The Gold Robbery

“Hello police?”, Mr. Jha continued, “I’ve been robbed”.

Mr. Pavan Jha was one of the richest people in the town. He lived in a huge bungalow in the western part where the countryside blended into a forest. His son, Rahul Jha was a successful businessman who lived in the nearby city. He owned a huge amount of property. He was a tall, smart personality and handled the business well. Due to this Pavan Jha decided to retire and spend the rest of his life in the countryside relaxing and chilling in his huge bungalow. A lot of people were surprised when he retired at such an early age. Even today he referred to as a great personality.

The police arrived at Mr. Jha’s place. Since he was an important person, senior inspector Abhishek was given the task to handle this case.

“Hello Mr. Jha, everything alright?”

“Well no. Someone robbed me of approximately 5 lac rupees and here you ask me if everything was alright?”

“uh...no... I didn’t mean that but whatever. I need all the family members first to sit in one place for the interrogation. “

“Sure, Its just me and my wife. So lets go inside.”

Abhishek turned on his observation skills and started looking around the huge area. There were huge trees on one corner of the place, with a pool right Infront of the main door. A garden of a sort was visible behind the trees where a gardener was working. Nothing peculiar he observed but he told his assistant Raj to write down all these details.

“So… Sir….what questions do you have for us?” Mrs Jha asked Abhishek. She looked pale.

“Right, so Mr and Mrs Jha; I wanna know everything every single thing you know about this robbery. Tell me the sequence of events, where you were, What exactly was stolen…..everything.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you.” Mr Jha continued, “So, well gold worth exactly 4.9 lacs was stolen from a safe vault……”

“Can I stop you right there Mr Jha” Abhishek interrupted, “Nowadays people keep all their wealth in their banks which is obviously safe. Right? I mean so much jewellery?”

“Ask my wife that, sir. I’ve been telling her the same thing”

“never mind that. You continue”

“yea so. Uh.. where was i? right er yea.. so this safe has a fingerprint lock which can be opened only by my son, my wife and me. Now this safe is hidden on the 3rd floor in one of the 2 rooms. These rooms are locked by a retina scanner or by a master key which is always with me in my phone cover. Now these gardeners don’t know where this safe is …so it is safe. I myself… I go there to check the safe vault in the morning at 8 am, at 3pm and at night at 8pm. Everyday thrice. I know its too much hard work but I do it without fail. So… today as usual I checked the vault at 8 in the morning and I remember locking the door. I directly went to the pool after that. Again at 3 I went as usual to check the vault. The vault was right there exact at the same position, but the gold was gone. And I directly called u after that.”

“Hmmm…. What about you Mrs. Jha, where were you when all of this happened?”

“I was in the balcony sir. Reading a book.”

“okay thank you…… Mr jha.. One more thing. Hand over that master key to me and show me the exact position of the vault. Also, I will need a 3-D map of the house with all the details.”

“Yes, okay. I’ll show you where it is, follow me.”

The house was beautiful from inside. The staircase went exactly through the middle of the second floor. The rooms were well lit and even the balcony was spacious. The third floor however was dark and congested. There were 2 rooms there. The lock to these rooms could only be opened by a retina scan of the three. One of the rooms was obviously the vault room and the other was apparently a storeroom. The vault room was lit by a bright led light from the corner. It was an empty room, literally empty. Mr Jha went near one of the tiles on the floor and just moved it. Beneath that fake tile was a big iron box. It was little rusted but looked safe enough.

“there you go Sir, I hope you find the robber at the earliest.” Jha said handing over the key and the map to Abhishek.

Abhishek started looking around, nothing seemed out of its place. The robber must be a pro to be so precise and neat. “interesting” Abhishek muttered as he opened the 3D map. The house has centralised AC and a huge chimney, which means there would be vents in the roofs of the floors. The construction is so poorly carried out that all the vents are passing right above this vault room.

His tingling observatory skills also told him about the size of the vault. according the gold lost, it wasn’t as much as the spare room in that iron box. He took the box out to send it for fingerprint check.

There was nothing else to observe in that empty room. He then decided to check on the vents and their connection. According to the map there were 3 vents passing above the room, but one of those vents was really small ruling out the possibility of someone coming through that vent. The remaining 2 vents looked wide enough. These vents opened in 2 different places, One opened in the back side of the kitchen. This must be the vent of the chimney. The other vent opened in the garden side, almost in front of the pool.

“Okay Mr Jha, I’ll come tomorrow for further investigation. Call me if you need any help alright?”

