It was 5 am in the morning. A light breeze was blowing outside and birds were chirping. The sun wasn’t up yet. It was still dark. The weather was mild as it always used to be in the streets of Mira Road. It could’ve been just another day of October 2016 if not for that sudden noise which shook the worlds of 3 friends. They wouldn’t have thought even in their wildest dreams what fate had in store for them. Sachin Kadam, Kabir Chaudhary and Vishal Thakur, all three in their mid 20s, graduated together and have stayed together since then. Vishal was a typical rich, spoiled, brat. His father, Mr. Vikrant Thakur, an influential politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh left no stones unturned to make his son loaded with money and luxuries. By the time Vishal turned 25, he owned a convertible mini cooper, 25% shares in Vikrant Automobiles and a two-storey flat in Mumbai where he had rented the house on top two floors to his friends Sachin and Kabir and he himself stayed on the ground floor. Vishal’s fortunes, his luxuries were enough reasons for anyone to be jealous of. Sachin was an aspiring actor trying his luck in the tinsel town of Bollywood. He came from a middle class family and was a theatre artist since his college days. Kabir was the most upfront of the three. Though he seemed genuine, there was something secretive about his personality. The only thing known about Kabir was that he was raised in an orphanage and the only people he had known were his warden at the orphanage and his 2 friends. Kabir worked in an I.T firm and was keenly interested in martial arts. Every week he used to spend around 3 hours at The Empire Martial Arts. These three friends lived happily until the day that changed their lives once and for all.
On 11th of October 2016, in the silence of early morning, Kabir heard someone screaming his name. He instantly woke up but before he could recognise the voice, it was complete silence again. For a while, he felt like it was a nightmare but by the time he could process anything, he heard the scream again. This time, the voice was more restrained as if someone was getting choked up, as if someone was being abducted and was yelling for help. Kabir ran towards the stairs. Surprisingly, on the first floor, Sachin was still asleep as if he had heard nothing. Kabir called him once, knocked the door and ran towards the ground floor. As soon as he reached there, he knocked Vishal’s door but it was already open. Kabir ran towards the bedroom and banged the door open, he went in but slipped and fell down. He tried getting up but then he saw his hands and kept looking at them. He looked back at the doorway and then turned towards the bed. Kabir was terrified. Sitting there with fear in his eyes, he kept staring at the bed.
He could not believe what he had just seen. In the meantime, Sachin came downstairs. He entered Vishal’s room and was shocked to see the visuals. Vishal was lying on the bed, his throat had been slit. There was blood all over the place. Sachin looked at the window which was wide open. Pointing towards the window, he said “it seems the killer got away”
Kabir was still not able to pick himself up. For a while, both of them seemed lost. They had no consciousness to decide what had to be done next. Kabir then asked Sachin to make a call to Vishal’s father. Hesitating to do so he wondered it would be devastatingly painful for a father to hear this news. Instead, he decided to call his father’s manager. He took the manager’s number from Vishal’s phone, went outside to make a call and returned in a couple of minutes.
“I have talked to the manager, he said they’ll leave for Mumbai on 12th” said Sachin.
“What is to be done now?” asked Kabir, “Shall we contact the police or wait for his father’s arrival?”
To which Sachin replied, “I think we should wait until his father comes.”
They left the body as it is and locked the room from outside as they thought any movement around the body might erase possible evidence. Both of them sat outside in disbelief still trying to figure out what must have happened.
“By the time his father arrives and lodges a complaint, it would be too late and the killer might go far from our reach. We’ll have to deal with it somehow.” Said Sachin with a frustrated look on his face.
Both of them were hesitating to reach out to the local police station because apart from Vishal, they were the only people in the apartment and hence sooner or later they were to be accused of the murder. These thoughts kept their minds buzzed until Sachin came up with something. He asked Kabir to stay home and he himself left the house at 8 am. At 8.45, he reached the Apex Detective Agency. This agency was set up two years ago and was headed by Kartik Selvi.
Sachin and Kartik had known each other for a few years. They were a part of the Ahuja Acting Group at the Matrix Drama School. Sachin, being passionate about his acting career, remained with the group but Kartik went on to pursue a career as a crime investigator. During the first six months of his career , Kartik solved two high profile cases which helped him towards becoming a top-tier detective in the town. So Sachin went to meet Kartik expecting him to solve this mysterious death of his friend. He narrated the incidents and Kartik decided to visit the apartment once and have a closer look at the crime scene. Kabir was waiting outside as they both reached. Kartik asked the two to wait outside and he went in. After a while, he came out of the room and asked Kabir and Sachin to join him outside the apartment
“Guys this isn’t meant to be any kind of interrogation, just consider this as me trying to get my facts right.” Kartik continued further, “So Kabir, let me know whatever you remember from the events in the morning.”
