WEAPON

             Chapter 1                       

The room seemed absolutely normal except the dead body lying in the centre of it. Sattaki went in after the police left. He prefers to investigate in the absence of real policemen. Professor Sattaki Ghosh is renowned for his abilities to analyse the cause of death in cases where special chemicals are used.

The chemistry professor was bewildered by this kind of situation. How did this man die? There were no signs of any form of injury or lesion. No disease or bleeding. It seemed as if he was silently sleeping like in a deep trance. Life plays weird tricks at times.

 He went home since waiting for the postmortem report was the only option to get clues. " What happened?", asked Megha. He ate his food in deep silence as if a dropping pin would definitely break it. All this time the face of the dead man was flashing in front of his eyes. Chemistry has always been his favourite subject. When he was in school his teachers would tell him," Someday, you shall be rewarded for your talent". Yes, he is gifted. There have been many cases in which he had participated to help the police investigate and get through.

                           However, this time he had to think. Probably, he could have died of cardiac arrest .. but without making any noise or calling anyone else. His servant slept outside his room but he did not hear any noise. Nobody heard nothing when this man died. Rajendra Sharma 's death was yet an unsolved mystery.

                           The next day he went to meet Dr.Aarti. " Sattaki, listen there is something I want to tell you. This is a very strange case. No attack, bruise or bite marks have been found. No trace of any chemical in blood. The organs are not damaged at all and no haemorrhage or blocks anywhere. It seems as if every function in the body has just stopped without any reason. There is absolutely no clue about the cause of death."

                         "Hmm...Thank you, mam...I'll see what I can do ", said Sattaki and left. He was thinking but was not sure about anything. He decided to get to the bottom of all this. He visited Rajendra ji 's house again. It was a huge palace. His two sons had their own rooms quite away from Rajendraji 's room and they had their own wives and children.

                             The servant Hari seemed to be the closest to this old man. "What exactly did you see that night when you went to Rajendraji s room?", asked Sattaki. The servant was weeping and seemed quite shocked by his master 's death. " Saab bahut acche the... Devta...Uss raat kuch khaya bhi nehi ...humne bahut baar bola .. saab thora kha ligiye ... bole aur khane ka eccha nehi raha ... ab bas jana hai!! ... bol ke uoh jo darwaja bandh kiye ... aj subhah ... ummhmm... huunmm... hummmn... sab khatam. Bhagban sab dekhte hai. Karma toh saja zarur saja dega unhe".

                      "Did he have a fight with someone that night?", asked Sattaki. The servant did not say anything and left. He seemed to be too sad. Sattaki did not question him any more. He went toward the elder son and asked him similar questions. " Father and I had a major row that night . He was not willing to talk to me anymore. Crazy old man!! He would not give me or my brother any share in his business. We were hypocrites according to him."

                      That day when I came out of his room I went to my own room and closed the door. Dad literally threw me out. Anyway, I went back and then closed the door. I woke up the next day and came to dad s room only to discover him dead. I was astounded. Initially, I thought that he was sleeping. Then, I called him, shook him and then checked his pulse and his breath", concluded Birendra, the elder son.

                       Sooner, Sattaki talked to the other son and the elder son's wife and younger son's wife and children. All answered vaguely. Sattaki was clueless. Probably, he died out of a sudden shock. He went to his room again. The room seemed very simple like Mr Rajendra ji. The man died under mysterious circumstances.

                           The room looked normal. A bed, probably divan with two side tables. Each with an ash tray and a glass of water with a cover. Two drawers with only a few papers related to business work. Sattaki took these papers with him. Apart from that, there was a cupboard with only clothes. There was a safe containing money and a small diary with some numerical data, not significant.

                           The door had a keyhole and the lock was broken in the morning which meant it was locked from inside when he died. The switchboard near the door appeared normal with a liquidator for mosquitoes was plugged in. The calendar on the wall with dates and festivals marked on it appeared normal.

                              Sattaki came out and went towards the verandah. He took out a cigarette and lit it. He puffed deeply and released the smoke in thin air. An array of thoughts flashed through his mind when the phone rang twice. He looked at it and cancelled the call.

                             The scene was running through his mind but he could not guess anything. He came back to his house when Megha approached him," Where were you ? Did you hear the news?", she looked worried. " What??", asked Sattaki. "Kunjari ji.. our neighbour .. is dead". A wave of shock ran through Sattaki's mind. Issh... why did he not pick the call in the morning?

                          Sattaki ran next door to face a huge crowd near their door. He pushed through that and entered her house. The entire family was in tears. Mr Jhumrilal ji didn't have words to express himself. " How?", asked Sattaki. "Please ... I don't know... she went to sleep last night , then today I came back from work and saw her dead."

                         " Send the body ... please let the police do their work. I understand your sorrow but we will soon get to the bottom.. oh ho! So .. you are already here it seems."

The local police officer liked Sattaki a lot. It has been a long tie-up for work between them. He told him that similar deaths have been reported by two more families in Durgapur and Asansol as well. The cause of death is inconclusive. It will be a tough job for him and police is under great pressure.