A MURDER AND A MYSTERY

CHAPTER 10: THE MURDER RECONSTRUCTED

To Williams, the developments in Shipra's case were most disturbing. There were murders that happen in routine and are solved by sleuths. And there are murders that are solved by sleuths but never see the light of day. Shipra's involvement with the party was one dimension that could make every dedicated investigator frustrated. Everyone in the department knew about political cases. Considered as most sensitive, such cases are handled with kid gloves. Investigations have to be conducted with the utmost discretion.

Politics in this country was highly fragmented. There are forces and counter forces to reckon with. There are matters involving the parties in power and those out of power. If the matter fell under the former category, one can rest assured that there would be instructions from "high up" to scuttle investigations. This is done very diplomatically. The case file would be asked for by your superior with instructions to stop any further activity. The matter, the superior will tell you, will be handled by a more senior person or a different agency altogether. It may also happen that forces within the party may have different views about the case. There could be a section or a lobby which would want "detailed and impartial" investigations, which meant the people involved need to be taught a lesson. If the matter involved a party, not in power, still the matter would go to the hands of a handpicked person who will then be briefed how the investigation should be done. In such cases, the information could be leaked systematically to the media well before the case is investigated. There would then be a "media trial".

Fortunately, Williams had never been in a political situation before. Unfortunately for him, he was in one such situation now. There were two roads open to him; one that led to his boss's cabin and the other that led to continued investigation. The former road would end with Williams having to hand over the case file and getting appreciated for his discretion and responsible behavior; the later road would plunge Williams in unknown territories and risky terrain. At some stage this road will meet the other one and then he might not be appreciated at all.

Williams decided that he would not think about the two roads at this stage. He still had time to think and he would use his time to try and reconstruct the murder. He took out his pen and note sheet and wrote down the developments to date.

Unknown body of a girl found in a flat. The flat owner does not know who the girl is and how she came to be in the loft of his apartment. He also has a strange story about the ghost of his wife who led him to the corpse.

The unknown body is that of a girl called Shipra Waghmare. Lower middle class. Parents poor but no known history in the family of any involvement in crimes. Family reports the girl missing and brother begins his own investigation.

The girl is good looking and young. Also involved with a political party as an "escort". Routinely goes out with important people and even stays out in the night with them. Possible she is a prostitute.

Shipra goes out on an assignment, possibly with some influential person; stays in a Bandra guest house and is then found murdered in Sebastian's flat. Any linkage between Sebastian and the influential person? Identity required.

Girl's brother follows the trail to the guest house and meets a person who tells him about another person (employee) called Manohar. Where and who is Manohar?

Why was she murdered? Possible scenario:

Sebastian has links with the girl; something happened between them and he kills her. Sebastian not entirely sane, so he cooks up spirit story to confuse police. Maybe he accidentally killed her.

Girl goes out in the night. Is waylaid by someone in the night. Maybe rape attempted.

Girl works as escort and gets into trouble with the powerful and the rich. Murdered by accident or design because of her involvement with politics and power.

Williams liked to discard the first two possibilities for they were very gross to explain. In all probability, the third scenario was the most probable cause of her death. But there were questions linked to this scenario. To find out answers he would have to investigate a whole set of people including politicians. To be able to do all this he needed the approval of his superiors, which again was road one.

The other option was not to do any obvious investigation, but merely follow some leads and see where they led. Gotya was important for Williams and he had to be part of the investigation. Williams would have to stay behind the scene and guide Gotya. It was important to find the guy, Manohar. He could lead them to what happened in the guest house. Williams and Gotya could not directly question the caretaker for it would send a signal to those actually involved. It had to be a covert operation from now on; Williams would keep the file to himself, not mention anything about Gotya or Shipra for the time being. What if Gotya had told his family that Shipra was dead? They would then go to the police for further investigations or come to him. They could also seek help from other quarters, since the girl and Gotya were involved in politics.

Williams was willing to take some risks and work by himself for a few more days. Then he will decide. He picked up the phone to call Gotya.