“okay” replied Mr Jha who looked kind of pissed at the Abhishek.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The very next morning, as Abhishek arrived at the place, He saw The famous detective Roy there.

“weird to find you here Roy” Abhishek said annoyingly.

“Well yeas, The Jha’s called me last night after you left.” He smiled and continued, ”looks like someone didn’t like your methods of investigation. Its sad Abhi, but I’m here ain’t I?”

“Hello Mr Abhishek” Mr Jha greeted him as they crossed eye contacts. He continued, “so now that you both know each other, that spares the time of introduction. Mr Abhishek, I have explained everything to Roy here and you can join him and help him in his investigation.”

“help him?” smiled Abhishek, “sure”

“I don’t like your tone Abhi, But I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

“okay enough Roy, give me the updates already.” Abhishek said as he increased his volume to get back on the investigation.

“so, I asked the gardener last night to accompany me to the room of vaults. Now I go with him, and you know that the vault is immediately next to the staircase right? So this guy goes and opens the other room trying to prove that he doesn’t know the exact room but cmon who are we kidding here. Its human tendency to check the thing next to us first right”

“agreed” replied Abhishek, “so you are saying that the gardener knew the room proving his involvement in this theft?”

“well well well, you are smart” Roy continued, “We also found out that there are no prints on the door, on the staircase or on any of the tiles here in the room. So either the robber was totally gloved or he used the vents. In both the cases, there is a link to the family.”

“correct” Abhishek continued, “You mean to say that atleast one of the family member is also involved? This I cant digest. Y would a family member be involved in this?”

“I’ll tell ya, two cases, first that the robber was gloved and neatly dressed as a pro and did not leave a mark, but to open the door without retina scan, will need a laser cutter ,which will again make noise so cutter is not possible. Secondly, if the robber goes through the vents, the vault can be opened only by one the 3 again. Now, there are 2 opening to the vaults right? One, kitchen. If its kitchen, then the robber has to got the backyard. If the backyard then he has to pass through the passage in front of the main gate. The other way is through the garden. This adds up too because we also know that the gardener was involved. Right?

“True. That actually makes a lot of sense” replied Abhishek.

“So, now the border walls are high, so no robber can come in and/or jump out, So he has to enter through main-gate. If we consider the family member Rahul, then if he is passing through main-gate then he cant pass through without his parents coming to know. So, maybe we can say that even the guard was involved in this. Now this is just applicable if Rahul was involved, so remember asking his parents about him. Consider the guard a partial for the time being.”

“wait …are u considering me your assistant here?” Abhishek asked him trying to interrupt him

“yes…That’s exactly what I want you to act like right now. You are a just a cop, record fir’s and crack lame jokes in the police office. Let me focus on my work here” Roy replied rather irritated.

“Well… u wish… u do ur work and let me do mine”

“Yet we are here together, so please cooperate , its not fun for me to hangout with u either”

“okay fine….lets go and ask Jha about his son then”

“alright”

They go inside….

“so Mr Jha, how is Rahul doing?”, Abhishek Started

“Must be fine sir, I don’t really know much about him nowadays.” Jha replied in a low voice.

“he’s your son Mr Jha, are you not in good terms with him?”

“Oh no no, Its just that he’s a little busy lately. He comes every weekend to stay with us. Just this time Its been a week and since we have met him and on top of that no call nothing. Just a text message saying that I’m a little busy, I’ll call u later.”

“hmm….. okay, and what about his business?”

“well it’s going okay, little ups and downs, but I think he’s got it covered. He even transferred 1 lac rupees to me yesterday. He normally pays taxes and all, but this time he payed saperately.”

“okay, so nothing weird happened here right?” Roy asked.

“Not really”, replied Jha.

“okay Mr Jha, We’re thinking about it. Thank you so much.”

They both went outside near the pool. Looked around a bit. The gardener was surprisingly absent that day.

“Where is the guard?” Asked Abhishek

“he comes here only on Sundays and Thursdays” replied Roy

They moved around a little, near the garden, the trees and the backyard. They saw the vents were big enough for a person to fit inside.

Suddenly, they both saw a camera there. A small camera rather. They called for Mr Jha and he arrived there.

“Mr Jha, I see this camera here. I hope it works.” Asked Roy.

“Sure it does. But something has happened to it for a week. The guard said it just went off one random day. And not just this camera, all the cameras around here”

“wait, what do u mean all the cameras?” asked Abhishek

“well, there were these kind of miniature camera inside the vault room as well, but when they stopped working, I removed them, so that I could hand it over to the repairman who was going to come this Sunday.

