Day 3
Mukta swallowed hard as she listened.
"Are you sure the woman was not Navya?" She asked.
"Yes. We have the photo sent by you. It was definitely not her," Viren said.
"The call probably didn't go through as she dialed a few times but never spoke, and then just as she had come out, she quickly retreated back to the house. Realizing the gravity of the situation, and a potential victim of domestic abuse, we sent a woman cop and a representative of the NGO Sakhi to speak to this woman."
"She initially did not respond to the doorbell. So we called her house phone number and spoke to her. We told her that we knew about the abuse she was suffering from at her husband's hands and that we needed to speak to her about disappearance of a woman called Navya. She didn't budge when we told her we knew about the abuse but she immediately opened the door on her hearing Navya's name".
Mukta clutched the arm of a nearby chair and sat down. She couldn't control the sympathetic drive going on in her body.
"Our woman cop and Sakhi volunteer convinced her to visit the police station after hearing whatever she had to say. She will be arriving shortly. I will call you when she arrives, so that you can speak to her yourself. Is that alright?" Viren asked.
"Y..yes...please," Mukta said, almost breathless.
"Okay".
"Meanwhile, can you give me the make and number of the car that Rahul owns? We are combing through the CCTV footages on the night that Navya disappeared, from the path we believe she took just before her disappearance. It would be helpful if we could locate the car anywhere," Mukta said.
"Sure," Viren replied and dictated the car number as Mukta noted it down.
"So I guess I shall call back in another fifteen, twenty minutes?" He concluded.
"Right. I will be waiting. Thank you Viren," Mukta signed off.
She immediately gave the number and car type she had jotted down to Ajay.
"Check for any car of this description, with this number, spotted on the CCTV ," she told him.
"Ok," Ajay said and hurried to the CCTV team.
Mukta then dialled Sumedh's number.
He picked it up immediately.
"Do you know a Rahul Verma?" Mukta asked him without any preamble.
There was a silent pause that stretched on for more than a moment.
"What about him?" Sumedh asked.
"Who is he?" She asked, annoyance reverberating in her tone.
It was very clear now that Sumedh might not be completely innocent, he had things to hide. But he definitely had no idea about his wife's whereabouts. And yet his arrogance amused her and irritated her, both at the same time.
"He...does he have Navya?"
"I think we will have to bring you in for questioning if you won't answer my questions properly," Mukta said, clenching her fist to control her anger.
"Sorry...I will tell you. Before we got married, Navya was engaged to this guy. Rahul Verma," Sumedh said.
"I thought you and Navya were in college together?" Mukta asked.
"Yes we were. But we weren't seeing each other. It happened later, when..."
"When?"
"When she left Rahul. He was violent with her. He began physically abusing her. Initially it was subtle. Just twisting her hand when he was angry or throwing whatever was in his hands at her. She endured it, blaming herself for igniting it and hoping that it would go away with time. But his behaviour just worsened. So she ran away from him and landed straight at our door".
"Our?"
"Well, me and Aashay. We used to be roommates then. We both helped Navya get away from him. We helped her lodge a police complaint against him. We got a restraining order against him...that sort of thing".
"Did he try to contact her again any time?"
"No. Never. And within the next year, me and Navya got married. Haven't heard from him since. I don't even know where he stays anymore."
"Well, actually we have traced him to Ahmedabad..."
"What? Navya was in touch with him?" Sumedh asked, surprised.
"No. She wasn't contacting him. We believe she was contacting his wife, who is also a victim of his abuse. Our guess is that she was trying to help her".
"Ohh..."
"We are tracking the CCTV images from the night on her route from your house to the bus stop from where she was supposed to catch the bus. We know the make and number of his car. We are trying to see if we can spot him anywhere on that footage," Mukta told him.
"Okay. How can I help?" Sumedh asked, responding appropriately for the first time, Mukta thought dryly.
"Don't worry. We will get back to you Sumedh, as soon as we know more," Mukta said, disconnecting the call.
*****
I sit there with my head held in my hands for God knows how long.
Rahul Verma?
