Stalked To Death

He was a strange man. He lived all by himself and hardly had any friends, relatives or family. He kept to himself and rarely met anyone. A few people who knew him always used to say that he liked being alone and was kind of an eccentric guy. Though he was well-behaved on rare occasions he socialized and was always smiling, polite and charming. It was a beguiling technique that he had mastered and was adept at using on unwilling people. He also was a great fan of crime and mystery fiction writers. He had a huge collection of books on the crime genre; both fictional and nonfiction; and also he was a great fan of western classical music.

Recently, he finished the latest Nordic crime fiction book and was very much influenced by the main protagonist of the book. In this book, the protagonist liked to stalk and murder his victims. He was so much influenced and impressed by the plotting and the theme of the book; that finally, he got an idea and planned to embark on a path that was both shocking and gruesome to the world. He had been preparing a list of people who were known in society to be trendsetters and had carved a name for themselves.

So, he meticulously started following these people and started observing their daily schedules, work life, personal lifestyles and interactions with people. None of the people knew that they were being followed, nor they had any inkling of an idea that their lives were being so watched to minute detail. Now he was ready with his plan after months of meticulous research and planning.

Garima Chauhan was a beautiful, tall and successful model living in Bangalore. She had been in the modelling business for the past 10 years and she had made a niche for herself in the glamour world. If you wished to see an angel, you could see it in the form of Garima. She had very beautiful eyes. It seemed they were full of magnetism and you could not help yourself being attracted towards her at the first glance. Her high cheekbones and well-rounded lips completed her beauty. All this complimented her height. Though she towered over most of the people at social gatherings, she never let that affect her conversations and interactions with people.

Garima was rich and successful, but not at all pompous. On the contrary, she was always the humble, cheerful and vivacious girl who was also kind and compassionate towards others. Half of her earnings she would regularly donate to orphanages and animal care. She was also a vociferous animal rights and gay rights activist. This was also the reason she was so much in media attention.

It was on the 13th of December, that Garima had finished a successful shoot and was partying with her friends at one of the elite clubs in the heart of Bangalore city. It was a Saturday, there was quite a big crowd at the club and everyone was dancing to the latest Bollywood music. The waiters and bouncers had a busy time attending to the clients. The bartender was having his hands full but he was still able to entertain his clients with his antics. Garima was there with a couple of her friends, Naina Jaiswal, a fashion designer and Koel Singh, a lawyer.

Garima’s boyfriend, Abhay Veer Singh, a National Geographic Photographer, was due to arrive at any moment. The girls were all having fun, discussing boys, fashion, and life with drinks. It was at that moment when Garima’s glance fell at a tall man sitting in the shadows staring intently at her. When the man saw her looking at him, he smiled showing sparkling white teeth and raised a toast towards her. Garima at first did not respond and looked away.

After a few minutes, when she again looked the man was staring at her. He again raised a toast. “Idiot” muttered Garima.

“What!” a startled Naina looked from her phone.

“Nothing yaar. This guy has been staring at me for the past 15 minutes.”

“What guy?” asked Koel.

Garima pointed towards the man. All Koel could see was a silhouette of a man sitting in the shadows raising a toast towards them. She just smiled and nodded.

“Do you know him?” She asked.

Garima shook her head. “Then ignore him yaar. Come on this is your night. You have worked so hard for this.” Koel tried to cheer her up.

Garima nodded and tried to focus her mind on what Koel had said. She had indeed struggled and worked to get this exclusive modelling contract for the past 3 years. Now she had got it and completed the assignment successfully. The sponsors and the advertising company all were very happy with her work. So she was celebrating this small success with her friends.

Then she got a message saying that Abhay was stuck at the airport as his flight was cancelled due to weather conditions. This made Garima frown. Naina just then looked at her and asked “what’s the matter sweetheart?”

Garima showed her the message. She and Koel could distinctly see the rising disappointment in Garima’s eyes. They tried to cheer her up.

“Come on! The night is still young.” They said.

