Chapter ONE

MUMBAI 6:30 AM

Sameer pulled the shoe laces and quickly tied them. He checked his watch again. It would be for the sixth time now and the bedroom door was still locked from inside. He tapped his foot impatiently rubbing his knuckles. He was feeling agitated. He was already extremely late. He stood up and started pacing in the room, giving hard glared at the closed wooden door. He wasn’t allowed to knock or disturb when the door was locked. Had it been any other day he would have waited patiently but the early morning phone call from Arjun about an urgent meeting at the commissioner’s office and then the sudden breaking news on the idiot box had made him anxious and this lady behind the door was making it worse.

But what irritated him more was the lady who had locked herself inside his bedroom for the past 25 minutes trying to get a dress down her neck and hang over her. He was supposed to drop her at her desired destination before heading towards the ETF office.  But her laziness and lateness was increasing his hidden rage and what he exactly wanted to do right now was breaking the door open and pull her outside just the way she was. But he was still a gentleman.

He signed desperately and glared at the close door again. Half an hour has crossed and still there was no sign of her. Finally losing all his patience he stood up to get her outside when suddenly the door opened and she walked out with messy hair, wearing one of his new t-shirt, gifted to him by her last week. She was glaring at him for a reason unknown to him but looking at her silent rage he forgot his own anger. He looked at her carefully along the length of her frame and chuckled. The Tshirt had gone below her knees and she was looking like an extraterrestrial alien covered in a headless hoody to hide herself.  

‘ye kya hain?’ he asked completely puzzled, forgetting his anger completely,

‘dekho na dost kya hua …’ she shouted at the top of her voice, holding onto a crumbled wet dress in her hands.

‘kya hua?’ Sameer asked stepping towards her, feeling scared about the disaster she might have created,

‘mere kaplo main toothpaste gir gaya…main dhone lagi to wo pura gila ho gaya…ab main kya pehenu?’ she asked pouting her lips to make an innocent face,

‘tum itni der se kapre dho rahi thi?’ Sameer asked, shaking his head frustrated,

‘haan,’ she nodded her head vigorously,

‘in kapro main achi lag rahi ho, ab chalo…warna mujhe late ho jyega.’ Sameer replied and picked her up,

‘par dost…mere kaple…’ she asked enjoying his hurried state and threw the wet dress on the ground.

‘tum raat ko fir ayogi na…tab kam aa jayega..ab chalo gari main baitho,’ he reached the door and put her down. Annu sprinted towards the parking to reach near his car while Sameer quickly locked the door.

Within minutes Annu was being driven towards her home by Sameer, while she kept on ranting about the toothpaste that had mischievously fallen from her toothbrush to her dress and how she needed the cleaned dress urgently.

Sameer remained a silent listener to her rant until she reached her home and walked inside towards her nani. He waved at her quickly and drove towards Arjun’s lodge. He had to pick him up before leaving for the Commissioner’s office.

***

Annu aka Akansha Kapoor, is the daughter of Aisha and her ex-husband late Lieutenant Vikram Kapoor who died in a circumstantial death during a shootout while he hunted down a drug mafia. Born just 22 days back, Annu had never met or even seen her father. Her life revolved around her busy and talented mother, special undercover agent and now the Ammunition Expert of ETF, Aisha Kapoor and her regular guardian her naani, Aisha’s mother. She lacked exposure to the outer world owing to her mother’s busy schedule and her naani’s old age and normally kept to the very few friends she made from her school. Her life was going well though, sometimes with complains to her mother and sometimes getting over pampered by the two ladies in her home.

No one in the ETF knew about this hidden side of Aisha, until one fine day, Annu met with Sameer, during one of their ongoing cases and from then onwards started her association with the ETF team. It has been almost a year and a half, annu has been a part of the ETF family. She is now 5 years old and soon to move to six, but the love that these few officers harbored for her had increased few folds with time. She was their guest of honor most of the time especially during any related family functions, holiday outings or sometimes normal gossips during the less tough working hours. Though Aisha was skeptical about her acquaintance with the others, but Annu mingled well with them and looking at her relation with her immediate bosses, Aisha had to shed away all her inhibitions.