If he has anything to do with Navya, I will kill that bastard!
But what I don't understand is, why now? He could have done anything anytime since the time we got married. Why did he choose now?
Or was it because she was trying to help his wife? Did he hurt her because she was doing so?
I can't think. My head is spinning in circles.
Why didn't Navya tell me? Why didn't she confide in me?
Well, I haven't exactly been the husband of the year. But then, not everybody is perfect, right? Navya wasn't! And she could have at least mentioned what she was upto. It wasn't like she was cheating or anything after all. Or was it?
I need someone to talk to. I have not gone to the bank today. I don't want to face anyone. Not after what Lavanya did to me. I don't even know whether they are aware of the money laundering. Have the police told them?
I look at the line of missed calls. Some from the landline of the bank. But most are from Aashay.
I think I need to talk to someone.
I call Aashay.
"Hey, where are you? How are you?" He asks.
Looks like they still don't know about the money.
"I...I am good," I stammer, not sure what to say.
"Then why didn't you come to work today?"
"Not really feeling upto it," I say.
"Listen Sumedh, you can't just sit holed up in your house. The police is doing all they can to find Navya..."
"Aashay? Have you seen Lavanya today?" I ask.
"Who? That cashier girl?" Aashay asks.
I have to give it to Aashay. He just looks straight ahead of his nose. Even the bank watchman knew about my clandestine affair and Aashay still has no clue.
"Yes?"
"Why?" He asks.
"Just...just some stuff about yesterday's client," I lie.
"Okay. Let me check. Stay on hold".
Two minutes later, Aashay is back on the line.
"She left it seems. Sent an email. That she needed to resign due to some personal issues. Didn't even bother to collect her dues".
"I bet she didn't," I say through clenched teeth.
"What's the matter Sumedh. What's going on?" Aashay asks, worried.
"Do you remember Rahul Verma?" I ask him.
There's a pause. I can picture Aashay scrunching up his nose in concentration, thinking.
"Oh...that guy. Who beat the hell out of Navya. What about him?" He asks.
"They think he might have had something to do with her disappearance," I tell him.
Another pause.
"Really? Wow! It was like...years ago! But why? And how did they find out?"
"I don't know. They somehow traced him to Ahmedabad where they have his wife whom he beats up. And they are probably scanning the CCTV footage on the route that Navya took that night. To see if they can catch his car or something...," I tell him.
"Oh ok. I hope they nab that monster soon. I have to go, some urgent work. I will drop by to see you after work," Aashay says and the call disconnects even before I can bid him adieu.
*****
The most awaited call came in. Mukta was already seated in a chair, ready to pick the receiver as soon as it rang.
Tushar came and sat on a chair next to her, looking at her intently. There was pin-drop silence around her as everyone waited in anticipation.
Mukta put the phone on speaker so that everyone could hear.
"Viren here madam," Inspector Viren said.
"Thanks for the call Viren. Mukta here".
"Okay. We have Maya Verma here. We have taken her statement. And we have primed her a bit about whatever has happened. Handing over the call to her."
Mukta waited with baited breath.
There was a sound of chairs shifting, a door opening and closing and approaching footsteps.
"Are you alright? Ready to talk?" A female voice whispered.
"Yes," another female voice replied.
A throat cleared.
"Hello?" A soft female voice came down the line.
"Hello, this is inspector Mukta," Mukta said, a bit confused as to how to begin. It was difficult to speak to someone under such circumstances without looking into their eyes, or watching their body language.
"Yes..I know," the soft female voice.
Mukta cleared her throat.
"So Maya, as you must be well aware by now of all that has happened, can you tell us what exactly happened between you and Navya?'
A sigh, more throat clearing.
"I married Rahul three years back. He seemed like a decent and hard working person. The honeymoon period of our marriage lasted two years, when we hardly fought, and couldn't stay without each other. But gradually, he began getting physical whenever there was any kind of altercation between us. He would later apologize so profusely and swear that he would never hurt me again, that I would believe him. And then it would happen again. The cycle kept repeating. And I saw no escape."
"I initially clung to the thought that it would reduce with time. But if anything, it increased."