“Maybe that guy wants to know you.” Naina winked mischievously.

“Maybe one of your millions of fans.” quipped Koel.

Garima gave them a stern look and looked upset.

“Arrey…… you guys don’t understand. He has been following me for the last couple of weeks.” Garima looked reasonably quiet and upset.

“Have you tried contacting the police?” Naina asked.

Garima just shook her head.

They then tried consoling her and tried making her feel a little bit relaxed. Koel even got the DJ to play Garima’s favourite track and Naina got the three of them another round of drinks.

All this while, the man sitting in the shadows had been watching Garima and her friends intently. He had been carefully observing their every move. Garima meanwhile, had forgotten all about this man. The next time she looked the man was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief as she was feeling a bit uncomfortable.

It was around 2:00 am when the trio decided to call it quits. Garima had not brought her car so Naina and Koel had to drop her home. It was around 100 metres from her house when she asked them to stop the car. She was feeling sick and wanted to throw up. So Koel immediately stopped at a kerb and Garima jumped out and started throwing up. Both her friends were a bit concerned for her.

“Are you okay?” Koel asked.

“Do you want us to drop you at the gate?” Naina added.

“No, it’s okay,” Garima replied.

“I am okay. I can walk. Anyways, it’s too late now and I can manage these few steps.”

Garima was a bit unsteady on her feet. Both her friends were not so sure of her ability to walk back to her home.

“Are you sure? Naina asked with an alarm in her tone.

“Yeah…. Absolutely” was the reply.

They were not convinced but had to rely on her as Koel’s brother was constantly calling her to come back home. So they drove away.

“Call me once you reach,” Naina said from the passing car.

Garima nodded and started walking. It was mid-December, and Bangalore was experiencing an intense cold wave. She managed to wrap the fur jacket around her more tightly and started walking more clearly. As if the throwing up had cleared her mind and body. There was no one on this side of the road and the pathway to Garima’s house was covered with sandstone gravel. So each time she walked it made a crunching sound. This made it a bit unnerving for Garima. She thought “how much more time before I reach home and take a warm shower and then slink under the blanket.” What made matters worse was that a dense fog had already descended on the whole of Bangalore city.

After a few seconds, she heard a crunch on the gravelled footpath behind her. She stopped. She looked back. She could not see anyone as the fog had completely enveloped the surroundings. She started walking; then again in a matter of seconds, she could again hear someone making a crunching sound behind her.

Crunch…………crunch………..crunch………..

She immediately stopped again and peered intensely behind her. She could not see anyone.

She thought it must have been her imagination and started increasing her pace. Her alcohol-induced haze had almost gone now. The crunching sound grew in intensity as it tried to match her pace. She tried calling her friends but her phone showed it had very less battery strength. “Now, this has to happen to me!” Garima was exasperated.

She quickened her paces. The footsteps following her also increased. She desperately wanted to reach the safety of her house so she could call someone for help. She was nervous and scared. The footsteps following her did not abate for a second and they were in constant rhythm with her footsteps.

As she was about to reach her door, she was violently grabbed from behind. Someone clamped a hand on her mouth. Before she could realise it, she was dragged away from her house. She tried to resist and struggle but the hand on her mouth clamped down more tightly. She could not breathe. She felt dragged towards her door. Then the killer knocked her unconscious.

When she regained consciousness she found herself on her favourite couch in her house. She saw the man sitting in front of her grinning, and with a glass of Red Wine in his hand. He again raised a toast.

“Who are you? What do you want?” She asked now completely terrified.

He just smiled. She tried to get her bearing and thought if she could slip into the bedroom, then she could call for help with the spare phone in her closet. She somehow managed to get up as soon as the man’s attention diverted. She started screaming “Help…………… Help……… somebody please help me……….” Unfortunately, no one was there to help her. She tried to throw things at the man who had got up from his position and seemed to be amused at her desperate attempts. She then remembered one of the drawers in her cupboard had a hammer. She somehow managed to get to the cupboard and get the hammer out. She then in a final attempt to scare away the man attacked him with the hammer. However, the man was quick enough to duck and grabbed her hand and snatched the hammer away from her.

