The Case of Unidentified Body

What would you do or feel if you suddenly find out that there is a dead body next to you? It may be anywhere, i.e. in a Cineplex while you are watching a movie, on a seat next to you while you are traveling by air or rail, under the bed in a hotel where you are staying for the night? etc. I know what I would have done; I would have been surprised, shocked and scared out of my wits. Well, this is the theme of my next story where the lead character faces himself in a similar situation and he doesn’t even know the victim let alone murdering him. 

 

Mohit Sharma was a dashing young businessman on his way to top rungs of success. He was one of the youngest entrepreneurs in Bangalore, India and still single. His company was into making mobile applications and other digital appliances which were revolutionising the present technology in the country. His biggest assets were his charming looks and his disarming smile which could influence anybody and also his utmost dedication to his work. When asked that what made him go on like this, his reply used to be ‘I believe that everyone has this potential; it is just that it takes time to realize for someone and comes early for others’. He also said when you are working hard, and then you should party harder.’ These particular attitudes of his made him more popular amongst his fellow workers and generally people all alike.

 

Anyways, it was a Wednesday and Mohit had to meet up with his international partners for an upcoming deal. So he decided to meet them at the city mall in a coffee house just a few minutes from his place. As he was going up to meet his partners he was both excited and apprehensive at the same time regarding his pitch. Little did he know at the time that life was going to introduce a twist that will almost ruin and destroy him and his reputation? So finally after exchanging all the pleasantries, they sat down for the discussions on their project. Meanwhile, another family, the Khannas (Suneet & Riya) had also been visiting the same mall and after having done their shopping was going to the parking zone where Mohit too had parked his car.

So as Vineet was about to start the ignition of his car is when he heard a loud noise comes from the parked adjacent car; like that of the trunk coming open. Even Riya jumped with fright at the noise and looked around. So Vineet decided to take a look and saw that the trunk of the next car was slightly open, so he came around and finding no one around closed it himself. While closing he could feel a little bit of opposing force coming from within the trunk as if someone was trying to force it open? He, however, did not pay much attention and closed it firmly and as he made his way towards his car, again the trunk of the car came open with the same loud noise. This bugged him and swearing unto him he again went to close the trunk of the car, but this time the trunk was open a little wider and he got the shock of his life when he saw what was inside.

 

Inside the trunk of the car was a dead body of a male and it was positioned in such an angle that closing the trunk completely would have been nearly impossible for anyone. That’s why Vineet had so much difficulty in closing it the first time. On seeing this Riya gave a scream and almost fainted had it not been for Vineet who caught her at the right moment. Hearing her scream, the parking attendants and nearby people came rushing to the scene. All of them were surprised to find a dead body inside the car. The police were immediately informed as well as the mall authorities. Meanwhile, Mohit was oblivious to all this going on. The Police Officer Amrit Pal Singh was a 3rd generation IPS officer and was well known for his dedication for and determination to his profession. The first thing he did on arriving at the crime scene was to get a cordon erected around the body and the car and then ask for the owner of the car to come down to the carport. The manager of the mall immediately started calling out for the owner of the car on the P.A. system to come down to the carport on an urgent basis.

 

At first, Mohit did not quite understand what all the commotion was about, but when one of the attendants in the coffee shop came and told him that he was required at the parking zone he was surprised. Anyways he went down to the carport and was quiet mystified at the gathering there and grew alarmed at the presence of police. When he reached near his car, Amrit Pal Singh came over to him and asked “Is this your car?”, when he said yes then the officer asked him “ can you explain that how is a dead body lying in the boot of his car? and who was he?”. Mohit got the shock of his life when he saw the body; he was speechless for a few minutes. When he was brought back from his reverie by Amrit Pal Singh by gently shaking him back and again he was asked the same questions. Mohit was at a loss of words but somehow managed to reply that he did not know that how come this body was in his car and neither had he known the victim.

