Cold Case

It was a surprising sight to see a man walk almost in the middle of the road on a rainy night. Actually, only I could see it as I am the one writing the story. Any other passer-by would have difficulty in spotting the man as the street was without power too on that rainy night. One may wonder why was he walking on the road risking his life. But a citizen would not be surprised. For he would know that the footpaths were uneven and treacherous. With some vehicles parked abutting the footpath, the man was left with no choice but to walk in the middle of the road, well almost. A closer look would reveal that he had held a walking stick in his left hand. He was also wearing a raincoat and a hat to cover himself. He gave the impression that he was holding something in his right hand as one could not see the hand swing by. One would also observe he seemed to be counted as if the number of steps he was taking or counting simply to keep himself awake. Or was he drunk and counting to keep himself alert.

He suddenly stopped and turned to the right and took some steps towards a door. He seemed to count the steps he was taking and knocked on the door. A man came and opened the door and asked who he was and what did he want. The man with the walking stick whipped out a dagger and plunged it deep into the heart of the man who opened the door. The man who got stabbed could not even cry out as he fell down dead. The man with the stick left the dagger on the body and retraced the steps and walked forward to the junction. Now his right hand was swinging and one could make out that he was wearing a glove. He walked up to the junction and turned right and carried on walking. Now he seemed to not count. He must have walked for nearly half an hour and came upon a door. He took a key out of his pocket, opened the door and left the coat and the hat on the hook and walked up to a landline telephone, and purposefully dialed a number and said “job done. You can see tomorrow’s TV news and pay the balance.”

The killing made headlines on the next day's morning TV. Considering that the state had the reputation of 40% commission (corruption money) on all works, the victim was a social worker who had taken up cudgels against deep-rooted corruption and thus had made many enemies. There was all-around condemnation against the killing. The media for about a week carried news about the social activists. There was a huge procession to the crematorium and on the tenth day, there was a condolence meeting for the victim organised by his followers and well-wishers. The killer too went for the meeting. For the first time, he felt a twinge of guilt. He had erred in his decision of accepting the assignment.

The victim’s body was discovered by the milkman the very next day and he alerted the neighbours who in turn alerted the police. The Sub-Inspector who picked up the call immediately reported the murder to his superior as he knew the murder would make headlines. The supervisor reported to the Commissioner of Police who in turn reported to the home minister. The home minister was shocked and he knew that the murder would rock the government but he was pleased with himself. But he suppressed his happiness and told the commissioner to fast-track the investigation. He made a TV appearance and told the reporters of his intent.

The police could not find any evidence. As it was raining the sniffer dog was of no use. The door of the house where the victim stayed wasn’t broken open. There was speculation that the victim knew the perpetrator. The dagger didn’t carry any fingerprints either and it was a commonly used dagger and available in the city markets. The forensic scientists concluded that the murder took place around 10 pm the previous night and the murderer had a strong hand as he had wounded the heart with one stab. Death was instantaneous.

Police carried out interviews in the neighbourhood. All they could gather was that a man carrying a walking stick was seen in that neighbourhood a few days prior to the murder. He was also seen wearing a hat. It was by chance that the sub-Inspector saw the CCTV a few days after the murder and spotted the man wearing a hat at a traffic junction near to the victim’s house. The SI felt that it may be the opening in the murder investigation. They traced the man back to this house and called on him. The SI knocked at the door and a man wearing dark glasses came to open the door. The conversation he had covered ascertained if the man had heard of the killing of the social workers. The man confirmed it as it was the news of the day after the murder. The SI also asked why was he seen in the neighbourhood. The man took his glasses out and the SI was shocked to see that the man was blind. Then the man replied that he was visiting a friend who was ailing and thus took the street to reach the junction where he was spotted on the CCTV. The SI when he discovered that the man was blind became skeptical but anyway, he met the ailing man and confirmed that the blind man did visit him for a couple of days. He had brought some fruits along for his friend. The SI could also verify the blind man’s name was Murthy and he was employed at the Blind Man’s School as an administrator with a good reputation. The SI knew that the case was turning out to be cold as there was no evidence they could collect.

Murthy had sleepless nights once he attended the social worker’s condolence meeting. It was there he had heard about the life history of the social worker Narayanan and many of his good deeds which took courage as he had single-handedly fought against corruption. It was one of those days the Director of the Blind Man’s School also narrated an incident how Narayan had helped the school in its set-up and the school escaped paying any bribe money to the minister. That night Murthy took a decision and called his contact the next day who assigned the murder of Narayan. The meeting was set up for two days later at the same time the murder took place and at the same venue. Murthy had told his contact that he picked up some dangerous evidence. His contact was therefore intrigued and agreed to meet him at the place decided. His contact didn’t know that a power cut was due on that night and rain was also expected as per the weather forecast.

The SI when he received news of another murder in front of Narayan’s house was indeed shocked. More so when the victim was identified to be Ganesha, allegedly the henchman for the Minister of PWD, infamous for the corruption. The manner of his death was similar to that of Narayan and the forensic report confirmed that a similar dagger might have been used and one stab brought about instantaneous death. This time the dagger was not to be found and yet again the murderer had used the scheduled power cut and the rain to his advantage. The SI speculated that the victim and the murderer had known each other and the cause of the murder was linked to the murder of the social worker Narayan.

At the cabinet meeting, sparks flew and the home minister thundered no stone would be left unturned in tracking the killer. The media was agog that the CM would be replaced the two killings were connected to the deep-rooted corruption within the present government. The PWD minister however nonchalantly dismissed all this corruption connection.

Murthy in the meantime got busy with the preparation of the inauguration of the annex to the Blindman’s School to be inaugurated by the Minister of PWD slated to happen within one week of the murder of Ganesha. The inauguration went as scheduled and the coverage was good. The PWD Minister patted his own government’s good works pointing out the inauguration of the facility as an example of a good deed done by his government. The Director whispered to Murthy this was the minister against whom Narayan had fought and denied his bribe money and added he would not be surprised to find that the minister had a hand behind Naryanan’s killing if the truth were to ever come out.

The next day the TV in their morning report announced the sudden death of the PWD Minister due to cardiac arrest. Both the CM and HM responded with alacrity with their condolences. If only one could read their minds the truth would have been otherwise.

Murthy celebrated the event that evening completing the fiftieth push-up that helped him have strong hands. The poison had worked to perfection. He knew the minister preferred to drink only cow’s milk instead of the customary tea and he had mixed the Belladona extract in the milk and was supposed to induce cardiac arrest seven to eight hours later in the body. Murthy knew that the PWD Minister had already had a couple of heart attacks. He was in charge of all arrangements as an administrator and took advantage of this responsibility to make amends for his killing of Narayan. He decided to stop his ‘supari killings’ instead focus on getting rid of corrupt officials and politicians.

The SI was telling his constable that somehow the three deaths had some connection. The constable butted in stating that how could he link a natural death with that of cold-blooded murders? To which SI had no answer. The murders were forgotten now and the case got closed.