Now, the man was really angry as till now he was enjoying himself. He slapped Garima so hard that she flew back and fell on the floor. She could taste blood from the cut on her lip. Now she was hysterical as she saw the man advancing towards her menacingly with the hammer in his hand raised high. Garima for one final time screamed

“Help……………………………”

The next day, Naina called Garima but there was no answer. She tried again after some time. Again there was no answer. She then called Koel and told her that Garima was not answering her call. “She must be passed out Yaar. She had quite a few drinks yesterday.” Koel replied.

When Naina said that Garima would never miss any of her calls, whatever the situation or wherever she might be at the moment. Koel then tried calling her but, again the same thing happened, and there was no response. Both of the girls were worried and decided to go to Garima’s house.

As they entered they could see that Garima’s door was wide open. “I have an uneasy feeling about this.” Koel looked at her and just drove. Apprehensive and concerned both of them entered her house calling out her name “Garima………………… Garima…………….Garima……….. Where are you darling?” There was no reply. Both Naina and Koel now were seriously concerned for their friend Garima. They started searching the house constantly calling out for her. When Koel gave out a scream, Naina was startled and rushed towards her. When she reached Koel, she was transfixed to the spot. Both Koel and Naina saw Garima spread-eagled on the bed, her head smashed and bloodied. The blood had oozed and the sheet was covered in red. Some of it had dripped to the floor and had accumulated in a pool. Koel and Naina were at a loss for words. Naina instantly burst out crying and rushed to her dead friend, trying to check if there was any life left in her. “Don’t….” warned Koel. “Don’t touch anything. We have to call the police.” Though Koel was also crying, she had to take control of the situation and she called the police.

The police were informed and a few of Garima’s neighbours had gathered at the commotion. Everyone was shocked and taken aback by the gruesome news of Garima’s murder.

“How ….. What happened?”

“Who could do this to such a lovely girl?” one elderly neighbour exclaimed.

The Police Officer –In Charge was a man known to be a jovial kind of guy. His colleagues and subordinates joked that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was Inspector Praveen Sharma. He was a very cheerful and humorous kind of guy. He was known to crack jokes in the most serious of situations at times. However, this did not prove that he was ineffective. On the contrary, he was one of the rising stars of the Police department. People who thought that ‘panditji’, as he was lovingly called by all could not handle the situation. They were always astounded and taken aback by his sharp deductive and tenacious investigative skills. The first thing Inspector Praveen did was to cordon off the area and called Naina and Koel to a side. He also called the ambulance and the forensics team. He then inspected the crime scene. He saw things strewn everywhere. Then in the bedroom, he saw the grisly sight. Garima lying in her pool of blood; head smashed in and here also, things were strewn around. He also noticed a shoe print which seemed a bit odd to Praveen.

However, he could not understand why it seemed odd.

He then started interviewing the people. He first called Naina and Koel.

“Who is the victim and how do you know her?”

“She was Garima and she was a model and our best friend,” Naina replied in-between sobs.

“When was the last time you saw her alive?”

“It was around yesterday at 2:30 a.m.,” replied Koel.

“Any family or relatives of the deceased?”

“She was an orphan. Her boyfriend is on the way.” came back with the response.

“What’s his name and where is he?” “His name is Abhay Veer Singh and he is a photographer for National Geographic.”

“He was stuck at the airport and could not make it to the party yesterday. We have informed him about this.” Koel replied stoically, trying to hide her pain and tears.

Abhay was aghast at this news and he was also at a loss for words when the police questioned him upon his arrival. He just kept looking at Garima’s corpse which was being taken away.

Praveen knew that he would not get anything else from them today, so he started interviewing the others.

A few days passed and Naina, Koel and Abhay were still coping with the tragic demise of Garima in such an unexpected way.

