Vatsal Parekh (Victory Watson)

Crime Thriller

3.6  

Vatsal Parekh (Victory Watson)

Crime Thriller

The Detectives

The Detectives

7 mins
174


Sourabh was an unemployed young man of 22 with a good command over English and a second class degree in political science. He was now experiencing the stings of the tragedy called unemployment after the tragic death of his beloved Shreya who everybody said was a bit reluctant to marry him. The girl he loved had committed suicide because of reasons he didn't know. But he had to lose his father's government job he had got after his father's premature death. The girl's grandmother who was a former professor of economics held Sourabh 100% responsible for her granddaughter's death. The people couldn't help shedding tears seeing the old lady's plight. She was such a terrible misery after losing her granddaughter and her only support in her old age. 


 One hot summer afternoon, he stood under his favourite banyan tree in the city. He sat there on a huge stone. He wondered at the size and bulk of the stone but hadn't bothered to know more about it.


That day he was in an agitated mood. It was difficult to know why. His boots looked filthy and worn and he saw the familiar shoe shine man under the tree. Sourabh always came there to spend a few minutes under the tree. The man was a pathetic figure. There were two customers and after they had gone, Sourabh told the man to polish his shoes. He requested a little time and lighted a bidi. Another man came in a wheelchair and said, "I have cooked rice and you will have to cook the chicken because you know my cooking skills well. . " The shoe shine man said, "Nobody comes into the world armed with superb skills. " He looked at Sourabh and said, " Yes or no Sir. . ?" Sourabh gauged from his way of talking that the man in the wheelchair was a beggar because he was in tatters.


After the man had shined his shoes, Sourabh asked, "How much?"  


The man said, " 20 rupees, my young Sir. . . . !" 


"Strange. . . !" exclaimed Sourabh. "It's 15 rupees everywhere!"


The man said, "We are poor people Sir. . God will bless you if you give me 5 rupees extra. . . "


"I'm not rich either. I'm unemployed. " said Sourabh. 


"What is your qualification?Can you beg like me?You will earn more than thirty thousand every month. . . " said the beggar in English. 


Sourabh got stunned. 


Then the beggar said, "I am also educated like you but I couldn't get any job so I started to beg. There's big money in it. Join us. . . " 


Sourabh meditated for a while and said, "Where are you staying?" 


"We are staying at Naya Patna basti. . . "


"Yes I will come to stay with you. I don't think you know my most pathetic past story. Otherwise, you would not be giving me the opportunity to live with you. . . " said Sourabh to the beggar. 


"Why do you say so. . ? What have you done? Have you robbed a bank or killed someone. . . . ?" 


"It is good that you don't know about it all. Except God no one can understand me. . " Sourabh became thoughtful. Then he narrated to the two people how he was falsely charged with the murder of his sweetheart. The police arrested him. His widowed mother died and he was left alone in the world. The shoe shine man rose to his feet and stroked Sourabh's back like a loving brother. The beggar was in tears hearing Sourabh's tragic story.


"Brother, you will never be in want as long as we are alive on this earth. We three are one family. . . " This was the shoe-shine man Viku. The beggar Rishu said, "Yes, henceforth we are one family. Only if you permit, my son will come and stay with us. He is preparing for the IAS exam. Many noted astrologers have predicted his success in the IAS exam. . . !"


There was nothing to be astonished about it. All of us know how beggars in big cities have flats and buildings and live like kings. 


After they had heard Sourabh's story, Viku said, "I have seen you many times with your girlfriend under this banyan tree how often I can't say. . . !" 


"Don't talk about the tree please. . . . !" Sourabh said. 


The beggar's son Sujit soon joined them. Viku, Rishu and his son Sujit and Sourabh began to live together in the Naya Patna slum. Sourabh found the room well-furnished. The television on the wall, the sofas and the other furniture in the room declared to Sourabh that he was going to live a very good life amongst his best friends. This was what Sourabh had told them;that he was going to live a much much better life amongst them. 


They would go to bed early. Sujit went somewhere to receive coaching for his forthcoming IAS exams. In the night they would talk a lot. 


Viku asked Sourabh why Shreya had to commit suicide. "Did she have any lover other than you?"


One night Rishu said, "If the girl loved you so much, why was she reluctant to marry you?"


"Was it your caste? She was a Brahmin girl. . .?" said Viku.


"We were very truly and profoundly in love. The media persons have been spreading that she was reluctant to marry me and similar other things. . . I am really innocent?"


"Who killed Shreya then. . ?" asked Viku. 


"I don't know. . . . . . !" screamed Sourabh. He was now aware that Viku, Rishu and Sujit were private detectives. 


"I am going to show concrete proofs of how innocent you are! Look at these. . "said Rishu.


"But where did you find these messages. . . . ?" said Sourabh. 


Sourabh was bewildered. "How come, you have got these?Who gave you all this. . ?"


"Look at these. . . Have you not threatened to kill her first and then kill yourself? Didn't you try to kill yourself after murdering her. Were you not present at Hotel Sophie the night Shreya died jumping onto the ground from the hotel roof. . ?"


"These are my messages but I have not killed her?" Sourabh said. 


Rishu called the police immediately. They feared the murderer of Shreya might make some sort of mischief on their way to the police station. 


Sourabh was crying and pleading innocence. At this time the doorbell rang. Viku looked at the CCTV camera and saw two tall men outside the house with revolvers in their hands. Then the doorbell went dead because of uninterrupted rings. Rishu prevented Sujit from opening the door. Now it was dark outside and lighted inside. Nothing was visible. Then they heard the arrival of a car. Some moments later the police arrived. The detective Rishu opened the door and four policemen entered the room. Sourabh began to tremble like a leaf seeing the policemen. He remembered what they had done to him. 


When the police came to know that two young men had arrived and left before they arrived there, they were very eager to know their identities. They had already handcuffed Sourabh. Viku drew the faces of the two men and handed them to the policemen. It was impossible to establish their identities. They were using all means to extract the truth from Sourabh who had confessed to having known the two young men, but insisted that he had no contact with them. The policemen gathered all the details from the detectives and went away with a handcuffed. Sourabh. 


The policemen were trying to find out the truth. Sourabh was in jail. He was raving like a madman. The other prisoners made fun of him. 

They teased him saying that he was a very good actor. Some of them had kicked him. After two weeks, the detective Rishu met the police chief and gave him the necessary details about the two mysterious young men Viku had sighted on the CCTV camera.


The two young men were arrested and after that Shreya's grandmother was also arrested. She had hired two professional killers to kill Sourabh. It was she who had got her granddaughter murdered with the help of the same killers. She was a top class Brahmin girl and the boy was an untouchable by caste. Her education had taught her nothing.The old lady still lived in the sixteenth century. The killers had killed Shreya but had failed to kill her lover who when they found him was in the custody of the three detectives. 



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