Murders Most Bizarre!

He was a man of contradictions. Outwardly, he was a happy-go-lucky kind of a guy; he used to mix with people, chat with them, even crack jokes with them. He even was very sweet towards children was very courteous to the women and was also very helpful towards the elderly. Inwardly, he hated the very same people. He believed that the very same people were responsible for all his problems in the world. Rather, he believed that God had corrupted humanity by giving them the power of sensing things. The first point of seeing everything evil, sinful was the eye; that was his perverse belief. He was also a deeply religious man and he believed that the only way to cleanse the human soul was to get rid of the initial entry point of all things evil, and that was the eye! Though he was a mechanic and quite a good one at that, still, his very nature always landed him in trouble. This further provoked him to have a negative adverse perception of his surroundings. All his perceptions had been affected by a little known religious cult of which he had become a member, and which believed and propagated the same beliefs as he did. So, he was deeply influenced by their thought process and their teachings. According to this cult, he was meant to do bigger things in life and not just live an ordinary mundane life. He had also started preaching the cult’s beliefs in his surroundings which made people stop and be surprised by his behaviour and drastic change in his attitude. This kind of belief can make anyone dangerous and twisted as this is just what happened! But all this was okay for him as he was having an agenda and getting ready for the fury he was about to unleash on an unsuspecting world!

Avantika Sehgal was a pretty young girl of 26 years and she was independent of her family living away from them in Delhi. She was a software engineer and had a car, a flat of her own and was quite popular amongst friends and colleagues. She had a smile on her face always and always seemed to be ready to help people. So, she had been working and did not realize that it was very late. She had to rush back for an important appointment she had to keep. Oh no! What would Rakesh think?” Rakesh was her boyfriend and they were supposed to go on a dinner date. So, as she was driving back late from the office, halfway down the road the car started stalling and sputtered and completely stopped on a deserted road not far from her apartment complex. She grew alarmed at first as to why the car had stopped in the middle of an empty road and that too so late at night. She also knew that at this time of the night she would not be able to find any mechanic or auto workshop nearby. So she started calling up her neighbours and friends informing them of her situation when she realized that the power meter in her cell phone was also very weak. She naturally grew furious and frustrated but had no other option but to wait for some passing by vehicle to help out. About an hour had passed and she could not see any possible help coming, so she resigned to her present situation and decided to wait for 5-10 minutes more and then start walking as her house was nearby. When she suddenly saw a man walking towards her from the far corner of the road.

At first, she was a bit tense seeing the man walking erect towards her; it seemed as if he had some purpose. Avantika grew a bit tense again as she did not know what to do; she was also worried that if this man could cause some harm to her on this lonely stretch of road, there would be no one to come to her rescue; moreover, her cell phone was also dying due to lack of power charge. Anyways, as she was going through a whirlwind of emotions this man gently came towards and asked her

“Memsahib, what are you doing here at this time?”

“Is there any problem?’. Avantika looked at the man and saw that he had a soft and polite face and it seemed that this man wanted to help her. So after a lot of deliberations, she finally said “my car has all of a sudden stalled on the road and I don’t know of any mechanic nearby. Can you help me?”

The Man “Sure. I am a mechanic by the way and let me see if I can be of any help to you.” With that, he started taking a look at the engine of the car. Avantika though felt relieved but still had these butterflies in her stomach about the intention of this stranger. These little apprehensions proved true to her when the man suddenly stopped what he was doing and started looking at her lasciviously. Avantika was alarmed at this sudden change and asked “why have you stopped working?”

“What are you looking at?” But the man just kept staring at her and in a sudden flash of speed was near her with a shiny knife in his hand.

Avantika was now really panicked and screamed “Stop.......... What are you doing?” But the man had started attacking her with the knife. She again screamed, “Anybody please help me..................” But she knew no one was here at this lonely stretch of road and at this time of the night. That was the last time anyone saw Avantika alive.

The next day passers-by were surprised to see a car standing in the middle of the road with no one beside it. When they peered inside; they could just see a young lady lying on the back seat of the car. So they forcefully open the doors of the car to get a better look thinking that the young woman might need some kind of help. When they got a good look inside, they just reeled back from shock and fear as the Avantika was lying dead but had no eyes as the eye sockets were empty holes gaping back and her intestines were lying beside her. There was also this blood-stained note lying beside her. The Police were immediately notified and many people almost started gagging looking at the corpse. The police arrived on the spot and the officer in charge Inspector Abhimanyu Pratap Singh was no stranger to a brutal murder scene. He immediately ordered a cordon around the crime scene to prevent the growing number of curious onlookers. At first, even the constables who took a look at the body reeled at the first sight of the grisly scene but Abhimanyu had been in the police force too long and was habituated to seeing all kinds of crimes. So he admonished the constable “haven’t you seen a dead body before?”

“If you are so sensitive, then this is probably not the right job for you.”