“great, so even the cameras are of no use” said Roy as he started walking away.

“What are u thinking here Roy?” asked Abhishek

“I don’t know mate, But we need evidences, cus I have the story ready. I just need those confirmations.”

“well then tell me the story”

“no, first, lets go to Rahul’s apartment. Lets see what we can find there”

They both leave the bungalow and head towards the city. Rahul’s apartment is a spacious flat on the 18th floor. He has a driver, a servant, a cook and etc etc. There was a news recently saying the business not making much profit which even Mr Jha confirmed, but that shouldn’t really make a difference looking at the current face of the company. The two reach his apartment.

Surprisingly, the door is not locked. They knock on the door which is then opened by Raj. Looking at his attire, he looked like his cook or servant.

 “May ik who you are sir?” he asked. He looked worried.

“we are currently investigating robbery at Mr Jha’s place. I am Senior Inspector Abhishek and he is a private detective Roy.

“you don’t have to mention private. But okay” Roy muttered.

“So Raj, what happened exactly on last Saturday?” Roy asked

“Wait, Roy, How do uk his name is Raj, and ask him where Rahul is first”, Abhishek said rather confused.

“oh yea right, so, where is Rahul?” Roy asked again

“sir, he left last Saturday to go his parents place and he told me to leave early that day. But he hasn’t returned yet. I thought maybe he took a leave because even the driver didn’t show up for a week. So I have no idea where he is if not at his parents place.”

“uh huh….. do u have the cameras working here? In the parking lot?”

“yes sir, those work I guess. Follow me”

“This is the last hope for evidence.” Said Roy

“But this is only a possibility right?” asked Abhishek

“what do u mean?”

“well this is happening only if we consider that he is involved in the robbery”

“guess we will see about that” Roy replied as he walked towards Raj.

They reached the control room and the guard there put on the tape for Saturday.

“Forward it to the point where u will see a Mercedes A-class belonging to Rahul leaves”, instructed Roy.

The guard while forwarding, stops for a second. It is seen that a man wearing a cap entering the car of Rahul with a huge bag.

“I think that is Sir leaving to go his parents place with the clothes.” Raj replies quickly

“Rahul sir never wears a cap though”, The guard said. He sounded confused.

“whatever, his height and physique looks the same, so it must be him”, Roy continued “ Do you know his google account id Raj?”

“I think so yes, He usually tells me to log in and help him sort his trash”

“okay great, we will have his history of maps on his id right?”

Everyone nodded and raj gives him the maps history. Turns out the last put address was Mr Jha’s place.

“things are clearer now. I can totally say that it was Rahul who stole the gold Abhi….. It was Rahul. I was right.”

“how the hell do you know that Roy?”

“I’ll tell u later, lets go back to Jha’s first. And I’ll tell them too.”

It was a silent drive. Abhishek was constantly wondering about what must have happened and how he couldn’t come up with anything while Roy stitched a story.

They finally reach Jha’s . Mr Jha comes out at once and enquires about the trip.

“I’m afraid its ur son Mr Jha, as well your Guard.”

“what? What do u mean Its my son Roy?”

“Well, you will have to sit down for a bit. But first whats that smell?”

“that’s the manure the gardener is preparing he said. He has been preparing it for around 5 days”

“okay leave that, lets go inside”, Roy replied.

They all hastily go inside waiting to hear Roy out and all confused and worried faces across the room. Mr Jha dims the light all sit together.

“Here’s what has Happened Mr Jha. Now your son was a little economically unstable we all heard in the news correct? Now, how should he recover? An idea comes to his mind. Some risky idea. So he starts building stuff in his mind. He contacts ur guard one week ahead and somehow manages to destroy the cameras u have in here. Now he does this a week ahead, so as to avoid suspicion. Now after a week he decides to execute his plan. He tells Raj to leave early and prepares all the materials to be needed. He then leaves for this place as we saw in the cctv tape and comes here. Now the guard lets him in during the day time at the right moment when the gardener was working in the garden behind the trees and u were in the pool and mrs jha in the balcony. Even the first round of checking the gold at 8 am was done. Now, He goes to the backyard, He obviously has the key and enters the kitchen. He then goes inside that vent. He goes in that vault room, takes the gold. he then neatly climbs back in again goes back the same way. He then gives the guard a little gold and runs away. That is the reason why we have to start looking for him as soon as possible. Now we also have a proof of his google maps history and that parking camera. Once we find Rahul, Its all over.

