The Elusive Criminals

Inspector Prakash Khurana posted to Mayur Vihar police station in New Delhi was in trouble. He had to bear the brunt of ACP Gopal Thakur's fury. There were several unsolved cases of rape murder and dacoity. There was also a shortage of staff. Prakash spent most of his time shuttling from one place to another. He was in a dilemma over the pending cases. While he was racking his brain for a solution, two young men walked in with a pretty damsel. "Hey, Amit! What a pleasant surprise!" said Prakash getting up from his seat. He hugged the young man in the white shirt. Amit was his brother in law and a robotics engineer. Prakash asked him, "What brings you here, young man? Where were you all these days?"

Amit replied, "I was working on a secret project. This is my best friend and partner Jagat." Prakash exchanged pleasantries with them before turning his attention towards the woman. Her beauty mesmerized him. He had never seen such a gorgeous woman in his entire life. Her attire consisted of a black miniskirt with a white satin shirt exposing her cleavage. Her curvaceous figure attracted him. However, his conscience pricked him. He was an Inspector. He couldn't afford to entertain dirty thoughts. He faced Amit and said,"Well, you haven't elucidated the purpose of your visit. I have a suggestion. Let us go out for tea and discuss your dream project."

They went to a cafe across the road and ordered ginger tea for three.

Amit said,"I forgot to introduce my special friend. Meet Mona, our dream project. Jagat helped me in creating her."

Prakash's jaw dropped. He commented, "Are you kidding? This is impossible."

Amit laughed heartily and replied, "I knew that you wouldn't believe me. Let me show you something." He opened her belly button to reveal her navel. He lifted up the flap of skin attached to her belly. Prakash was shocked to find many wires interconnected to her artificial spinal chord. Amit and Jagat were pleased to see his reaction.

Jagat spoke for the first time. He said, "Mona is a robot designed to look like a human. Amit was frustrated with the deteriorating law and order situation. We thought of creating a robot who would help the police in apprehending criminals. We want to test her skills. Please use her services for a week and give us your feedback."

Prakash was delighted. He added, "Thank you for your offer. I have a genuine problem. I have a devil at home. She cannot stay with me. What about her accommodation?"

Amit and Jagat giggled. Amit answered," Don't worry. Jagat will pick her up by 8 PM."

Prakash asked him,"How do I operate her? Does she work on battery or remote control?" Finally, Mona spoke up in a bird-like voice "I don't need any remote control. I operate on solar batteries. I am also programmed to obey the manual instruction."

Amit instructed Prakash to tap on her right shoulder to switch her on and off. They left Mona with Prakash and went away.

Prakash accompanied her to the police station. He introduced her to everyone as his personal assistant. He showed her the case files and asked her to go through them. He said, " I want you to sort out the cases in the order of their importance. You are at complete liberty to share your views."

Mona opened the file and scanned its contents. She said," Sir, we need to work on the rape cases immediately. Five women and two young girls were raped and murdered by four unidentified youths. All these incidents occurred near Mayur Vihar." Prakash agreed with her. "You are right," he said, "What should be our plan of action to nab them?"

Mona questioned him, "Do you have the sketches or photos of the culprits?"

Prakash handed the sketches to her. She scanned and saved them in her memory. Mona came up with a brilliant idea. She asked Prakash to click her picture and upload it in The Facebook. He was surprised. "How do you know about Facebook ?" he asked her out of curiosity. She replied "Amit had taught me everything. He even opened a Facebook account for me. He didn't post my picture.

This gave me an idea to trap those idiots.

Sorry for using foul language. Amit has given me all human emotions. Whenever I read about heinous crimes like rapes or murder I can't control my temper. Anyway, shall we proceed with the first part of our plan?"