 

Amrit Pal Singh was not the kind of guy who would believe everything he saw or heard but due to circumstantial evidence, he had to arrest Mohit on the charge of suspicion of murder and take him away. Meanwhile, his international partners had also got wind of the matter and were as stunned and bewildered as Mohit himself. Despite Mohit’s claims of innocence the police put him in a cell and prepared for his trial. Mohit was desperate and did not know whom to turn to. Meanwhile the next day due to his celebrity status and being such a popular figure the media had splashed the news of his arrest in all the major newspapers. Reading this Rakesh Vohra, a successful criminal lawyer and a very good friend of Mohit was also surprised and decided to go to the police station where Mohit was being held. On reaching there when he met Mohit and asked him about the whole matter, Mohit explained to him the whole day’s events in detail. After hearing Mohit’s side, Rakesh decided then and there to take his friend’s case and also planned to investigate the matter on his own. The first thing he did was to interview the officer in charge i.e. Amrit Pal Singh about the whole incident.

 

Rakesh knew from his gut instinct that Mohit was innocent and everybody has this sense that no killer will carry the dead body of his victim with him. He also knew at the same time that this case would be a complex one but still, he planned to go ahead as he wanted to save his friend. The next thing Rakesh did was to question Mohit’s residence’s security guard and also check the CCTV cameras. The security guard said that “I have not seen anybody come or go near Mohit sahib’s car in the last few days” When Rakesh asked him that Mohit acting strangely for the past few days, the guard said no and rather Mohit was always in a cheerful mood and had been always helpful to others. Even the CCTV cameras did not show anything conclusive as to prove Mohit’s innocence. Meanwhile, the police had found about the dead body and his name was Vikram Kapoor and he was also working in the IT department of a rival company to that of Mohit’s. Rakesh then requested whatever information he could get from the police regarding Vikram and plans to start enquiring about him. 

 

It has been a few weeks and the public and media have lost interest in Mohit’s case but Mohit is getting anxious and frustrated as there is no new development on his case. The police too are now getting frustrated as no leads are coming up. Meanwhile, Rakesh starts his investigation and he finds out that Vikram was quite a colourful fellow as he liked to visit all the nightclubs, bars and pubs in the city and was a frequent visitor there. He even visited the sleazy ones too. So Rakesh started showing Vikram’s photograph to the various club and bar owners and enquiring about him as to the kind of person he was. So he visits each of the clubs and bars and tries to find whether anyone knew about Vikram. It was during his enquiry when he finds a lucky break in the form of one Mahindra Pal, owner of one of the bar owners who know Vikram. When Mahindra Pal looks at Vikram’s photograph, his expressions turn into a deep rage and anger and it seems as if he has seen Vikram right in front of him and he would have harmed him in some way.

Rakesh gives him a quizzical look and asks “do you know him?”, the owner says yes and then Rakesh asks him “that why are getting so angry by just looking at his picture?”. Mahindra replies “that Vikram is the most fraudulent guy he has ever met and he had conned Mahindra Pal of thousands of rupees in the name of investment”. Rakesh looks at calmly and says “Vikram is dead”. The colour of Mahindra Pal’s cheeks turn ashen and he asks ‘how and when did this happen?’. When Rakesh tells him and also asks him where he was at that time of Vikram’s murder. Mahindra gets furious and says ‘are you suggesting that I killed Vikram?’ Rakesh then says nothing and just takes his leave from the place. Rakesh leaves the club with a feeling that Mahindra Pal had something to with Vikram’s murder but he had no conclusive evidence.

 

One thing was certain in Rakesh’s mind in the following days that Vikram had antagonized and hurt a lot of people’s emotions. One of them was his ex-girlfriend Rita who was a doctor and who had loved him dearly. But Vikram was not interested in marriage; rather he was more focussed on enhancing his career and this had led to a lot of bitter arguments and finally, they had broken up. When Rakesh met Rita she was a simple yet beautiful girl and though she was over Vikram still it seemed that feeling lingered for him. When Rita came to know that Vikram had been murdered, at first she was speechless then she said something that surprised Rakesh to the core, she said ‘it serves him right’. So as days went by Rakesh found out that more and more people had reason and motive to kill Vikram. On the other hand, Mohit was almost losing his patience and getting scared of his impending trial. Moreover, the police too had nothing solid to go on except maybe a few leads which Rakesh had already investigated and shared the results with them.

