Anagram

Inspector Karna Mehtwal was getting frustrated every second his call was getting disconnected. He had told a million times to his subordinate - arjun to give him daily updates regarding the case – as he himself was on medical leave for 2 weeks due to a shoulder injury but as usual arjun’s phone was busy. Most probably would be flirting. It is what he does usually, he thought and started to examine the files for the 5th time. Hoping to get any sort of clue that could give him a lead.

Despite being a highly efficient officer, Karna was more known for the number of transfers he got in his short career. Some of them, because he was just being true to his personality and did not bother to change for anyone. While the rest was because either he was being framed by those, he was loyal to or else just simply unlucky and the timing was not right. But this time this transfer has not been easy. More than moving from UP and leaving his family, it was shifting to Kerala that was just hard for him.

 He knew he was born here in God own country and was later given up for adoption due to some circumstances. It was only due to god’s grace he was taken up by a lovely couple who loved him like his own son. But he did have his share of difficulties growing up in a family where money was tight. It was not at all easy becoming a police officer who got ridiculed every now and then for his “low “status. But Karna never stopped trying. He had his parents constant support and love which always encouraged him to move forwards.

Frustration growing at its peak made Karna slam the file on the table. He decided to step outside and go for a walk. He knew going to the beach, a 5 min walk from his home, would help him calm down after which he could go to the station and see if there were any updates. He just hoped that arjun would call him back with a positive news.

He found his favourite spot and sat down. The beach was not as crowded as he thought. A few minutes of watching the evening sky was more than enough to calm down his frustration. He started thinking about the case, recollecting all the facts one by one in his mind.

On 23rd of march at exactly 3 am, all the major news channels received an anonymous mail which read “Little red riding hood is missing. The poor girl. What could her life be worth for?” The worst part was that it was send from the official ID of the honourable CM. Which means a girl has been missing and it somehow was connected to the CM. The media did not wait a second when they got such a sensational news and proceeded to make full advantage of it. Karna’s train of thoughts had to be halted due to a call from the last person he was he interested in talking to at that moment.

“Good afternoon, Mr Mehtwal. I am very sure I do not have to introduce myself. I hate to call you but this current situation has forced me do so. I have got no reports regarding the girl’s case and the media is not making it any easier. They are literally on the CM’s toes and you know the poor guy is not doing that well himself. I want to clear this mess as fast as possible. You are a proficient officer, aren’t you? Do not make me think otherwise. I need an update by tomorrow.” 

The call got cut even before Karna could respond back. He knew Shankuni did not have the guts in him to listen to what he had to say back. Despite being the right-hand man of the CM, with a lot of political power, he was never the sort to get his hands dirty. He would use others as his pawn in his games. Maybe that is why despite being associated with many scandals, he has not been officially caught. He knows how to play it safe and yet have others play to his tunes. The guy has even got the CM’s son wrapped around his figure who unfortunately is my best friend to whom I was indebted to for life. It was the main reason why I agreed to take up the case. I did not want anything bad happening to him.

Karna knew from the beginning this was case was different. It seemed like a puzzle which had a lot of missing pieces and just could not be found. He had checked on all the missing cases reported in the past one month, checked the ID of the mail, checked the CCTV footage and security system which turned out to be hacked, tracked the numbers of the staff and security of the CM and literally tried every trick in the book but was unsuccessful. All he knew was some psychopath was playing some of a trick that could cost a girl’s life and was trying to frame it on the CM . Maybe for attention or some sort of sort power? 

Karna decided to go to the station. It was just few minutes away from the beach and he had wanted to go for a walk earlier. Despite his shoulder aching because he forgot to take his meds, Karna still proceeded with the walk when Vrushali- a professor working in Bangalore and also his wife -called.

“I sort of found out something that’s why wanted to call you now. I have been getting a lot of spam mails since yesterday which I thought were initially just random messages. But I had some free time today and had a look though and found that they were actually anagrams and when I solved it I got the story of the little red riding hood. And since it had the same reference to the mail you told me about, I thought it might be connected. I have sent it to Christian. He said he will update you if he gets an anything. Also, I am taking a leave next week and coming there. I want to finish the procedures and spend time with Sithara as much as possible. Ok I must go now. Bye “

Despite their marriage not going well, both Karna and Vrushali were equally involved when it came to Sithara. Vrushali had met Sithara while she was doing her graduation in Kerala. She had visited the latter’s orphanage as part of her project but later started to bond really well with her. But as life went on, Vrushali had to move to UP. Then she met Karna, got married, had their sons whom were killed later an act of revenge against Karna. That was when their marriage started suffering. Only when the decision to adopt sithara came did things became a bit better for them. Karna was more than happy to proceed with the adoption. Sithara was a lovely and studious 13 year old girl who would regularly visit and help in an old age home nearby. Since the formalities for adoption were not fully over, sithara was staying at the orphanage.

Karna was brought back to reality with a call from Christian. A good friend of his from the cyber department. 

“Karna, do not know if it’s good or bad but telling you anyways. The IDs from which vrushali got the messages and the one which channels got do not match as each have been send from internet cafes from all the districts where the ‘supporters case’ have been reported. “

Understanding my confusion, Christian explained to me what the supporters case was.” So, during covid, many online groups were formed on many social media sites as part of covid relief and support. Many of them had large number of members across the states and had very little restrictions. It is very easy to get the personal details of any of the members. During this time a lot of cybercrimes were also reported where girls of different ages would receive disturbing or threating messages. Later they would kidnapped , some raped and then strangled or butchered whose bodies were found in forests across the country. In Kerala around 8 cases were reported and some are still missing.” I cut the call trying to process the information I was given. Suddenly I got 2 texts from Vrushali. The first one said that the anagram she solved was only till the point where little red riding hood reached the grandmothers home after meeting the wolf and thus it was incomplete. The other was her telling me to call up the orphanage to know if sithara was alright as she felt something had happened to her. I called the orphanage from my personal number and got to know from the Head Sister that Sithara has been missing and she couldn’t inform me as she has been receiving death threats and couldn’t risk putting the lives of the other kids in danger. 

It was then that I knew this case was targeted against me and this time I was not going to let history repeat itself. At the station I was received with more bad news. Arjun has been missing for several hours. The last mail that the channels received said the ‘girl was about to open the door.’ Realising the level of danger my daughter is in, I divided my team , gave them the specific instructions and went to the orphanage. I knew on that 1hr journey may things would happen. My team would discover more bodies of the missing girls from the forest. Vrushali would get more anagrams that would be an update of how close the red riding hood was with the wolf. And I might not return. But whatever happened my daughter’s life was important and I would do anything to save her.

“What happened next” asked my listener who seemed so engrossed in our discussion that he forgot to touch his 3rd glass of beer. “Well,” I replied “once Karna’s team reached the orphanage, they managed to rescue sithara. But during the fight, both Karna and Arjuna got severely wounded. Karna later passed away . Arjuna confessed that he was forced to do the kidnap due to him receiving death threats against his family. He was later dismissed from the service. Vrushali adopted sithara and moved to Bangalore and the case was closed.”

“Oh, it ended just like it was written right. The hunter did save the life of the red riding hood from the wolf after all. “My listener asked me.

“Yeah, it did.” I replied. “But certain things are still unanswered. There are no answers on where the wolf went. I am curious about that. Maybe the gods will reveal it one day?”

“Yeah right,” my listener chucked and stood up to collect his things when he turned to me and asked, “I forgot to ask you, how did you know about this case in such detail. Who are you?

I replied with a chuckle. “I am Krishna, working as an investigative journalist. I just seem to know everything. Have a good day”