In a matter of a few meetings, Sameer had become her best friend, ‘dost’ as she referred to, Arjun had been named ‘Climinal’, who shared a very conflicting relation with her, Shree was the most wanted ‘villain’ in her family who was responsible for all the dangers coming her way, though his tabs and gaming consoles did gain her attention frequently,  Sakshi was the ‘gandi aunty’ and Chotu was a ‘sweetheart’, who made her eat all her favorite delicacies whenever she wished, without being glared by her ‘mumma’. For all of them she was their ‘Captain Spark’ who kept a loaded toy gun with her for their security. These people were her closest special family.

After a year now, few things did change while some still remained the same. Her greetings of Dost, climinal and gandi aunty, didn’t change, but now her syllables have improved. The defect of pronouncing ‘l’ instead of ‘r’ has been corrected to an extent, though she still makes mistakes and sometimes the mistakes are intentional. She has gained all the rights to visit anyone in her family any moment of time and stay at their places whenever she wished, whether it be in the broad daylight or silent night, she was always welcomed.

Annu is a year older now, with trimmed short curls just below her earlobes. She has grown taller and sharper, especially when it concerns her tantrums. Her mischiefs have also increased several folds but now she has improved her planning and designing, surprising and even shocking people at times. Sameer and Arjun pampered her a lot, though she has started getting scolding and hard glares from both now. Aisha was hardly considered as her guardian anymore, coz now she would scare her, threat her and complain about her to both her bosses continuously, sometimes without any proper reason. Sameer and Arjun would manage her tantrums well and Aisha was glad they did. Aisha was now relieved that Annu was no longer devoid of the fatherly affection which she could never ever give her. Sameer and Arjun both compensated that part quiet well.

Annu had had a fight with Aisha for some reason last evening and had travelled to Sameer’s house in the very night, with her then-chauffeur, Shree and her packed school bag. She had cried and yelled and complained about Aisha brutal acts with her, to which Sameer had scolded her back, putting in some sense to her recklessness. She had silently glared at him and Sameer had to reluctantly keep her back with him for the rest of the night. But she wouldn’t budge so easily. She had posed hurt with his deceit and Sameer had to extend the stay for another couple of days until her anger subsided and she wanted to get back home herself. But the morning call about urgent work spoilt all their plans and Annu was returned back to her home, with the promise that she would come back to Sameer the next few nights.              

                                                                     *****

The commissioner office was bursting with the media people who had gathered outside the office and demanding a livid explanation about the increasing rate of crimes in the city. The junior officers and some security staffs were handling the agitated mob while the 

Commissioner was sitting inside in a meeting with the DIG and other higher authorities.

Sameer and Arjun reached outside the commissioner’s office gate where the media people had blocked the entrance. Sameer stopped the SUV outside the gate and Arjun lowered the glass to look at the accumulated crowd, when the media people spotted them and instantly started bombarding them with their questions forwarding their microphones for the answers. The security staff instantly walked to them but it was already quite late. ETF being an elite organization in the country, everyone was pretty acquainted with its powers and popularity.

Arjun removed his shades and glared at the people who leaned through the window with their microphones held out and the camera rolling in the back. Sameer too frowned at them. They had heard of the fire on the street in the previous night and the ETF had already been handed the case, but what puzzled them was the reason behind it. It was simple case which involved a few civilians and the case could be easily handled by the local police. It wasn’t necessary to get the ETF involved into it. But the press gathering and the curious questions were slowly answering their questions. It was because of this that the ETF is involved in the simple case of a fire accident. 

The security officers controlled the mob and Sameer moved the car inside the gate. The people outside started shouting for answers when Sameer and Arjun stepped out of the SUV and walked inside. They met the personal assistant of the Commissioner, who informed them that the commissioner had finished his meeting and was waiting for them. Both of them walked towards the related room and knocked on the door.

The Commissioner called them inside and they walked in.

