Case File of Curlocks Om

Not many of you readers would believe if I were to tell you that Sherlock Holmes has reincarnated as Curlocks and living with his good friend Vasan as his neighbour in an ordinary location in Bangalore and continues to investigate perplexing cases.

From Vasan’s file: It is one of those cases which was almost decided to be a suicide by the investigating inspector that Curlocks yet again shows his mettle thought his keen observation.

Inspector Gowda was going over the case facts captured on the white board marker in his room. Twenty-four hours earlier he had got a call in the morning at 730 am and the caller was the maid Savithri who worked at the now murdered famous honcho Rahul. Savithri had usual got into the house using a key given to her from the backdoor leading to the kitchen. She would first thing ready the coffee when Rahul would have come down from his bedroom by that time. Noting his absence, she called out for him and getting no response climbed up the flight of stairs to his bedroom and found him in a pool of blood. She lost the nerve and rushed out of the house screaming. When a neighbour heard her and came out to enquire, she had told him what she had found. It was the neighbour who had made the call to the Inspector.

Rahul was a page 3 starrer in the local newspaper. Known for his flamboyance he had married a women some twenty years younger to him. He had the reputation of a playboy. Recently the news media was filled with rivalry with another honcho Rohit especially on the business front. Both were at the forefront of artificial intelligence and were into making robots and other applications using AI. About two weeks ago reportedly Rohit and Rahul had a scuffle at a 5-star hotel and the matter was soon hushed up

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Gowda has soon reached the site of murder and the forensics team arrived for collecting evidence. Soon the media would know and all hell would break loose. The house didn’t seem to have broken in. Gowda observed that a window in the bedroom had been left open and latched. Monsoon had set in and the evenings had turned pleasant. Rahul’s body was lying on the bed with his hand half holding the pistol. It was a suicide or a murder that was for Gowda to establish. No suicide note got discovered. There was no sign of any scuffle in the room or on the bed. The window that was opened was a good 25 ft high from the ground.

The neighbours had also informed nothing of merit. Nobody had heard the shot. Gowda wondered if the window was left opened after the shot, which in case was not a suicide. It was a 4.25 mm Lilliput pistol not known for the noise it makes. In fact, in United Kingdom, one does not need a license to own it. Perhaps it was procured from there, thought Gowda. However, the immediate neighbour reported a loud argument two weeks back in the night around 9-930 pm at Rahul’s house and he had noticed a man walking out of the house after that. As it was dark the neighbour didn’t note any features of the stranger.

Gowda then had examined Rahul’s phone. He noted the message from his wife that she was reached the foothills, there won’t be any connectivity and be back only after three weeks. Savithri later confirmed that Rahul’s wife Rosy had gone on a mountain trek to the Himalaya. She didn’t not know any more details of the trek. Savithri could not confirm if Rahul and Rosy had a fight two weeks back. Saithri however confirmed that both Rahul and Rosy had a room for themselves and was not aware of their conjugal habits. She usually meets them at the dining table when she served their coffee. The medical officer came and said the death could have happened between 2-4 am in the morning but post-mortem need to be performed to narrow the range.

Gowda on his way to the office had then called the cyber desk and requested them to down load whatever information about Rahul. He spoke to the commissioner of police and got his approval for a media release of the preliminary report which did not say much.

The forensic report had come by then and did not reveal anything. Only Rahul’s finger prints were found. If there was anybody in the room that person had taken care to wipe out all evidences. The window had no finger prints either. The rains must have washed away any, Gowda muttered to himself. The pathologist had reported the time of death between 2 and 230 am and death was due to the single bullet shot. There was no other sign of violence on the body.

Gowda then decided to visit Rahul’s office. He interviewed Rahul’s secretary, administration officer, the security, driver and several others. None reported that they saw that Rahul was depressed of found anything unusual in his behaviour. They mentioned that Rahul could have many enemies because of his flamboyant style and his womanising. Jilted husbands, boy friends and a few mentioned his rivalry with Rohit. His personal laptop was sent to the cyber desk and they too reported finding nothing of note that could shed light upon Rahul’s death.

A visit to Rohit yielded nothing either. He mentioned being at home on that night. There was no alibi was his wife was with her sick father requiring extra care at Chennai. His driver confirmed that dropping Rohit from office and he went back home. He had enquired with Ola and Uber and they reported that no taxi has been booked by Rahul.

Media had gone on a frenzy and started speculating about various theories. Commissioner of Police was putting pressure on him daily. He had no lead or any theory except concluding that it was a suicide. That was when Inspector Gowda decided to pay a visit to his friend Curlocks (aka Bangalore’s own version of Sherlock Holmes) and pick his brain.

Of course, Curlocks already knew without being told that Gowda was there to discuss the death of Rahul. He had been following the case and had updated himself with some extensive research from Google. Once Gowda finished apprising him, he suggested that they pay a visit to the scene of the death with me of course.

