A Dead Relationship

                 1

Mansi rang the bell of the apartment, where she was working as a maid. It was a summer evening in Jaipur and it was 5 pm.She rang the bell for a continuous 5 minutes but no one opened the door then she dialed the number of her Madam. It was saying switched off. She started murmuring, "What is this?? If madam had to go somewhere she could have informed me on the phone earlier."

She was going to turn around when she saw the door was not locked but it was just barely closed so she opened the door and went inside.

"Madam...what is this? You have left the door open and your cellphone is switched off", said Mansi while going inside.

As she reached up to the living room which was next to the foyer, she was dumbstruck. Her eyes got widened in shock, her body froze for a few seconds and then she ran outside and started knocking on the door of the neighbors.

"Open the door...please open. Please come outside and see..what has happened to my madam...", said Mansi in one breath. She was scared and sweating.

Mohan came outside and saw Mansi was out of her breath and was hinting towards his neighbor's house.

Mohan went inside and saw, Pallavi's body was wrenched in blood. The floor was flooded with blood. He immediately dialed 100 and informed the police. Then he called Pallavi's husband, Vivek Vatas who was a manager with Indian Oil Corporations and was working at the international airport as fuel in - charge.

One by one many people gathered within a few minutes. Everyone was awestruck at the situation. Pallavi was known for her loving nature. None could believe, she could be murdered. Vivek reached within half an hour and ran towards Pallavi and said something in a very slow voice as he was crying. Then suddenly he got up and started shouting, "Where is my son??? Where is he??"

Everyone started looking at each other as no one thought about Abhay, Pallavi, and Vivek's son who was just 18 months old. Vivek went into each room and balcony but found no one.

Just then the Police came by.

Police asked all people to move outside of the house. The investigation team started taking fingerprints from various things, pictures were clicked, and the whole house was getting investigated.

Meanwhile, the chief officer S.P Chauhan looked for any forced entry and then he came outside of the house and said, "Whose house is this??"

"Sir... it's mine. I am Vivek Vatas", said Vivek while sobbing.

"Okay...where were you at that time?"

"I was at the airport, I work as fuel in charge there. I got a call from my neighbor, Mohan and I immediately rushed here. Sir, my son is missing", said Vivek crying even more.

"Ohhh..how old is he??"

"He is only 18 months old. Please find him, Sir. I have lost my wife but I don't want to lose my son now", said Vivek and joined both hands in praying form.

"Hmmm...you have any doubts about anyone? Who could have done it?? Any of your enemy.. or your wife's??" asked S.P Chauhan.

"No, Sir. We shifted here 2 years back only from Delhi. We don't know many people here. Pallavi was a loving woman", said Vivek.

"When was the last time you talked to her??"

"I guess near around 10 am.."

"Have you noticed anything unusual in the last few days...??"

"No..."

"Okay..any other thing also missing?? Have you checked??"

"No Sir, I have not checked it."

"Then you should check that too before we start working ahead."

"Sir, we don't keep jewelry at home and there was just a little money at home.. that is not important... leave it."

"Mr. Vivek, please check your whole house. Every single detail is important to us."

Vivek did check every room and told them that nothing else was missing. All was intact as it was earlier except Pallavi's cellphone which was missing.

Chief Officer took the contact number of Vivek and Pallavi.

Two other inspectors were questioning the maid and other neighbors.

                               2

 

At the police station.

"Brief me on the whole scene and your findings..", said SP Chauhan to Raghubir and Archana, the two other inspectors.

"Sir, I talked to the maid, she was the one to reach the crime scene first then she called the neighbor, and she said the door was not locked as it used to be. Pallavi's cell phone was switched off as she tried to call her.

A vase was broken near the body. We have collected fingerprints from it. Pallavi's head was bleeding and she had a cut on her throat. Her jewelry was still on her body. I don't think whoever had come, had come for money", said Archana.

"Sir, I talked to that neighbor Mohan. He had informed us about the murder. He then called Vivek. He gave no useful information. What I noticed is, there was no forced entry into the house, Neighbors also heard nothing so I guess the murderer is someone known to her to whom she opened the door herself. They live on the 8th floor, it is not easy to climb up that high.

And sir, this is an old building with no CCTV cameras", said Raghubir.

"Hmmm...good work from both of you. Any of you talked to the security guard?? When can we expect the medical report to reveal the time of death?" asked S.P Chauhan.

"Sir, a security guard told us that no one came to meet her today and reports will take 2 more days to come", said Archana.

"Okay... that means he might have told him that he was there for some other house. Go to the society again and talk to other people of the society.

If someone has taken a kid with him, he must have cried or let's say they anesthetized him, still someone must have seen them taking the kid out. And it is also possible that he came as a delivery boy and Pallavi opened the door to him and then all of this happened. However, she was lying far from the main door. Maybe he asked for water and when she went inside to take water, he also went inside and killed her and kidnapped the kid", said SP Chauhan.

"But there is still no call for any kind of ransom", said Raghubir.

"Maybe they are waiting to make the father vulnerable, to get a high ransom. Do one more thing, keep Vivek's contact number tapping. He may hide it from us", said SP Chauhan.

Both the inspector left the cabin and started the next level of inquiry.

                                3

 

The next day, Vivek came to the police station.