‘Jai Hind Sir,’ both saluted from the door,

‘Rathore, Arjun..aao,’ Commissioner called them.

They walked inside the room and stood in front of the Commissioner. It wasn’t difficult to guess the man in front was having a tough time. His forehead lines were still visible and the specs on his nose was again slipping down his nose as he closed the lid of the opened laptop and picked up the TV remote.

‘tum logo ko pata hoga…but still ye dekho, ye recently start hua hain..’ he switched the television hanging at the rear wall and it opened to a particular 24 hours news channel.

All the head turned towards the LCD screen. It was giving the telecast of the present accident or rather the burning case of a group of 6 eunuchs in the previous nights. The presence of call girls as the eyes witness had attracted a lot of news channel’s and their publicity hunger crew. Giving them company a group from the social activist’s organization has started stating their slogans about the brutality of the accidents and crimes going around the city, especially over the minority groups of people. The media has claimed that the police department has turned a blind eye towards all these violence and was supporting the criminals.

The local police and the ETF have already started with their investigations from the morning. The places where the deaths have occurred were marked and the whole place was sealed. The bodies were not shown during the telecast stating the harshness of the burnt. The eye witnesses are being tended by the medical team. They claim to have seen the incident but the terrified look on their face and the slight burns on their bodies left them into complete silence.

But above all these things going around the place what had recently brought the press and media people to the commissioner’s office was the large group of eunuchs who had claimed a thorough investigation of the whole case, getting the activists and media to support them. Some of the Protestants are high graded member of the social welfare association of eunuchs and thus they have their control over some high grade officers of the department as well as politicians. They have evaded into the home minister’s building and have placed their demands about their right to survive with equal security as any other human being. The minister had tried to explain about the mishap, but everything went out of control and the eunuchs have started to create a massacre out there, protesting against the discrimination.

The Commissioner switched off the television and looked at the two officers in front.

‘this is the picture right now,’ he informed, keeping back the remote in its place,

‘lekin ye deaths to kal raat ko hi hua hain….fir itni jaldi itna kuch kaise ho gaya? Aur wo bhi road accidents ke liye?’ Arjun asked him,

‘exactly mujhe nehi pata…upar se bohot pressure hain…Home Minister bhi Chahte hain ye case jaldi solve ho jaye… aur isiliye maine case ETF ko diya hain..’ Commissioner demanded.

Arjun and Sameer nodded at them.

‘We will try our best Sir,’ Rathore told him,

‘one more thing Rathore… We are suspecting that among the dead victims one of them was, Anmol Batra. He is the son of the local MLA, Amar Batra, I guess you know him and his son too…’ the commissioner continued and both looked up,

‘Yes Sir, but why do you suspect him? I mean uski to kuch months pehele hi shadi hui haina…it was a lavish one…sabko pata hain…then why would he join a group of eunuchs?’ rathore asked him surprised,

‘Its all a game Rathore. Elections hain next year aur Amar Batra…..i think you can understand that better…Well, jitna mujhe pata hain…Anmol was one member of the group from a long time who frequently visited that place in the night….aur ye baat shayad Amar Batra ko bhi pata tha…kal sham ko bhi wo ghar se nikla tha…lekin roz ki tarah subah tak nehi lauta…fir jab subah uske number pe call kiya gaya to local police ne phone uthaya aur ye accident pata chala…abhi confirm karna baki hain…shayad wo bhag gaya ho…aur phone waha rehe gaya..lekin upar se orders hain, Anmol Batra ke bare main ye baat media ya kisi aur ko pata nehi chalna chahiye…Amar Batra ki reputation ki baat hain…take care of this fact when you investigate the case…’ he informed,

‘lekin agar kuch pata chala jisse….’ Arjun started but the Commissioner stopped him,

‘wo baat bahar ane se pehele mere pass ani chahiye…do you get that?’ he replied,

‘Yes Sir,’ Arjun accepted, signing loudly.

‘Press ko abhi koi bhi official statement tumlog nehi doge and keep me informed about the progress of the case,’ Commissioner stated.

‘Right Sir,’ both accepted.