The first thing Inspector Abhimanyu realized as he took a look at the body a bit closely was that the body was laid at an odd angle and also he found the bloody note which was lying beside it. The bloody note was scribbled in illegible handwriting. Moreover, the language in the note seemed to be taken from some ancient script, so Abhimanyu sent it to the forensics department to see if they can make any sense out of it.

He immediately called for the forensics team to come to the crime scene and collect the evidence. One more thing which seemed odd even to Abhimanyu was that a kind of a strange and sweet smell emanated from the inside of the car. Anyways he found Avantika’s driver’s Licence in the glove compartment and started notifying her family and friends of the tragedy. Her family was staying in Pune, Maharashtra and they immediately had to fly down to Delhi. On arriving her parents and her elder brother and sister were completely devastated; her mother fainted at the news and it was with the utmost difficulty that she was helped to regain consciousness. Even her next-door neighbours were completely shocked and distraught at this news; even murmured “who could have done such a dastardly act to such a nice and pretty young girl?” “She was always so helpful and cheerful. Abhimanyu slowly and gradually started questioning her family and friends about her life. 

Abhimanyu “Can you tell me when was the last time you had spoken to her?”

Her mother replied “It was just the day before yesterday. She was all bubbly and cheerful. She said that she was going to propose to Rakesh.” Abhimanyu took all this information quietly. All of her friends said that she used to be the essence of every party due to her cheerfulness and anyone who met her for the first time could not resist falling under her charm. Abhimanyu then asked them “when was the last time you saw her?”

Her friend Rita said “it was around 8:30 p.m. yesterday as she was late leaving from her office’. As Abhimanyu was conducting all these interviews, he got a call from the forensics team that the bloody note lying beside the body had something scribbled in an ancient language and which they had been able to decode. When Abhimanyu asked, “what does it say?”

They said that it was some sort of ancient Avdhi language which was used in ancient religious ceremonies, especially when human sacrifice was to be made. They further said that this note had the same language and it said that the ‘eyes are the most important and sacred parts of the human body; it is through eyes only that an infant sees the world and it is through the offering of eyes only the killer will get special powers. Abhimanyu then asked for handwriting experts to analyse the note and send him the results as quickly as possible.

Abhimanyu called and questioned Rakesh.

Abhimanyu “what do you do?”

Rakesh “I am a professional photographer.”

Abhimanyu “Since how long have you known Avantika?”

Rakesh “It’s been 3 years now. We were planning to get married.”

Abhimanyu could see that Rakesh was truly devastated and heartbroken from this unfortunate incident. This also removed him from Abhimanyu’s list of suspects as he could see that Rakesh could not have committed this murder because he had loved her dearly and secondly, he was in Chennai at the time of her death. This he had confirmed through the hotel and airlines people.

Meanwhile, he started questioning her office colleagues and here also he finds that Avantika was the most popular person in the whole of the office and it seemed strange that anyone could have been so brutal and merciless on her. When her family came to know that her eyes had been taken for offering by some twisted killer, her mother suffered a massive heart attack and again it was with much difficulty that she was somehow brought back to life by doctors and was in the intensive care unit.

Days dragged on and there was still no solid lead as to the identification of the killer. At the same time, Samrat Dasgupta was a very successful corporate lawyer. After a successful trial, he was about to enter his car when he was approached by a man. The Man said, “Sir Do you have a lighter?”

Samrat, himself was a heavy smoker said “sure just let me get it from the glove compartment.” As he turned towards the glove compartment the man clamped a gloved hand over his mouth and slit his throat. Samrat never saw it coming and could not understand why this was happening to him was. Before he could resist he was dead from blood choking mouth and throat.

Abhimanyu was again called to the scene and here also the modus operandi was the same. Samrat’s eyes were missing from his body and a bloody note was found which said “People don’t learn from their mistakes.” This was now even unnerving to Abhimanyu.

The only difference in this murder was that Samrat’s body was found lying in a ditch by the road. That meant the killer had taken his body and dumped it in a roadside ditch to escape detection. When Abhimanyu asked, “Has anyone seen anybody leave with Samrat’s body?” None of the whether they had seen the license plate number, they said that it was an odd number people were able to respond. The only thing witnesses could remember was that they had seen a white Maruti van as it sped past them dangerously. Abhimanyu “Did you get a look at the driver or the vehicle license plate number?”

They said that they could only get a vague glimpse of the license number. So when Abhimanyu got it checked, there was no such registration number! It meant only one thing either the killer had used stolen license plates or interchanged the numbers on the license plate. This further proved the cunningness of the killer.

Meanwhile, the media had got news of the second killing and were sensationalising the news trying to build pressure on the police.