“She was so full of life.” Naina reminisced. The three of them were sitting at Koel’s house. Koel was a well-respected criminal lawyer, and she had achieved so much at such a young age that people were astounded by her success. Koel just nodded her head. “What do you think could have any motive for killing Garima?” she asked Abhay.

“How would I know?” He gave a startled expression.

Koel just looked at him and looked away. She never liked Abhay from the first time he had met Garima. “Now wait a minute, you think I had something to do with this?” He said this directly staring at Koel. Koel just stared back and replied “You two had a quiet number of fights amongst yourselves. Garima had confided in me.” Naina was perplexed. “When did this happen?” “You were busy in your world darling when Garima called me.”

“She was in tears and she told me that Abhay had threatened to break off with her if she did not make a will stating that everything would belong to this guy if anything happened to her,” Koel replied with anger in her voice. Now Naina was truly taken by surprise. She looked at Abhay and back at Koel. “How could you do such a thing?” she asked Abhay.

“I had just joked. I did not know that she took it seriously.” Abhay countered defensively. Finally, they broke up for the day and went their ways.

A couple of weeks later, Koel was meeting with a client. As she was getting out of the café where she had gone to meet the client, she could feel someone was watching her. This made her a bit uncomfortable. She also remembered Garima complaining about the same thing on that fateful night. Koel now also remembered that this unknown man had been following and watching her for the last two weeks. She thought that she even saw a man taking a keen interest in one of her courtroom trials. She tried to look for the man but he seemed to have vanished.

This was disturbing for her and she thought of sharing this with Naina first. Naina was scared when she heard about this mysterious stalker. “You remember even Garima was talking about a man who was following her?” Koel asked.

Naina nodded vigorously. “Have you spoken to the police yet?”

“Not yet. I even forgot to mention this to the Inspector when he was questioning me.” Koel regretted visibly.

Naina was taken aback. “What! You did not mention this to the police?”

“I know. I am sorry. I will do it first thing in the morning.” She promised.

Unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them and had overheard their whole conversation. Koel had an uncanny feeling that someone was following her all the back to her house. Once she reached she scrambled out of her car and ran towards her house. Once inside the safety of her house, she breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly went upstairs and took a bath. After she had taken a bath and was feeling a bit relaxed she just glanced out of the window and reeled back in horror.

A tall man was standing underneath a tree in her garden and looking straight at her. At first, she quickly closed the window and pulled the curtains. After a few moments, she nervously peeked through the curtains; the man was still standing there. She immediately called her friend and fellow lawyer Vikas. “Hello………… Vikas……. There is someone in my garden.” Her friend was surprised but promised to come immediately. By the time Vikas arrived there was no one there. Koel had made Vikas stay the night over as she was visibly shaken.

Although Vikas offered her to take to the police station she said she will do it afterwards as she had to be present in court today. During the day, she was busy with the courtroom proceedings and afterwards, she had a lengthy meeting with her client. It was around 8:45 p.m. when she left the morning.

Strangely, the weather in Bangalore had taken a worse turn that day and there were dark clouds since morning. As she came out of the meeting, it started raining heavily. People were struck by this unexpected downpour and started running helter-skelter to avoid getting wet. As it is it was excessively cold during the week and this rain promised to increase the cold. Koel also ran towards her car. She had parked her car in an abandoned alley in the morning as she did not get any place in the parking. As she entered the alley she had the feeling that the man was following her in the rain also. She quickened her pace and started fumbling for the phone in her purse. All this time she could feel that the man was maintaining a distance which was quickly reducing. Before she could pull out the phone and dial the police she was struck violently from behind. She turned around dazed and just as she was to react she was again struck violently on the forehead. The flesh on her forehead cracked it started bleeding profusely. Koel was dazed but before she could say anything she was hit for the third time. She fell to the ground. The man proceeded to beat her with the baseball stick until all life oozed out of her in the form of blood. At last, the man stopped and looked at the lifeless body of Koel. Her blank expression seemed to ask him “Why?” He just leered at her and then took out a camera and clicked her photo. He then uploaded it to the internet and went off from there smiling.