The Commissioner nodded at them and both took their leave, saluting him before walking away.

*****

Arjun and Sameer left the Commissioner’s office towards the crime spot. The ETF team had already started to collect evidences. The local police was present too and was speaking with the people. The eye witnesses were sitting in a group outside the sealed area with a few lady constables. One of the constables was taking down their official statement. The media who were giving their reports were standing away from the crowd. They instantly rushed to them as Arjun stopped the car on the road outside the sealed boundary. The social workers had already taken their places shouting with their slogans and demands. 

Arjun broke through the crowd and walked ahead silently. Sameer too followed him avoiding the different questions from every end. They both reached to liza who was standing with Aisha, where the dead bodies lay. The fire was sudden and dense and thus not much was left with the bodies anymore. Most part of the body was burnt and it was difficult to recognize the particular bodies or leftover parts. The leftover parts were covered in a white sheet where Arjun bend down and Sameer nodded at him from behind. He moved the face cover but the sight horrified him and he covered them back.

Sameer walked to liza and Arjun too joined him.

‘hum apka hi wait kar rahe the Sir,’ Liza greeted them,

‘kuch pata chala?’ Sameer asked her,

‘not much Sir, bodies bohot zyada jal chulki hain…kuch bhi evidence ka milna bohot muskil hain..’ liza replied,

‘bodies identify hui hain?’ Arjun asked looked around at the gathered crowd,

‘identification ke liye to kuch mila nehi…but the eye witnesses have identified two of the death victims, one is Shila and other is Maya, unhi ke saath kam karte the..’ Aisha informed, pointing at the girls sitting at the corner of the road.

‘Aur baki ke victims?’ Sameer asked her,

‘the girls couldn’t recognize them….’ Aisha replied,

‘hmm…ye aag kaise lagi, kuch mila?’ Arjun asked, sitting on the ground and checking on some wet patches,

‘Sir, zameen abhi bhi kuch jagah gila hain…I have taken the sample…lab test ke baad pata chalega,’ Liza replied.

Arjun stood up to look at something and picked up a broken piece of glass. He smelled it and gave it to Liza who kept it in the evidence bag.

‘kuch aur hain..utha lena..sharab ka bottle toota hain..’ Arjun exclaimed and moved forward.

‘Approximate time of death?’ Sameer asked her, scrutinizing the surrounding.

‘rigor mortis ke hisab se around 1:30 to 1:50 am in the night…exact forensic analysis ke baad pata chalega…’ she replied back,

‘thik hain…body lab main shift kardo…and I want the forensic reports fast,’ Rathore ordered and liza nodded.

‘witnesses se kya pata chala?’ Arjun asked aisha as all three moved towards them,

‘Sir, they are telling us about a truck which had come minutes before the accident. The driver and his friend, both were drunk. They tried to force the girls to go with them when the victims came around and a scuffle started with them. The girls walked out from them and then got busy with their customers when suddenly they heard a loud shout and saw the place burning along with the victims. The truck zoomed out in front of them before they could even think. They tried to help the victims but the fire had spread rapidly and they couldn’t do much.’ Aisha replied,

‘Daamit….aakhon ke samne kisi ko jalte hue dekha fir bhi kuch nehi kiya…insaaniyat bhi ek cheese hoti hain… help mang sakte the..aise kaise jalne diya?’ Sameer retorted back angrily,

‘Sir, unka kehena hain tab aas pass sab koi itna daar gaye the ki kuch samaj nehi aya….aur abhi bhi unhe dekh ke yahi lagta hain bohot dare hue hain…’ Aisha replied while they reached near them.

The girls stood up as they approached them. The fear was clearly visible on their pale faces. Arjun looked at them and then turned his face away. The constable walked away, wrapping up the paper which contained their official statement. Sameer gave a disgusted look around and walked towards the inspector in charge of the local police station, who was speaking with Chotu. Arjun gave a glance around and looked back at the girls, this time directly at their eyes while they looked down fiddling with their fingers.