"Sir, I got a call for ransom. They are asking for 30lakhs and they called from my wife's number only", said Vivek in panic.

"We know it. Your cellphone is being tapped already. We have started looking from where the cellphone is being used", said SP Chauhan.

"Okay... should I proceed with ransom? I can arrange money if my kid is safe after giving ransom", said Vivek.

"No, there is no guarantee and we will follow you wherever he asks you to come", said SP Chauhan.

Vivek left the police station.

"Sir, they have removed the sim from Pallavi's phone and they are using the sim on another cellphone, without a GPS location tracker on the phone, it's difficult to know the location as they switched off the phone after the call. The call was for 30 seconds only", said Raghubir.

"Hmmm... It seems like they have planned the kidnapping very well. But still, it seems like there is something else that we are missing. I mean to kidnap a kid they came to the house that too in society. They killed Pallavi and took her cell phone and her kid. They could have kidnapped him on road also. As Pallavi used to go out on a walk with her kid daily", said Chauhan.

"Maybe they were not confident to kidnap kids on the road as immediately Pallavi would have shouted and have gathered people and kidnapping might get failed", said Archana.

"But they felt it was easy to come to the house, kill a lady and then take the kid. They even didn't check the house, everything was intact. They left jewelry on Pallavi also. Nothing is making any sense", said Chauhan.

"Maybe it was not planned. Someone came to deliver something and his mind got maniac at a time and he thought of doing it", said Archana.

"And that maniac was carrying a knife with him too..??", asked Raghubir.

"Sir, what your thoughts are..? I mean what are you thinking??" asked Archana.

"I need caller history of Pallavi's cellphone and also search for murder weapons around the society", said Chauhan.

Both the inspector left to investigate more.

Kidnappers sent the message again to know if Vivek has arranged the money.

Vivek informed the police station. 4 days were already gone.

"Sir, we have talked to Pallavi's family. They said they used to fight but the fights were not that severe. Else everything was fine. I checked with other neighbors too. They said they heard nothing wrong from Pallavi or Vivek and here is the call history", said Raghubir moving ahead with the reports on the table in front of Chauhan.

"Sir all calls are mainly to family and relatives and some friends. Some are from different delivery persons. These are details of deliveries dine recently, they have not ordered anything except milk and newspaper that used to come in the morning", said Raghubir.

"Sir, medical reports have come too. First, she was hit on the back side of her head with a heavy object, then her throat was slit. She died immediately. The time should be between 1:30 pm to 2 pm", said Archana.

Suddenly one constable entered the cabin and said, "Sir, we have found a dead body of a kid from the backside forest of the same society where Pallavi was living."

"What???" said all in one voice.

The postpartum of the body was done and it came out as a kid died of asphyxia( choking).

Now, the police were under pressure as 2 people were killed in daylight.

Insurance policies were checked but nothing came out suspicious.

It was cold-blooded murder, well-planned and executed.

                               4

"Sir, Mohan came today. He said there was something odd with Vivek that day. When he came home, he went near Pallavi and said 'Sorry' in low voice and then started looking for his son immediately. As Mohan was just behind him, he heard it. That time he ignored it as he was in shock", said Raghubir.

SP Chauhan got suspicious of Vivek. He ordered for call history of his cellphone too.

"Sir, he had called this number 6 times between 1 to 2 pm on the date of the crime", said Raghubir.

"Whose number is this??" asked Chauhan.

"Sir, his name is Lakhan and he was once arrested for theft."

"Any other number, I mean he has no affair, right??"

"Sir, from this number, nothing suspicious came out. But he could have 2nd cellphone. We need to check that."

"Okay..get it to check and call him for interrogation also find Lakhan and call him here."

Vivek was interrogated hard and he spilled the beans.

"I was in love with Sneha, my colleague from the Delhi office. Then I shifted here due to the location shifting of my job. My relationship with Pallavi was not going well. I wanted to get rid of her. So I made a plan. Lakhan is the brother-in-law of my friend. I knew him for 2 - 3 years. He started coming home with me. I introduced him as my friend to Pallavi so that she could get familiar with him.

When she got comfortable with him to let him come inside alone. We planned all. He came in my absence and did it all."

"Your kid was also murdered..." said S.P Chauhan.

"Yes, I never wanted a kid. When she got pregnant I asked her to abort it. She said this child will bring the lost love between us. I could not say anything. I wanted to marry Sneha. She was ready too. But Pallavi was not ready for the divorce. I bought another cellphone and sim 6 months back. Since then I was planning to get rid of her.

Lakhan was also arrested. He admitted the crime and said, "I took a vase and hit her behind the head. Then I slit her throat and took the kid. I anesthetized him and put him in a bag and went out. As it was afternoon, no one noticed anything. I threw down the knife behind the society and also killed the kid and threw his body. I took Pallavi's cellphone also with me. I removed the sim from her cellphone and threw it also.

The plan was to astray you people with kids kidnapping. As we thought you will think of it as murder for kidnapping and then kidnappers killed the kid too."

"How much money you were offered..?"

"Vivek gave me 20,000rupees before the murders and 60,000rupees after the murders", said Lakhan.

"It is the very first time that a father killed his son because he wanted to marry someone else. I will make sure you get the hardest punishment", said SP Chauhan.

Pallavi lost her life as she was clinging to a dead relationship but the kid lost its life because of no reason.