I started working with the CBI on January 21st, 2010. Everyone remembers their first case, I arrived in Bangalore, Karnataka on my second day as soon as I reached I was driven directly to the crime scene in the middle of town, it was a crowded area in the slums, the rain pouring down was not helping with the evidence, the crowd was pushed back and all the neighboring houses were cleared. I walked into a small house a man was sitting in a chair completely beaten up, fingernails torn apart and teeth pulled out from his mouth and blood spattered all over the room. I ended up puking and was driven outside the house after a while, a man in a suit and black trench coat, popped a cigarette and lit it. when I saw beyond the smoke, he had a salt and pepper style of beard and hair and a pair of round glasses hanging on his nose. He asked, "Is this your first case ?"
"Yeah, just started yesterday."
"You will get used to it, but it is one hell of a first case for a rookie."
"By the way, I am Esha Atwal batch of 2009"
"I am Rajendra Prasad batch of 2001"
"Why would someone do something like that to someone"
"Probably for information, that is what they usually torture for"
"Yeah I know that but don't you think this is a little excessive"
"That is what is surprising such violent crime is not seen in Bangalore for nearly 30 years"
He said this and walked into the house again, and said "When you feel better come inside preferably with the mask, it helps with the smell"
The forensic guy gave me a mask and I walk into the house, the house had only one room and bathroom on the left of the hall. The photographer and forensic expert were talking near the body and I went to introduce myself, "Hii I am Esha, nice to meet you"
The forensic expert introduced herself "Hii I am Anjana and this is Samir, pleased to meet you"
Rajendra Sir walks up at this moment and asks "So Anjana what have you got for me, darling?"
"I can put the time of death between 10 and 12 last night," she said
"What about the cause it looks like we have a lot of options for our victim here?"
"I can't say for sure but I guess that he died due to shock from the torture or blunt force trauma from hitting on the side of his head I need to perform an autopsy for the exact time and reason."
"Good let me know when you get something, also Esha have a look around and see if you find something new."
I started having a look around the place and after a while, Rajendra Sir invited me for coffee, it still hadn't stopped raining but he still insisted that we have coffee in a small coffee stall on the street."So how long have you been working in homicide" I asked. "About 7 years, spent the first 3 years in arson."
"How did you transition from arson to homicide?"
"Not sure one day boss called and said I am being transferred to homicide didn't question it just part of the job."
"So what do you think about the case?"I asked in the hopes to get out of this awkward situation.
"Torture for information, most likely done by an opposition gang, but this is one of the most unusual cases I have seen in a long time, most of the cases that I have handled in Bangalore are smaller in scale, most of the cases were robbery gone wrong."
"So why the sudden escalation?"
"We will know soon."
It finally stopped raining, so Rajendra suggested that I go grab my stuff and head to the hotel and rest for today, and meet him tomorrow at the office.
The next day I headed to the office, it was an abandoned shopping complex in the old part of the town. when I walked in Rajendra sir introduced me to the rest of the team.
"Hey guys gather around this is our new recruit her name is Esha Atwal"
"Hey, I am Esha nice to meet you guys."
"These are our lead detectives Abhishek Gill and Damini Sundar." and pointing at a woman sitting behind a computer "That is our resident computer expert her name is Krithi Kumar."
She waves her hand without breaking eye contact with the computer.
"So let us get back to the case, Abhishek what have you got for me?"
Abhishek starts up the screen and shows the details of a man. "This is Satish Nair, age 32, he is an engineer, currently employed in Global Technologies Inc. No parents, married for 3 years, contacted his wife she said she was on a business trip and she will be here by tomorrow. The address on his adhaar card is a house in the outskirts of Bangalore."
"Did we get the cause and the exact time of death?"
"Cause was ruled as blunt force trauma to the head."
"He survived through the torture, man was strong-willed. So Abhishek you, and Damini head over to Global Technologies and find out more about him. Esha and I will head over to his address and see if we can find out something over there."
"Krithi text me the address" she replied "Got it, Boss!"
It was around 10 in the morning, the sky was dark covered in clouds it looked like it was about to rain. We got in a black car and started heading out of the city. We reached the address, it was a large two-story house. The nearest house was almost 1km away, the house is pretty secluded. The door was busted and it looked like someone had broken into the house.
"Somebody desperately wanted something from this engineer. " I asked.
"You take the ground floor and I will take the first floor." Rajendra Sir replied.
"What am I looking for ?"
"Anything that can tell us more about him, more about his marriage, friends, any other relation, photos or papers about him."
I started looking in the hall, there was an expensive TV, the couch was moved and all the books from the bookcase were tossed and also a bunch of files was scattered and opened as though somebody was looking for something, in particular, related to the man's work. I wandered into the bathroom and found that place also thrashed as well, I looked in the mirror cabinet, there were a bunch of medicines and ointments.
Rajendra Sir called me upstairs, once I head upstairs I went into the room and found a large vault door completely opened and the place on the inside was also torn apart.
"What the hell happened here ?"
"This is more than a torture-murder case this is actually a heist!"