Curlocks as his wont didn’t enter the house but went around the garden surrounding the house. At one point he pointed out to a tall tree with some protruding branches that one could use to enter the house from first floor. Gowda also pointed out at the window that was found opened. Curlocks shook his head as if to say that window could not have been a get away for the murderer if there was one.

As soon as he entered the house Curlocks bounded upstairs in a jiff. Soon we caught up and he was examining the windows in the room that happened to be Rosy’s. What was not observable to the normal eye would be so obvious to Curlocks’, he exclaimed aha! He then pointed out to a small square piece of the glass of the window that was cut and cleverly pasted back. A hand could have been inserted from outside to open the latch of the window and someone could have entered through the window. Gowda expressed surprise and delight at this finding. Was this the lead they were looking for? He quickly called for the forensic team to pay a visit and collect any evidences that might be still there although it was two days after the death. When the forensic report came nothing much could be made out further as the finger prints were that of Rosy.

Curlocks suggested a visit to Rohit’s office. He asked for the salary register and was browsing through it when he suddenly spotted an anamoly. His keen eyes picked up the missing name of Anjali in the current’s month list of employees. The administrative blurted out nervously that Anjali had committed suicide some fifteen days ago. He said that exact cause of her suicide was not known but it was not related to any situation in the office. Curlocks said he would like to interview some of the staff Anjali was close with. Mythili confessed that Anjali had told her about series of incidents with Rahul when he had made sexual advances to her. Her suicide topic was taboo at office and the administrative officer had warned all the office staff not to talk about this with anyone. Administrative officer when confronted with this fact said it was a one-sided story. Rohit had nothing to do with her death. Mythili’s story could not be corroborated with anyone else.

The next stop was at Anjali’s house. Anjali was survived by her mother and daughter, well that was what we had thought as we met with her mother. Her mother said Anjlai was depressed due to some love affair not having worked out. Rahul had nothing to do with it. Anjali’s sister whom we later met said the same thing. It was by chance a neighbour informed us of the existence of Anajli’s brother. Anjali’s death had created a divide in her family.

Ramesh was drinking at the bar when Curlocks and I joined him. He was heart-broken at Anjali’s death. He said he knew of the sexual harassment Anjali had faced from Rahul. Anjali had told him she would sort it our herself. But then her suicide. The administrative officer had come and silenced her sister Sudha and mother by promising Sudha a job upon completion of her final year degree. The company had also made Rs 10 lakhs payment to her mother. He had gone to confront Rahul at his residence on the night of Anjali’s death when his wife was also there. But he had nothing to do with Rahul’s death. He did not have Rahul’s death in his mind at all.

That was when Ramesh’s colleague from his factory had come and asked why he was absenting himself from the factory work. In the banter that ensued it came as a shock to Curlocks that Ramesh was working in a glass factory. As he bought Ramesh another drink Curlocks showed the photo of the glass window that was cut and pasted in Rosy’s room and asked him how on earth could someone do such a good job? Ramesh reacted as if professional competency was being questioned and said this wasn’t a difficult job at all as it requires only a Nikken glass cutter of 7-inch length and Dubond grade glass adhesive would do the job with some practice of course. Curlocks probed him further and asked him if in the recent times if he had shared this tip with anybody else. Ramesh said that Rahul’s wife had asked about it when she came to meet him about Anjali and offered her condolence.

Curlocks observed that it could be Rosy who shot Rohit. She was a mountain climber and the tree in her house would not have posed any challenge. Now he would ask Gowda to trace her friends as obviously she had holed up somewhere in the city at least till the death happened. He had also asked Gowda to check the passengers list from the airlines for flights departing after the time of death and the following day. Gowda could confirm that indeed Rosy had taken the first Indigo flight to Delhi that was departing at 530 in the morning following Rohit’s death. He later in the day came back to confirm that Rosy was staying at her friend’s farm house before the event of Rohit’s death. Her friend gave him the location at the valley of the flower where Rosy was presently staying.

Gowda asked Curlocks to pursue Rosy as he could not do this fast as it would require various permission at different levels. Three days later Curlocks reported to me that Rosy had confessed to her crime and he had recorded her confession. Rosy knew soon after marriage Rohit’s sex addiction. Rohit just ignored her feelings. Rohit had angered many husbands and boy-friends but was powerful enough to fend them off. Anjali didn’t deserve the end she met with. She was from a poor family and she resisted his advances. Her death had awakened the Kali in her and she sought vengeance on behalf of Anjali and many other faceless women who got trapped by Rohit. As far as Rosy was concerned she leapt from the cliff but her body could not be found. Knowing Curlocks’ own sense of justice, I still wonder how far from truth the matter regarding Rosy could be.