slept with a new struggling actor and someone had taken pictures of him in the compromising position. He was called up by an unknown number asking him to do the needs or else the photos would be leaked. Sidharth says," Take him into custody." Gaikward asks," Sir Jhoot bol raha hai. Achese poochein ge toh sab bolega." Sidharth smiles and says," No. He is telling the truth. Our killer is sharp. He won't take the risk of coming in front in the process of hurting me. He used Shantanu just like he did with Raju. But he must have known Shantanu well to put the bait. I am sure he is in this studio right now. Get all details of the crew and more specifically from Production department. "

Sidharth returns home and his mother finds him in such condition. She starts saying things like all mothers do when they are worried. She with tears of worry says,"Kya jarurat hai ayesi naukri ki jahan jaan ka khatra rahta hai. I never wanted you to join police but it's all your father's fault. Now he is gone and I am here worrying every time." Sidharth hugs his mother and says,"Agar aap ayse pareshaan hogi then you will fall sick. I promise nothing will happen to me. Did anything happened when I was in ATS? No na. There risk was more. Here we don't have to use guns also. Why are you getting worried? This is just a cut from a glass." She holds her son tightly and says,"Fine. Now wash your hands and sit down to eat." Sidharth is about to sit when the door bell rings. He goes to open the door to find Sana standing with fear in her eyes.

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Let the suspense continue..