Mr Jha sank into sadness. He started feeling heavy. He couldn’t believe what just happened. His own son who he trusted on his business today stole money from him. It was just too much for him now. He requested not to tell anyone for at least a day till he digests all this. Roy agrees.

“We completely understand Mr Jha, And we will start looking for him day after tomorrow. Fair enough?”

“yes. Thank you, Roy. Appreciate that.”

Everyone left. No one was talking. It was a shock for everyone. The guy who was out of picture was the damn culprit.

Abhishek went home straight. Did not even Have dinner and went to bed.

Riya, Abhishek’s wife the next morning asked him about the case.

“ That roy is one crazy, smart guy. No wonder he is so famous.” Abhishek replied as if still in shock

“well you are smart too, and famous too.” Riya replied

“No riya, You don’t understand. I was no where near this story and this guy weaves it all”

“yeas, That’s true though. Whats the next step then?”

“we have to wait for a day now because Mr Jha needs some time to digest all this.”

“hmm”

“but Riya, What if Mr Jha wouldn’t have called Roy. Huh?”

“Well why wouldn’t they call him, They trust him so much”

There was a silence for around a minute. Suddenly, Abhishek sprang up!

“what happened Abhi?”

“I Got it!!” he exclaimed

“got what?”

“got everything” he replies and hastily wears the uniform and leaves for Mr Jha’s place.

He was just too happy right now. The drive was quick as he googled some stuff on the way. He didn’t even realise that he reached. He knocks the door.

“What happened sir? I told you not today” A dull voice of Mr Jha spoke from behind the door

“open up Mr Jha. Please”

The door opens slowly and abhishek runs inside.

“Take a seat sir, I have news for you, Not good for you though but in one way maybe you can call it good. I always knew something wasn’t right about this case sir. And please you will have to trust me here…okay?”

“hmm…okay..go on”

“So, sir, this is not a robbery. This all…. It’s all a double story.”

“speak in English Abhishek” said Mr Jha sounding bored

“No seriously, What if I tell you, That this robbery was just a distraction. Don’t interrupt me now…let me go with it….. so the story what Roy told u last night is bullshit. Roy is the criminal sir. Now I did some digging on the way, and Roy owns a forensic laboratory in the city. Now this lab is owned by Rahul, your son. Now after the business stopped going well, Rahul decided to sell that property. And there was a buyer for that, which was mr singh, the lawyer…your own lawyer. Now, This news came as a bomb to Roy. He is rich obviously, but he never wanted to own that lab and plus That’s how he was a link to meet you people…..People like these want contacts for their career. So, this leads to fights between your son and Roy. Since your son sensed something like that was going to happen, he sent Raj home early so that no one comes to know about that. Now only one person leaves from his home right. Now I saw at Rahul’s place that some things weren’t at the right place but I was not focusing on that. So here in the tape Roy was the person carrying that bag and wearing a cap either to hide the wound or to not get recognised. Now the question arises here, that we checked the maps history, but u tell me why would someone need maps if u visited a place every weekend. Now roy didn’t know the route , that is why he put the maps and came to ur place with the body of ur son who was murdered apparently in the fight. Now the guard is bribed by roy and he comes inside without you people knowing and even disables all the cameras. He comes inside, Gives the body to the gardener for manure. No wonder he knew when the gardener is here for work and when he Is not. Now that smell yesterday was the rotten body. He then goes inside through the vent in kitchen and just takes a look at the safe. Now, Roy goes back with a plan in his mind. He then comes here exactly After a week without any equipment to avoid suspicion. Then he waits for u to go check upon the gold and your wife to go to the balcony. He then makes his move the same way he talked about Rahul. But now he doesn’t have your Fingerprint to open the safe. So he just replaces it with a different one and he takes the original with him. He had ur fingerprint from the Door when he came last time, so he just made a safe with ur password, because he knew only you are goin to open it.

Now u go there at 3pm and find out that gold is nit there. You call the police for formality, But Roy was so sure that u were goin to call him the next day. He was prepared. Now the next morning he comes early to avoid me and the police. He takes help of gardener as he showed me and instead of bringing papers and his notes in the bag, he has gold. he goes to the storeroom and keeps the gold there. Now he is so smart, That he weaves up a story, and the police would never find ur son and after u get ur gold back one day, u will just let all these investigations dissolve, and he wins.

“Oh damn” replied Mr. Jha, “Get Roy arrested Officer as soon as possible, You are amazing and sorry for not trusting you”

“I am sorry for your son, Mr Jha and I hope You still have those powers to keep the business going. And please for god’s sake keep the gold in the locker at the bank”