 

So one day when Rakesh was planning on his next move over a cup of tea, suddenly he gets an anonymous phone call on his cell phone. The caller seemed to speak in hushed tones and also was in a hurry. When Rakesh queried that ‘who are you? and how did you get this number?”, the caller just said that ‘I have some important information to give you’ and asked to meet at the same mall where Mohit had got into this situation for the first time and then he hung up.

 

Rakesh was too curious and also alert that this might be some kind of hoax but still decided to give it a try. So he went to the mall and after waiting for nearly an hour amidst the increasing crowd, he decided to leave. As he was about to leave a man in dark sunglasses and wearing a hoodie and dark blue jeans came over to his seat and sat down. At first, Rakesh was about to object but then the man said that he had some important information to give and introduced himself as Mahesh. Rakesh looked at him and sat back down and asked whether he wanted anything. Mahesh just said that ‘I don’t have much time and I know who killed Vikram and implicated Mohit’. Rakesh was now all ears and he put all his attention towards Mahesh. Mahesh then started recounting that how he and Vikram had been best buddies in a rival company and how the management of that company had tried to induce Vikram to apply for a job in Mohit’s company and spy for them.

Mahesh further says that ‘they planned to plant Vikram in Mohit’s company and steal all the important data relating to his research and technological advancements as both of the companies were in the same field. Mahesh then says that when Vikram refused, the management at first cajoled and threatened to fire him and besmirch his reputation everywhere and hence he would not be able to get employment anywhere. When Vikram still refused then the management started spreading false rumours about him which disgusted both Vikram and Mahesh. Vikram then also said that he would be resigning and going straight to Mohit and expose everything about them to him. Rakesh who had been listening patiently to Mahesh and also had been taping Mahesh with his permission asked ‘why didn’t he go then?’.

Mahesh was by now lost in some thought and looked up at him and said that he was going to that but he went missing for a few days before turning up dead in Mohit’s car. Mahesh also gave important information that someone in Mohit’s company was working in collaboration with the rival company and had promised to help them in the future also. When Rakesh asked him ‘who is he?’ Mahesh said that he didn’t know and now he started giving furtive glances everywhere. Rakesh was a bit surprised at this sudden change in Mahesh’s behaviour and when he asked him what was the matter. Mahesh just said ‘I have to go as they are watching me’. Rakesh somehow managed to get a confirmation from Mahesh that he would come to court and testify. Mahesh just nodded and hastily took his leave and vanished from there.

 

Rakesh now is too eager to go to the police station and give every scrap of information over to the police which he has gathered in the course of his investigation. As he gives all the evidence to Amrit Pal Singh, even the officer is stunned that Rakesh had painstakingly collected all this evidence. Anyways based on this evidence they decide to go and arrest the CEO of the rival company, Mr Amaandeep Khurana. As they confront him with all the evidence at first Amandeep just laughs it off and says that ‘this would not be admissible in court’, to which Rakesh says that they have a witness also who will testify against him. Hearing this Amandeep becomes very nervous and scared and then confesses that he along with Santosh, an employee of though Mohit’s company working for Amandeep had planned to kill Vikram. So they had lured him to a lonely deserted spot and killed him.

Now with Amandeep’s confession, they arrest Santosh and Mohit is released as he was innocent. Mohit who had by this time lost all hope is so emotionally drained that he goes down on his knees and starts crying. Rakesh then gently helps him to stand and Mohit hugs him dearly and thanks to him profusely that he has saved his life. Rakesh just says ‘what are friends for and the moment you launch your new app you are going to give me one new mobile.’ Though Rakesh says this in a light mannered way Mohit is way too serious and promises to do so. Rakesh then just nods his head and takes his leave as he has a whole lot of cases to handle back in his chamber.