Day 2
Before either of them could decide where to head for dinner, the intercom rang.
Tushar picked it up.
It was Ajay, a constable who had been given the task of tracing Ramcharan.
"Sir, we have got Ramcharan. He is in interview room no. 1," he said.
"Where did you find him?" Tushar asked.
"We were keeping a watch on the home address which we had secured from the bank. He never returned home though. Simultaneously we were also keeping a watch on the house of Mr Sumedh. We found him loitering around. He had no plausible explanation as to why he was roaming there aimlessly," Ajay replied.
"Okay. We will be there," Tushar said.
"We have Ramcharan," he told Mukta.
She sighed.
"So there goes our dinner plan into a toss. We have to split. I will go with Ajay and interview Ramcharan. You take Sudhir along and visit Mayank. If he seems hostile, bring him in for questioning," she said.
"I forgot to mention. We had asked Sudhir to follow up with Zinnia travels and check their CCTV footage, as well as the one in Ahmedabad for the return bus. According to them, Navya never boarded the bus. She's not seen anywhere on the CCTV. Nor has she taken the return bus. Those two reserved seats stayed empty," Tushar said.
"So Navya left home but never made it to the bus stop. But I think her intention was to board that bus. For whatever business she was planning in Ahmedabad. How far is the Zinnia bus travels stop from Navya and Sumedh's house?" Mukta asked.
Tushar thought for a moment.
"Not far. May be five km?" He guessed.
"Okay. Now you go to meet Mayank along with Ajay. I will interview Ramcharan alone. Get Sudhir to obtain all CCTV footages, from whichever source possible, from the road that leads from the house to the Zinnia bus stop. Ask him to go now. Doesn't matter if it's night time. We need it on an urgent basis," she told Tushar.
"Okay," Tushar said. "Should I order something for you?" He asked.
Mukta smiled. It had been a really long time since someone had cared about her meals.
"No, it's okay. I will order. And you can catch a bite before going to Mayank's place," she said.
Tushar smiled at her and left. She liked him. He must be ten years younger. But she liked his zest for work. He was never tired or bored. He was focused and dedicated. And he seemed as keen to solve the case as she herself was.
She laughed at the irony. Her husband, well, ex-husband had also loved her zest for work and that was how he had fallen for her in the first place. And now, seven years of marriage and a kid later, it was the same zest for her work that had led to their broken marriage.
Her daughter Arya was staying with him this week. Since she had holidays at school, and her paternal cousins were coming for the vacation. That reminded her. She hadn't spoken to Arya in the past two days. She looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. Arya would be asleep now. She would have to wait for tomorrow morning to dawn.
Mukta ordered a burger from a nearby joint and headed over to the room where Ramcharan was being held.
She recognized him immediately. He was the same guy from the CCTV footage obtained from the sim-card shop and the police parking lot.
He looked terrified and fidgety.
Mukta sat opposite him.
"What is your name?" She asked him.
"Ramcharan," he said, cowering slightly.
"Okay Ramcharan, do you need water? Have you eaten anything?"
Ramcharan looked taken aback.
"Water," he muttered after a moment's pause.
Mukta asked the peon stationed outside to get some water for Ramcharan.
She waited till he had gulped almost all of the water from the bottle in one go.
"Okay, so Ramcharan, as you must be aware, this investigation is an investigation into a missing person, which can very well turn out to be a murder investigation".
She saw his eyes widen as she spoke.
"So if you tell me the truth, it will be easier. If we find out later that you have lied, you will be arrested for obscuring the course of justice into a murder investigation," she said, softly yet sternly.
"I-I h-have nothing to do with S-Sumedh sir's w-w-wife going missing. I swear," he said, his voice quavering.
"Then why were you sending her those threatening messages from a number you purchased in Sumedh's name?" Mukta asked in one breath.
Ramcharan seemed astounded. He probably hadn't hoped that police would be knowing all of this.
"Either tell me or you can spend your night in lock up," Mukta said.
"No no. I just did it to...to seek revenge," he said.
"Because you were sacked by Mr Sumedh?" Mukta asked.
"No. Not for that. I would have had no problem if he had sacked me for a genuine reason. If I had really committed a sin and was caught by him. My revenge was for falsely implicating me in money laundering case. Rs 50000 vanished from the bank, without any explanation. And the blame came on me," he replied bitterly.
"But we have been told that you were caught on CCTV camera stealing the bag full of cash," Mukta said, slightly surprised, because somewhere along the line she had had doubts about this theft too.
"Madam, I have been working as a guard at the bank for more than five years. What do you think, I don't know how CCTV cameras work? I know the position of each and every camera by heart. If I really wanted to steal money, wouldn't I use my brain, and do it in a way that wouldn't be caught on camera? And second thing, which manager leaves a sack full of money in a bank?"
Mukta knew what Sumedh had told them didn't make sense. Now her hunch was proving to be right.
"So what happened then?" She asked.
Ramcharan laughed bitterly and shook his head.
"These rich people and their affairs. These white coat people, who are highly educated, have very low morales. Mr Sumedh is having an affair with Lavanya, the cashier. He thinks people don't know what they are doing, timing their illicit activities in the storeroom below, but people have eyes, even walls have ears! Disgusting! And to think he would do that when he has a beautiful wife himself!"