There was a pause. Mukta glanced around her at all the eyes and ears tuned into the call.
Soft sound of drinking water.
"I tried to leave him about five months back. I told him I was done and I wanted a divorce. That is when he began locking me up at home. No one missed me as I am a house wife with hardly any friends. My parents being the old fashioned conservationalists, told me I had to do whatever it takes to make the marriage work. They wouldn't have me back home especially since I have two younger sisters of marriageable age!"
Some more sniffs.
Mukta waited patiently without interrupting.
"Neighbours grew suspicious a few times but whenever they would call over, Rahul would behave so graciously, they stopped bothering."
A sniff. "It's okay," another female voice whispered.
"About a month back, while going through his old stuff, I saw Navya's photo. I did a bit of digging on the internet and found out her place of work. I got her contact details from the school website and secretly contacted her. Rahul had never mentioned her to me. But she was the only person who really understood what I was going through. She promised to help me escape this hell hole. She promised to come here and take me to her town."
Few more sniffs, and unexpectedly, Maya began to sob.
"It's all because of me. Whatever has happened to Navya, it's all my doing. I shouldn't have contacted her. I deserve this beating...," And she began to sob violently.
Mukta and Tushar looked at each other helplessly. There was nothing they could do or say from here, to console her.
There were sounds of people ushering Maya away, more chairs moving, door opening and closing, and then finally Viren came on the line.
"She's a bit of in a state right now."
"We understand," Mukta said.
"We are not sending her back. We are sending her to a shelter where she will receive good psychological counseling too. We have sent a team to arrest Rahul. We will question him when he arrives," Viren said.
"Okay. But does Maya have any idea whether Rahul got to know about it, or whether or not he has hurt Navya?"
"No. But when Navya didn't arrive at her expected time, Maya got worried. The same night, Rahul hadn't returned home. He finally arrived at noon the next day, drunk and sloshed. She was too scared to ask him about his whereabouts. So she just assumed that he somehow got wind of what was happening and got to Navya before Navya could get to her," Viren summarised.
"So the night that Navya disappeared, Rahul wasn't at home? All night?" Mukta asked.
"That's what Maya claims. We are yet to hear Rahul's version. I will call you back madam once we are done questioning him," Viren said.
"Thank you Viren," Mukta replied gratefully.
"Madam, you need to see this," Ajay called out as soon as the phone was disconnected.
Mukta and Tushar got up and rushed to the laptop they were scanning the CCTV footages on.
Romee was waiting, ready to replay the video.
Mukta and Tushar sat down, anxiety oozing out from every cell of their bodies.
"This is the footage about 2 km ahead of RS square," Romee said and pressed play.
Navya was seen walking slowly when a car rounded up next to her. She stopped in her tracks as a man got down from the driver's seat.
Romee paused the video and zoomed the picture to the cars number plate.
"Rahul's car," he said.
"Oh. So this is Rahul," Mukta exclaimed.
Romee pressed play again.
The man looked drunk and in a bad temperament. He started talking, wildly waving his arms. Navya initially listened, but then she too began to talk. The argument went on becoming more and more heated, and finally, Rahul pushed her hard.
Navya tumbled backwards and fell onto the rocks lining the road.
She was still. Rahul paced up and down for a few moments. Then it looked like he panicked. He went and checked her pulse. Tried to awaken her. But she stayed still. He looked around. Next, he dashed to his car, got in, and drove off, leaving Navya lying there.
Mukta and Tushar looked at each other, shocked at the turn of events.
Both were thinking the same thing.
If he left her unconscious on the road, who took her?
Romee seemed to read their thoughts.
"There's more," he said, as Mukta straightened in attention for the oncoming onslaught.
Romee fast forwarded the video to five minutes later.
A car arrived. The driver parked it next to where she was lying on the road. He got down seemingly with a purpose. He first opened the passenger side door on the side opposite to the drivers and left it open. He then went near her. Looked around. And then in a swift movement, picked her up, placed her into the passenger seat, closed the door, looked around once more, rushed to the driver's seat, and drove away.