Prakash was amused. He had never seen a beautiful robot with a flaring temper. He clicked her picture and saved it in the desktop. He said," It is against my policy to read private email messages or posts in social media account. Please log in to the Facebook and upload your picture." Mona thanked him and occupied his seat. She opened The Facebook and uploaded her picture after modifying it. She was too gorgeous with her curly black hair and rosy cheeks. She edited her profile and posed as a rich heiress to a fortune. She mentioned that she was seeking a worthy soulmate. She declared that she owned assets worth billion dollars. Prakash shook his head. He was sceptical of her move. She received thousands of friend requests within an hour. She called him to see the results. She scanned all the photos. She came across four pictures matching with the sketches of the culprits. Prakash appreciated her and continued to watch her in action. She accepted their friendship request. She invited all the four to meet her at a cheap hotel near Saket by 6 PM.

Mona requested Prakash to follow her at some distance with his constables. They reached their destination on time. Prakash and his men hid behind the bush. Four guys wearing helmet parked their bikes. They entered into the hotel lobby. Mona was sitting on the couch twirling her hair and exposing her thighs. All the guys drooled over her. She signalled one of the men to follow her.

They entered a room and closed the door.

He tried to grope her from the waist. "Not so fast, gentleman," she said, " Tell me something about yourself." He answered, "My name is Rajan Kumar. My father is a wealthy businessman. We are very rich and own several acres of property all over India." Mona retorted " Wow! I am quite impressed. Let us start by gazing into each other's eyes. Look at me."

She hypnotized him and asked him about his activities during the past ten days. He confessed to the rapes and murders. She put him to sleep and tied him up. She dragged him to the adjoining room. She called rest of the gang members and followed the same procedure.

Prakash entered the room with the constables and caught all the culprits. He gave a thumbs up sign to Mona. She told him " I have recorded their confession. Please check this tape." She handed him her recording. Prakash said,

" Well done, Mona. These thugs were giving us a tough time. You are brilliant. I never thought we would catch them within a short period."

Mona smiled and added, " Let us work on another case." Prakash was astonished at her zeal for work. Nevertheless, he was pleased with her.

After locking the criminals in the prison, Prakash took out another file. It was a double murder case that sent shock waves across the area. Mona continued to read the file.

The deceased were identified as Rukmini and Vijay Vaidya. They were aged 47 and 55 respectively. Their maidservant Meena discovered their bodies lying in the living room. She was horrified to see their mutilated faces. She identified them only by their clothes. The murders took place nearly a week ago in Dwarka Apartments near the bus depot. No fingerprints were recovered from the crime scene. The culprit had removed all the evidence implicating him or her.

Mona asked Prakash for the photos of the dead bodies. He showed it to her. She did not show any reaction. Prakash had himself grimaced at the sight of those distorted faces.

Mona set to work immediately. She used his computer to scan the images. She used her skills to reconstruct the damaged faces. Prakash was no longer surprised. He said, " Marvellous! What should we do next?"

She replied," We should visit their house and show these photos to any person living in the house or in the vicinity."

They visited Dwarka Apartments and rang the doorbell of Late Mr Vaidya. They had not expected anyone to open the door. They were quite surprised when a maid opened the door. She asked them to come in. Prakash showed her the photos. She recognised them as Gopal, the Gardner and Lata as cook cum maid. Prakash and Mona exchanged glances. " Are you sure?" Prakash asked her. The maid answered, " Absolutely."

They thanked the maid and left for the police station. " What do you think about this case?" Prakash quizzed her.

Mona said," Well, I do have a fair about the murderer or murderers. We have to catch them red-handed. I have a foolproof plan. Please come closer." Prakash went near her. She whispered something in his ear that made him smile.

He called for a press conference stating that the sensational double murder case has been solved. The reporters thronged Mayur Vihar Police Station with cameramen. Mona noticed a woman peeping inside with her head covered in a pink scarf. Mona silently disappeared into the crowd and caught hold of the woman. She dragged her along while the Inspector faced the reporters. One of the female reporters asked him," Who is the accused? Where is he or she?"

Mona replied, " Here is the accused." She removed the scarf to reveal an attractive woman. The latter was in her forties. Mona said," If I am not mistaken, you are Mrs Vaidya, the deceased wife of late Mr Vaidya."

There was a murmur amongst the press. The woman nodded in agreement. Prakash was speechless. He was amazed to find the ' dead' woman alive. Mona told everyone that Mr Vaidya too was alive. They had murdered their servants and dressed them in their clothes. They wanted everyone to believe that they were dead.