Mukta was shocked at this revelation. Why hadn't Sumedh told them about this? Wasn't it very feasible that this was connected to Navya's disappearance? Most likely scenario was, she found out, and decided to leave him? Or did he know everything and was just playing games with them? To stall the investigation? What was it?
Or was Tushar right and Sumedh and his lover had together gotten rid of Navya?
This new revelation had opened the doors to a lot many possibilities!
She had received the report of the interview of Sumedh's colleagues from work place. There had been nothing striking in those statements. But as far she remembered, no employee named Lavanya had been questioned. She would have to find out. And bring her in for questioning too.
"So what happened? Did he realize that you found out?" Mukta asked.
"I had found out a long time ago. But it is none of my business. I never interfered in their lives. I have a family of six to feed back at my native place. I go there to do my job sincerely. Used to go. This was how I got rewarded," he laughed again sarcastically.
Mukta felt a tad bit sad for him. If whatever he was saying was true, this was totally unfair.
"The why did he sack you?"
"I have absolutely no idea. One fine evening, before leaving, as he got into his car, he told me that he had forgotten a bag somewhere in the bank. And I was to collect it and keep it in my locker. I searched the bank and found it. I never suspected anything. I just picked it up and placed it in my locker. Next day, I was fired for stealing Rs. 50000 which were supposedly in the bag."
Mukta listened with rapt attention. What was the need for Sumedh to do such a thing?
"Didn't you tell them the next day?"
Ramcharan laughed.
"What do you think? Who do you think they believed? Mr Sumedh refused having told me to collect that bag. He said he had forgotten that amount which he had withdrawn for some bank related work. I was caught on camera taking it and the bag was discovered in my locker. To top it all, they told me they were doing me a favour by not filing a police complaint," Ramcharan recounted bitterly.
Mukta listened with a feeling akin to horror. Sumedh was such a mean bastard!
"But that still doesn't explain why he would target you. Have you ever blackmailed him before? About him and that lady...what's her name?" Mukta asked.
"Lavanya? No! Like I said, it was none of my business. Madam I am a poor man. My family stays in UP. I have three kids, a wife, and old parents who are dependant on me. If I lose job here, they have nothing to eat. So I..."
"Please tell me how you are involved in all of this. I promise you, I will try to not get you into any trouble unless you have committed some crime," Mukta pleaded.
"I was angry. After I was sacked, nobody wanted to give me any job because they always ask around why I left my previous job. So I was working as daily wage worker wherever and whenever I could work. But I decided to seek revenge. I decided to trouble Mr Sumedh, making him pay for what he had done, in my own way," Ramcharan said, his teeth clenching and jaw ticking with anger.
"And what was your way?"
"I purchased a sim-card in Sumedh's name. I obtained his pan card and adhar card Xerox from my friend who is a peon in the bank and knows where these things are kept. Then I started sending threatening messages to his wife, Navya. I wanted both of them to get stressed. Lose their sleep over this."
"But I became a bit obsessed over the revenge. I began stalking her a bit. It was mainly because I intended to meet her and tell her about her husband's affair. That night, I was outside their house and was planning to meet her when I saw her walking out of the house."
"Did you see where she was going?"
"No. But when she did not return for a long time, I decided to meet her the next day. But the next day she was nowhere. Neither house, nor school. So in the evening I followed Sumedh, hoping he would lead to her. To my surprise, he went straight to police station. I had followed him till there. That is when I realized that something was wrong and I didn't want to get entangled in whatever it was. So I destroyed that sim-card then and there and fled."
"Why were you found loitering around their house tonight?" Mukta asked.
"I couldn't just sit and let Sumedh get away with what he had done. Now I didn't even have the other sim-card. Navya madam was also missing. To fulfill my craving to trouble him some more, I sneaked into his apartment and left a threat note on his doormat. Just to get him off balance. To make him realize how it feels when all doors in life seem to be closing on you. The same that he had done to me."
Mukta watched Ramcharan carefully as he spoke. He seemed genuine. And everything he said tallied with the sequence of events.
"Are you sure you had nothing to do with Navya's disappearance?" She asked him, observing carefully the creases that formed a web on his forehead darken.
"No. You have to believe me. I did send threatening messages and notes. I stalked them. But I never hurt anyone," he said, in a voice close to tears.
"The evidence against you is too compelling, Ramcharan. You went out of the way to trouble them. You were near their house when she disappeared. How will we be able to prove in court that you didn't do anything to her?" She asked. She wanted him to realize the precarious situation he had put himself into.
"I didn't do anything. Please save me madam," he said, folding his hands, now on the verge of tears.
Mukta sighed. There was nothing more to be gained from him. She believed every word he said. But in this profession, she could not rely on what she believed.
"I am letting you go Ramcharan because I believe you. But you will not leave the town till we clear you. And you will come to the police station anytime we call you for questioning. Is that understood?" She asked.
"Thank you. Thank you madam," he said, and almost dashed out of the room, as if if he stayed a moment longer, she might put him behind bars.
Mukta watched him hurryvout of the main door.
"Anand," she called the night constable on duty.
"Yes madam".
"I want someone to be posted to keep a watch on that man. 24 X 7. And arrest him immediately if he attempts to abscond".
"Ok madam," Anand said and left.