Inspector Praveen Sharma got a rude jolt at night when he was informed about this latest murder when his station called him at around 10:30 p.m. The media was also having a heyday with the image sent by the killer. “Serial Killer On the Loose.” screamed the headlines of all the major newspapers in the city. The police were already having difficulties in finding clues in the first murder investigation, and now this latest murder had created a roar in the upper echelons of the police department. They were putting pressure on Inspector Praveen.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all of this, newly married DCP Abhimanyu Pratap Singh was on vacation with his wife, Priyanshi. He was taken aback when he was informed about this but said “I am on vacation right now.”

Three days later, Gaurav Bhardwaj, a well-known investigative reporter and TV anchor was making his way towards his car, which was parked at a remote distance from his studio. He also had the distinct feeling that someone had been following him for the past couple of weeks. Though he was aware but chose to ignore this nagging feeling. Once or twice, he had seen a strange, tall man outside his apartment and also his studio. He was the one who was spreading the media attention and criticism of the supposed ineffectiveness of the police department.

Today, also he had just come out of the studio, after the successful hosting of a talk show on this subject. It was around 11:30 p.m. when he noticed a man loitering in the vicinity of where his vehicle was parked. Though he was a bit alarmed but still maintaining his erect posture Gaurav kept on walking towards his car. As he was about to open the door someone lightly tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around. “Mr Gaurav Bhardwaj?” he nodded and at that moment the unknown person hit him viciously with a hammer. Gaurav was taken aback by this sudden onslaught. He reeled back in horror. The flesh on his forehead broke and it started bleeding profusely. The killer again struck him with another violent blow at the same spot, Gaurav was reeling from these blows and he tried to put up a resistance. But the killer was unnaturally strong and was relentless in his blows. He kept on hitting Gaurav until he dropped down; he weakly tried to raise his hand to protect himself. He had lost a lot of blood and his skull also seemed to have fractured. The man, on the other hand, was continuously bashing him and did not stop until Gaurav fell on the cold dark concrete dead. His head was completely smashed. This time also, there was no witness to this horrific crime.

This time DCP Abhimanyu had to call off his vacation and immediately rush to Bangalore to take over the investigation. The first thing he did was scrutinise all the investigation reports till now. His seniors had specifically instructed him to solve this as there was intense pressure from the Central Government and Home Ministry. With this latest gruesome murder of a well-known and respected journalist and TV anchor, the pressure was building on DCP Abhimanyu.

Next, he checked the CCTV footage of the club where Garima and her friends had gone on that night. Naina had told DCP Abhimanyu that Garima had complained about a man who was constantly staring at her. She had even said that Garima was sure that the same man had been following. She also said that even Koel had said someone had been following her.

DCP Abhimanyu looked maybe hundreds of times at the footage, but could not discern the features of the man raising a toast in the air. It was dark and the man was hidden in the shadows. However, when he noticed something sparkling on the man’s hand, he took a closer look and saw a ring on one of his fingers. He then took another closer look at the ring. It was extraordinary. It was a golden ring with the initials RK inscribed with a diamond on its face. He then asked the staff and manager of the club whether they knew of this man.

“Do you know this man?” he asked.

“Sir, it’s dark and there were so many people that day.” replied the manager.

“Take a closer look and then tell me.” Abhimanyu offered.

The manager peered closely but still could not make out the features of the man that night. Abhimanyu then showed him the photo of the ring which he had taken from the clip. The man took a very careful look at the photo and then wracked his brain hard. It seemed to DCP Abhimanyu that the man was truly trying hard to remember that night. Then the man suddenly leaned back and said with finality “that’s MR Ravish Kumar. He is a regular patron of our club. He usually books a seat that is exclusive and a little bit distant from the mainstream seats of the club.”

DCP Abhimanyu looked at him with a quizzical expression.

“Are you sure?” he asked one final time.

The manager nodded. DCP Abhimanyu then asked Inspector Praveen to make enquiries from different jewellers who make this kind of unique jewellery.