The woman broke into sobs and confessed to her crime. She said," This lady is right. We had planned to fake our death to get away from our creditors. We were in heavy debts."

Mona said," I don't believe your story. Why should you murder an innocent couple to pretend you are dead? There is something fishy about your deals. Better come out with the truth." The accused sighed before replying," You are absolutely correct. My husband and I were working for a gang called The Daredevils. We were involved in several robberies. We never stole cash or jewellery. We were interested only in antiques, paintings and other valuable works of art. We hit upon a goldmine and stole antique worth several thousands of dollars. I was consumed by greed for money. I persuaded my husband to make a replica of the antique and retain the original. We passed off the replica to the gang. One of them discovered our mischief and complained to The Boss. The Boss is ruthless and doesn't spare traitors. We received several death threats for double-crossing the gang. They had given us the option of either returning the original or pay for the antique. We could do neither since we had sold the piece to a foreigner and used the money to settle our debts. We went into hiding and came up with this plan. This gang had also planned a major robbery on 25th of March at the museum. You have only a week left at your disposal to prevent it." Mona asked for her mobile. She checked the contact list and traced out the boss's number.

She dialled the number from another mobile.

" Hello," she spoke in a manly voice and waited for the response. Someone attended the call and spoke in a muffled voice. It was a deliberate attempt to hide the identity of the gang leader.

" What do you want?" demanded the speaker from the other end.

" I have a special offer for you," Mona continued," I have a priceless necklace belonging to a queen of the eighteenth century. I had nicked it off from the museum in Mumbai. I am willing to sell it for just 1 crore rupees." The boss was suspicious and questioned Mona," Why do you want to sell it so cheap? By the way, who are you? How did you get my number?"

Mona replied," Never mind who I am. I have got my own source of information for selling stolen goods. I am desperately in need of money. If you are interested, you can come and meet me at Hotel Ashoka near Connaught Place by 9 PM. I will be waiting for you in the lounge." She hung up the phone.

Meanwhile, the lady was arrested and the police caught her husband as well. Prakash lauded her wonderful performance. He called up Amit saying that he would personally drop Mona at his house between 10 to 10.30 PM citing a pending case as the reason.

Mona was disguised as a man with fake moustache and beard. She went to the hotel with Prakash and his men. They were at a safe distance from her, watching the proceedings. A black sedan stopped in front of the hotel. Someone stepped out of the car. This person's identity couldn't be established. He or she was wearing an overcoat with a scarf covering the face. Mona shook hands with the person and they proceeded towards a table. The boss said," Let us have a look at your necklace before coming to any deal." Mona handed over a necklace studded with stones to the boss. The latter spoke angrily," What is this? Are you trying to cheat me? This is just a cheap imitation jewellery. I am not going to pay you anything. On the contrary, I am going to take away your life." The boss pulled out a gun from the pocket and pointed towards Mona. He was about to pull the trigger when Prakash fired at him. The boss fell to the ground. The person behind the spate of robberies was killed. Prakash bent down and removed the scarf. He was paralyzed with shock. The gang leader of The Daredevils group was none other than his beloved wife, Geeta. He came to his senses and arranged for an ambulance to take the body away.

He was given a hero's welcome for solving three difficult cases in a single day. ACP patted him and said," Well done, my boy. Here is your promotion letter."

He was happy but did not show his emotions. He blinked away his tears and muttered under his breath," Why did you this, Geeta?"

Splash. He was drenched completely. He woke up with a start to find his wife with an empty bucket of water. " Wake up, my dear husband," said Geeta with a smile. He was looking at her but said nothing. What a wonderful dream it was! He suddenly had a wonderful idea to tackle the pending criminal cases. He gave Geeta a peck on her cheek and commented," Thank you for being a wonderful wife. I don't want to lose you. You were a criminal in my dream and I killed you. I am sorry for that." Geeta replied, " You are going to be imprisoned for killing me." She threw her arms around him and their lips met in a long passionate kiss.