‘tum logo ke saamne ye sab kuch hua tha?’ Arjun asked them loudly and they nodded approving looking away from him.

‘tum log yaha roz kitni der rehete ho?’ he asked scrutinizing their gestures,

‘roz to 12:00-12:30 tak yaha aa jate hain…fir jaisa customer mila…kabhi kuch der..kabhi puri raat…’ they spoke up in their own distorted accent,

‘hmm…yaha se aksar truck guzarti hain?’ he asked,

‘nehi saab…isse pehele kabhi dekha nehi…waise bhi itna patla raste hain…yaha truck ghusegi to hum kaha rahenge? per haan saab samne highway hain..waha aksar jati hain..raat ko awaz sunai deti hain..’ one of them replied,

‘truck ka number dekha tha tum logo ne?’ aisha asked.

The girls looked at each other and then all looked away. Arjun frowned at them and one of them spoke up,

‘dekh lete to kya hota sab? Hume parna nehi ata…’ she informed giving him an embarrassing look,

‘driver aur uske dost ko pehechan sakte ho?’ Aisha asked them,

‘haan…uss ha**** ke chehere ko to main nehi bhool sakti…itna ghatiya insaan maine abhi tak nehi dekha…uss driver ko to main kahi bhi pehechan sakti hu,’ one of them replied,

‘tumhara naam?’ Aisha asked the concerned girl,

‘noor,’ she replied,

‘aur uska dost?’ arjun asked,

‘main pehechan sakti hu saab,’ another of the lot informed,

‘tum?’

‘main mona,’ she replied,

‘thik hain…office ake humare sketch artists se unke sketches banane honge…bata paogi?’ 

Arjun asked in an exceptionally calm tone,

‘haan saab…’ they nodded their heads.

‘tum logo ne bataya undono ne sharab pi rahe the….hath main bottle dekha tha?’ arjun asked,

‘haan dekha tha….desi daru tha saab…kisi bhi daru ke adde pe jo milta hain…wo..’ one of them informed,

‘hmm…shila aur maya ko kaise jante the?’ arjun asked,

‘hum dost the saab….’ they informed,

 

‘dost?’ Aisha asked giving them a doubtfully gaze,

‘humari bad kismati hume mila di madam, warna aur kon hume dost banayega?’ noor chuckled,

‘aur baki char log?’ arjun asked,

‘humne unhe dekha hain saab…Shila se milne ate the…per jante nehi..’ mona replied.

‘hmm…’ arjun hummed thoughtfully.

‘aag kaise lagi? Dekha tum logo ne?’ Aisha asked,

‘nehi madam…humne kuch nehi dekha…’ all of the replied hurriedly, which surprised both Aisha and Arjun.

Aisha waited for Arjun to ask some more questions, but when he remained silent, she leaned towards him.

‘Sir,’ she called him but no response came her way.

‘Arjun sir,’ she called aloud.

‘haan…kya hua?’ he roared,

‘ap kuch aur puchenge?’ she asked,

‘nehi…aisha inka naam aur details lelo…specially in dono ka jinhone culprits of dekha hain…aur tum log koi bhi humari ijazat ke bagair yaha se kahi nehi jayoge….samjhe…’ Arjun ordered and walked out from there.

Aisha went back to her work. She took the required details and left the rest of the girls to get back. The other two were taken to the ETF office to help them with the sketches. Another hour went away with investigations and formalities. Finally the ETF team returned back to the ETF office by late afternoon.

The team had accumulated in the conference room waiting for Liza to get her reports completed. All had gathered around the table leaving one of the chairs empty. Aisha was helping shree with the quick notes on the fact board when the empty chair caught her attention.

‘Arre, aj Sakshi kaha hain?’ she asked aloud getting everyone’s attention,

‘Wo aj nehi ayi Aisha,’ Shree informed,

‘nehi ayi matlab? She hasn’t informed for a leave,’ Rathore frowned thoughtfully while Arjun turned his gaze at the empty chair at her station.

‘Chotu call her, pucho kaha hain wo,’ Rathore ordered and went back to his papers.

********

to be cont...