[Meghana – A Murder Mystery]
Meghana - A Murder Mystery
Sub-Inspector Vijay was driving fast towards the Paying Guest accommodation in 9th block, Jayanagar. Its just a few KM from his Police Station.
Now,Let me introduce Mr. Sherlock Homes alias SI – Vijay. 5 feet 10 inch with dark hair and sharp eyes and most obviously an athletic physic to suit his Police style.He has completed 6 yrs of service as a cop , severed in rural area and recently posted to Jayanagar police station. He gained respect and popularity among the people living in Jayanagar becoz of his courage and ability to solve any critical case.
For the first time after his posting to Jayanagar,a suspicious death was reported in his circle. He was all set to investigate and drove towards the PG.
It is one of the luxury women pay guest accommodation in Bangalore. He got down from his vehicle and wondered at the extravagance of the building. A 5 Floor building with granite front wall and beautiful windows with stained glass. A grand entrance with teal wood. And the sandalwood aroma throughout the reception area made him relax and wonder the cost involved to maintain such a place. And the amount of rent to be paid by its inmates.
He remembered the news clipping that stated how successful and profitable the PG business had become. Especially PG for women who worked in private companies and BPO’s. In Bangalore itself, there are more than 1000 PGs. The rents vary from Rs. 1000/- to 10K/- and based on the rent, the facilities will vary”
His train of thoughts were disturbed by a coarse voice,
“Good morning sir”, hostel watchman saluted Vijay with respect and opened the building gate.
“What is her name?” Vijay asked by checking the premises carefully.
“Meghana Madam, sir”, He replied.
They walked into her room, where she laid on the floor with her face turned towards floor. She might be around 25 to 30 years old, wearing silky nighty.
Vijay observed her carefully for some time; he didn’t find any sign of manhandling. He cautiously viewed the room and made a note of the amenities provided,a sofa set, LCD TV, split AC and a luxurious bed on corner side.
“Who first noticed her like this?” Vijay asked watchman.
“Kalyani madam, sir, she is her neighbor”, he said showing a lady who was sobbing on the other side.
Vijay asked his photographer to take few photos of the scene and went to talk to her.
Kalyani looked terrified and in deep shock.
“Can you explain me what had happened madam?” Vijay asked.
She took some time to answer his question, then,
“Today morning I went to talk to her. The room was not locked so I went inside and saw her on the floor. I thought she was sleeping on the floor, so tried to wake her up, but she didn’t move I got afraid and kept my fingers near her nose and there was no breathing and she is dead”, She blurted.
Vijay felt that she was not telling the entire incident on what happened in the room when she came inside un-intentionally or ????So he tired questioning her in a different angle.
“ Did u move her or this was the position of her body when u came in?”Please do not leave any details, if u had moved her please say so”
“No Sir, I didn’t move her ,just shook her shoulders to wake her up”
“Hmmmm, does she stay alone in this room?”
“Yes, she doesn’t like to share-rooms”.
“Ym…”
“Excuse me sir”, someone interrupted him.
He turned back, and a middle age woman was standing in-front of the crowd.
“My name is Radha bai, and I manage this PG”, Sir, to my knowledge such incidents have never happened before; our PG is very reputed in this area. We have very tight security here”, She said.
Vijay nodded and said, “Did you inform her parents?”
“No sir, her parents died in a car accident. She has an uncle. We informed him today”.
“I think, she committed suicide sir, I don’t think it is a murder”, she muffled.
Vijay said,“ Lets not decide anything as of now , the body will be sent for an autopsy to know the cause of death. Once we know the reason,We will do the further investigation based on report”
After some time, the ambulance came and took the body to the hospital.
He stayed some more time and collected Meghana details.
She was working in a BPO company. She was smart and had been in PG for past 1 year. It appeared that she was close with very few people and Kalyani was one of them. She stayed alone in the luxury room. She was lavish and preferred to live life as it came with no worry for tomorrow. As per her friends who knew her,she didn’t face any problem. So,overall there was no need for a suicide.
Vijay left the PG with the details and conversations wriggling around in his mind .
“I’ve to wait for the post mortem report, before continuing further”, he thought while driving back to police station.
After entering police station, Veeraya gave a stiff salute to Vijay. Veeraya, senior head constable who had served 15 years in the department.
Veeraya gave him a fatherly smile and gave him a glass of water without even asking for it. Vijay has great respect for the elderly man.
Once Vijay was settled, Veeraya asked him what had happened.
“A Woman died suspiciously in PG. Cause of death is yet to be known, waiting for the autopsy report, Veeraya”, he said.
“Oh, what do you think, was it murder?” Veeraya asked.
Vijay shrugged and said, “I didn’t see any sign of murder attempt on her, also not fully convinced that it was suicide. It might be suicide, she might have taken sleeping pills”, he took a deep breath, “But we have to wait and see”.
“If you want, you can take Sunil as a helper in your investigation. He shows interest in this kind of cases”, Veeraya said.
Sunil is Veeraya’s only son, recently joined as a constable. Vijay smiled and nodded.
Veeraya felt extremely happy, he wanted to see his son as an Inspector. He was confident that if his son worked closely with Vijay, then he can learn many things.
He called Sunil, and told him to help Vijay in this case.
Sunil,chatterbox type guy with loads of doubts in everything he sees or hears,but eager to learn.
He went through the case details and wanted to know the process involved in determining the cause and time of death by doing the autopsy. Vijay chuckled and started clarifying his doubt.
“In a murder or suicide, one of the best pieces of evidence is the victim’s body. It usually indicates the cause of death like strangulation, gun shot, blunt force trauma, etc. The fine details of how this death occurred can provide very good additional information. To the untrained eye most of this evidence might go unnoticed. Forensic pathologists are experts and trained to gather this kind of information from the body”, Vijay stopped and gazed at Sunil. He looked very curious to know more.
He smiled and continued further, “The examiner will try to develop a complete picture of how the victim died and any evidence, including trace evidence that may be found on the victim’s clothing, belongings, and on the body itself. In the end, based on these clues, the examiner determines the cause of death. In order to find the time of death, they check body’s discoloration, temperature and rigor. Experts can determine the time of the death exactly with these details. So that’s it, OK?”
Sunil clapped after hearing that.
Vijay patted Sunil’s shoulder and sat in his chair looking at his pending cases.
After three days,he got call from the hospital with autopsy details. The report stated that the cause of death was due to poison in food. He was surprised as he didn’t expect that. He asked Sunil to collect the report from hospital.
After reading entire report, he began to analyze the possibilities.
“What is the reason of the death sir?”, Sunil asked, he was unable to control his curiosity.
“Ym… Death due to poison in her food”, Vijay told.
“Oh… I didn’t know that food poison would kill people. Last time when I ate pani-poori, my stomach was upset, and the doctor told it was a food poison. Thank God It was not serious enough, otherwise, I would not be here now”, Sunil said fearfully.
“Ha ha ha”, Vijay laughed for some time, “Hey, that is ‘food poison’ not ‘poison in food’”.
“Oh.. What is the difference”, Sunil kept his face innocently.
“If somebody mix poison in the food purposefully then that is called ‘poison in food’”, he explained.
“Oh… so it is not a suicide?” Sunil said.
“No… we can’t say anything now, but we can’t rule-out the murder also in this case. Let’s put more attention. We have to resolve this case as soon as possible”, Vijay said.
[image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Your_temperature_is_dropping..jpg]