Death

The roads were all dark, with power shut down due to rain. There was a continuous downpour in the city and surroundings of Hyderabad from the previous night. RTC buses were plying on the roads as usual despite some delays. It was around 9.00 PM. A bus arrived from the Jubilee bus depot at medium speed and the driver slowed down the bus at Secunderabad, Bible House bus stop since nobody got into or got off the bus he simply kept the bus rolling for a few meters and then picked up the speed. The bus was partially full and the passengers were dozing off in their seats. Suddenly the bus stopped with a jolt as the driver applied sudden brakes. He immediately jumped out of his seat and ran to the front to see the situation as he has a premonition that something bad has happened... The passengers were drawn out of their slumber and got off the bus to see what happened. It was the turning of the road towards Tank Bund right opposite to Bajaj automotive showroom. 

The driver was mentally reconstructing what could have happened. As he had difficulty seeing the road ahead, he was going at a medium speed and with all his concentration on the road ahead. Suddenly a woman ran from a side ally and came across the bus. The bus hit her and she collapsed into a bundle in a pool of blood. Surely the driver was not at fault. The woman was recklessly trying to cross the road and faced a violent accident.at least 3 people who were sitting in the front confirmed this. Everybody was shocked by the incident. Some could not stop tears in their eyes, while some threw up seeing the ghastly sight.

Someone informed the police and they came to the spot without delay one Inspector by the name of Narendra was leading the investigation. He cordoned off the accident scene and sent the body to the nearest Government hospital for further formalities. The Inspector also subjected the driver to a breath analyser test and he was found to be clean. The driver of the bus was very scared though he knew that he cannot be held responsible for the accident there was a feeling of some kind of guilt as it happened with the bus he was driving. Inspector Narendra told the driver that he has to accompany him to the Police Station for some interrogation and subsequently, he can go home. He also took the three people sitting at the front and could have a clear view, and recorded their statements.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, the doctor recorded that a dead body was brought to the hospital. He confirmed that the death was instantaneous, As a result of the accident, there was a head injury leading to heavy blood loss, quickly followed by death. There was extensive continuous coverage in the media and news and as the woman was missing from home and based on the colour of her saree and other materials on the body, her family identified her and took the body home the next morning, after completing the formalities. Her name was Shantha and she was 28 years old. They had decided to cremate the body without much delay, as it was that heavily mangled and would be getting decomposed. All the preparations were going on.

Inspector Narendra interrogated the Driver after checking his driving License and other related papers to make sure that things were in order. He told based on circumstantial evidence and the 3 witnesses who testified that the driver made no mistake, he was releasing him on bail. He said that he still preferred to have evidence showing that there was no mistake by the driver categorically. The driver was also in agreement with this view as it would give him a clean chit and help get rid of the feeling of guilt. In his lengthy career as a driver, he was never involved in an accident, leave alone death.  

What exactly happened? Was the question that was bothering the inspector. He immediately went to the victim’s home which was a few alleys away from the main road where she met with the accident. It was just 7.00 AM in the morning. The inspector knocked on the doorbell and it was opened by an elderly gentleman. Inspector Narendra introduced himself and the man it seemed was Shantha’s father. He seemed to be taken aback by the unexpected visit by the police. His son Raghu who was the elder brother of the deceased also joined them. The body was just opposite the main door and the preparation to take the body to the burial grounds was going on, Inspector asked them the reason why Shantha was outside her home so late at night. Initially, they dodged from sharing any information but when the inspector became tough, they told him that Shantha was having an affair with a Man in the neighbourhood and it was known to everyone. When her father approached the Boy’s family, they did not agree to the marriage. Shantha felt disgraced in front of her family and neighbourhood. All this happened only about 3 days ago and that night since there was no power supply and was raining heavily, no one noticed when Shantha left out of the house.

The inspector wanted to see her room and was taken there. He was observing everything in the room carefully and suddenly few books on a bedside table caught his attention. In the middle of a small stack of novels there was a white paper protruding, He opened it and saw and to his amazement, it was a suicide note! She wrote that after being insulted by the lover’s family she did not wish to continue to live and was going out of the house and did not know how but will kill herself.

Shantha was so frustrated and so overpowered by the desire to die that she blindly ran to the moving bus and killed herself. That could be the only way because the police inspector looked from the angle of murder by looking if somebody was chasing her. They got clear CCTV footage from the Bajaj showroom. The footage clearly showed that the woman sped across the footpath onto the road and had enough time to stop after seeing the approaching bus but she did not care to see. She was overpowered by her fury. Also, there was nobody behind her chasing.

The bus driver was relieved to know that he got a clean chit and the death was not attributable to any negligence on his part. Everyone was sad that a young woman met with a violent death because of failed love.