A few days later, Aryan Khanna was on his way back from a party. That day it was raining heavily so he knew he had to get back home quickly as his family was waiting for him. Somehow managing through the heavy traffic he entered a lonely lane where he saw people running here and there to escape from the rain. Just a few metres ahead he saw a man completely drenched in rain signalling for a lift. Aryan thought that he too must be hurrying to get back home quickly to his family, so he stopped and offered to help. This was the biggest and last mistake that Aryan had ever committed in his life. As the man got in he immediately took out a long sharp knife and started stabbing Aryan. At first, Aryan was taken aback but then he tried to resist. He asked, “Why are you doing this?” But the man just kept on stabbing him viciously and brutally. Aryan could see a vicious twinkle in the man’s eyes. He knew that this was a completely insane man. Still, he tried to resist but unfortunately, could not survive the brutal onslaughts of the knife.

After a few hours had passed his wife Smriti got worried and tried his mobile number but it was switched off. The next day when people again saw a car standing in the middle of the road, they were naturally scared but still, they called the police.

By now Inspector Abhimanyu was completely flustered and frustrated as he could not still find any clues leading to the first murder and here two more murders had been committed within two weeks.

The media, people and the police superiors all were putting pressure on Abhimanyu to catch the killer as now a kind of hysteria and panic had set in the public.

Meanwhile, neighbours of Nihal Singh were surprised as to his sudden disappearances especially at the time of the murders. They started talking amongst themselves as to where could he go then. So one of them went to the police station and said that he wanted to get in touch with Inspector Abhimanyu.

When Abhimanyu arrived and asked, “What do you want?”

The neighbour said “sahib, I am worried about Nihal Singh. He keeps on disappearing on the days when the murders take place.” This immediately raised alarms in Inspector Abhimanyu. As of now, he was taking the neighbour casually. His attention quickly drew when he heard that this particular man Nihal Singh used to strangely disappear at the time of murders and also about his previous behaviour and subsequent baffling transformation. He immediately requested his superiors that this probable suspect should be put under surveillance and his request was granted. He deputed one of his most trusted constables, Ram Pal Yadav, on the job. Ram Pal Yadav belonged to a warrior caste and he was the epitome of the warrior background he belonged to. He diligently followed Nihal Singh where ever he went for the next few days.

Nihal Singh had realized that he was being followed and he was wise to lay low for a few days as he knew that the police were constantly looking for the killer and were following any leads and suspects.

Just when the murders seemed to stop for a few weeks, the city was again rocked by a startling new murder; and too, of a police officer. Constable Ram Pal Yadav was found dead in a dumpster with his throat slit and his eyes missing. This time also a bloody note was found which now mocked the police that “however hard you may try, I will never be caught, as I have reached immortality and it is beyond you mere mortals to touch me”.

Inspector Abhimanyu Pratap Singh was devastated the most at this news and saw his best constable sacrificing his life on the job. Abhimanyu was more hurt because he knew Constable Ram Pal and his family personally and they were a simple, honest and good family who always felt very happy whenever Abhimanyu visited their home. This time it was enough for both Inspector Abhimanyu and Police Department and he immediately requested a search and arrest warrant for Nihal Singh which was granted by his superiors who were also enraged and furious at this atrocity.

Immediately a city-wide hunt was launched for Nihal Singh and he was caught while trying to escape into U.P. On interrogation, he broke down and confessed to all his crimes. Inspector Abhimanyu “Why did you kill so many innocent people?”

Nihal Singh “Sahib, no one is innocent. Everyone is guilty as everyone is a sinner.”

Abhimanyu “Who has given you the right to pass judgement and take lives?” Abhimanyu was seething with anger and he viciously hit Nihal Singh on the head.

Nihal Singh knew that he could not outsmart Inspector Abhimanyu, so he broke down and said “sahib, I am a follower of goddess Kali. It is she who came in my dream and said that if I offer her people’s hearts and eyes, she will grant me immortality.” Abhimanyu just could not believe that in the twenty-first century also, there were people who believed in superstition and blind faith! Abhimanyu Pratap Singh and the rest of the police department were stunned to that a man can be so delusional and sick to the core. When did they ask him how did he manage to get hold of the car used to murder his second victim? He said that he was a mechanic and he had conveniently interchanged the numbers of the licence plate and was driving around for his next victim when luck and the goddess helped him by pointing him in the right direction. Abhimanyu by this time was so much frustrated and pissed but somehow managed to control himself and asked “Why did you kill Ram Pal?”

Nihal Singh looked at him smiled cruelly and said “I induced Ram Pal into thinking that I had run away. So when he had run and come close, I grabbed him from behind and slit his throat.”

Nihal Singh seemed to be completely insane and there was an evil glint in his eyes when he was describing all these murders. All of this was too much even for Inspector Abhimanyu and he jumped on Nihal Singh and kept on bashing him. The police force was completely taken by surprise by this sudden show of violence by Inspector Abhimanyu. He had to be pulled off Nihal Singh with extreme difficulty. Abhimanyu immediately regained his calm composure and said “take this insane man and put him in a place where he will never be able to see the sun again.” With that Nihal Singh was taken into police custody and dragged in chains to await his trial Inspector Abhimanyu Pratap Singh wished fervently that such men should never be set free again. With that, he went back into the police station.