Well, DCP Abhimanyu had just not gotten the promotion and earned the respect for his good looks in the police department. His seniors and colleagues were impressed by his analytic and deductive powers. He also scrutinised the CCTV clip of the courtroom. Here he saw a man walking out of the very same courtroom where Koel was involved in the courtroom proceedings. He also noticed a very discernible limp in the man’s walk.

Meanwhile, Vikas, Koel’s friend had also confirmed that Koel had called him one night and told him about her suspicion that a man had been standing in her garden. The next day, DCP Abhimanyu went to Koel’s garden and very carefully scrutinised every inch of her garden. He was not disappointed. He was rather very happy that discovered what he looking for; though he did not expect it to be found. He found a deep footprint in the mud. The strange thing about the footprint was that it had made a deep mark as if someone was leaning on the left foot. He also had the idea of checking the footprint found at Garima’s murder site.

Inspector Praveen, meanwhile, also had found some startling clues during his enquiry, which would prove to be crucial to the case. He reported his findings to DCP Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu was confident now that he could solve the case without much further adieu. His one last piece was finding out about the shoe company which specifically caters to the requirements of physically handicapped people.

Now, he also, along with Inspector Praveen visited Ravish Kumar’s residence. They saw a bungalow which needed maintenance on their visit. Even the pathways and lawn were overgrown with weeds and other wild grass. Anyways, as they entered Ravish’s house after seeking permission, they were in for a surprise. Ravish Kumar was a tall, handsome 55-year-old man. He had a small goatee on his chin. His hair was tied in a bun at the back. The entire interior of Ravish Kumar’s residence resembled some gothic horror story or movie set. Both of them were surprised.

“This helps me in my artwork,” Ravish replied in an amused tone.

DCP Abhimanyu asked “What do you do?” though he knew that Ravish was an obscure artist and painter, whose paintings seemed to portray human emotions. Especially, one emotion was ‘Fear’. "Fear is the strongest emotion in man." He offered when he saw that DCP Abhimanyu was taking a keen interest in his work. He also noticed the limp in the left leg.

Ravish turned around and said, “I am a humble artist as you must have made out till now.” Abhimanyu also knew that Ravish had been seen outside Gaurav Bhardwaj’s studio that night when he was murdered. However, he chose to keep quiet before completely ensuring all the information was correct and verified.

He profusely thanked Ravish Kumar and left. Inspector Praveen was puzzled all this while.

“Sir, why didn’t you directly confront him?”

“I wanted to gauge his reaction to my questioning,” Abhimanyu replied in an amused tone.

Inspector Praveen chose not to further probe the matter.

By this time, Abhimanyu’s enquiry about the shoe company had also come back with some interesting facts. He had come to know that Ravish Kumar had specifically instructed the shoe company to make a particular kind of shoe that enabled him to move fast without any hindrance. This was in the context of him being limp.

Now, DCP Abhimanyu had all the evidence and witness statements that proved Ravish Kumar had followed Garima and Koel and was also seen hurriedly exiting the Gaurav Bhardwaj crime scene.

When they confronted Ravish Kumar a couple of days later at his residence, he tried to act smart and just tried to accuse DCP Abhimanyu and the entire police department of discrimination. He made this accusation on the basis that just because Ravish was kind of a recluse, and his house was kind of strange, so, therefore, the police had made these charges against him. He even threatened to go to the media with this. DCP Abhimanyu patiently waited for Ravish to stop his ranting. Then he presented all the evidence accumulated against him. He then charged him with the murder of Garima, Koel and Gaurav. Ravish Kumar grew pale and ashen when he saw all the evidence. He confessed and said “I wanted to experience the thrill and also wanted to gain celebrity status.”

Inspector Praveen and DCP Abhimanyu were stunned to hear this from Ravish Kumar. However, they did not say anything and quickly arrested him. While coming out of Ravish Kumar’s residence DCP Abhimanyu just made one remark “is duniya mein aise bhi log hote hain.” With that, he went away.