Kabir did as told.
“Where were you when Kabir saw the body?“ asked Kartik with a pat on Sachin’s back
“Kabir banged the door a few times but I was drowsy. I don't really remember what followed next. I must’ve been on the stairs or maybe on my bed when he saw the body.”
“Why is it that only Kabir heard Vishal screaming and not you Sachin? I mean you were the one on the first floor.”
“I don’t know, I was asleep. All I can recall is Kabir banging the door. I don’t remember if I heard Vishal screaming.”
Without saying anything further, Kartik asked for the keys to Vishal’s room. He went in, locked the room and kept the keys.
‘I’ll get back in a few hours. You guys, don’t leave the apartment and see to it that no one enters.”
Kartik left for his office and within an hour, a man visited the apartment. He found Kabir on the main door.
“Hello Kabir, I’m Firoz. Mr. Selvi has sent me. No need to worry, this is a routine procedure. We are supposed to have at least one of our men at the crime scene until we complete the investigations.”
Firoz was Kartik’s assistant, a highly skilled agent of the ADA. He was sent to keep an eye on the apartment and report any unusual movement around the house. Kabir let him in. Firoz then called both Sachin and Kabir, asked them to take a seat in the backyard and started his briefing.
“Look, I understand it’s an uneasy situation for you two but since ADA has been asked to carry out the investigations and the fact that we don’t have too much time to waste, it’d be great if you guys cooperate with us.”
Sachin and Kabir, without having much to say kept looking at Firoz who continued further-
“So first of all, I need your mobile phones and Vishal’s too. And if there’s a landline, I’ll have to cut the connection as no phone calls or any kind of communication would be allowed during the course of investigation. So please...”
They handed over their phones to him.
“Also, apart from you two is anyone else aware of this?”
To which Sachin replied, “Yes, we have informed Vishal’s father.”
“Okay, what did he tell you? Is he on his way?“ asked Firoz
“His manager said they’ll be here tomorrow”
“I see. Why not today?”
“I don’t know. He might be busy with something. Just to let you know, He’s an MLA so he is answerable to a few people.”
To which Firoz replied, “Of course. He must be answerable to a hell lot of people but his petty politics shouldn’t be held higher than his son’s life. Anyway, the forensic team will be here soon so will be Kartik. And then we’ll look for possible evidence in Vishal’s room.”
Firoz then left them seated and he himself, while taking a walk in the backyard made a call.
“Hello Meera, Firoz here. I’ve sent you two phone numbers. Send me a soft copy of the call details from the last 48 hours.” He hung up and within a few minutes, a van approached the apartment. Kartik, along with his team of 4 members, got down. The team went inside Vishal’s room. Kartik meanwhile, called Sachin and they went upstairs to the first floor.
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OCTOBER 9TH, 2016. MIHIR COMMERCIAL PLAZA
“These are some rapidly expanding areas in the town. I’m pretty sure you won’t regret spending this amount.” said the man standing next to Vishal in what looked like a vacant space in the middle of a shopping complex.
Vishal while taking a look at the place said
“I hope so. This isn’t something I have done earlier but I trust you. Just remember what I told you, dad shouldn’t be knowing anything about this until everything falls in place. Once it’s done I’ll inform him myself.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Your dad anyway is too busy campaigning for the upcoming elections.”
“Alright then. I’ll let you know as soon as I get the cash and we’ll try to finalise this by 15th.
“Sure. Now that you’ve already made the non cash payment, try to clear the cash payments as well. And then let me know what else I can do for you.”
They shook hands and left the place. Vishal then reached Vikrant Automobiles where he went to his office, he called a few of his employees, talked to them and went upstairs to Mr. Goyal’s office. Mr. Goyal was the MD at Vikrant Automobiles. After some time, Vishal came out of the office with a leather bag in his hand, he got into his car and drove further.
---------------------
“Firoz , I want you to take a look at this,” said someone from inside as she stood beside Vishal’s cupboard. The cupboard was not locked and a locker inside looked like it was burnt.
“Something has been robbed.” Firoz turned back and continued, “What else did he used to have in his cupboard apart from these clothes?”
“I don’t know. Even if he had kept something in there, he had not shared anything about it with me.” said Kabir.
“He must have kept the money there” Sachin, going past Firoz towards the cupboard, “I remember he was talking about getting some money from his dad’s automobile company. It was a big amount”
“Of course. Why would someone do this for a few pennies” mustered Kartik as he entered the room “Firoz, go and check if there’s anything we could find at this automobile company”.
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OCTOBER 5th 2016. VIBE CLUB
“Even if it fails, it’s not your father’s money. Whatever you’re going to use, it’s all your investment. And trust me, it’ll work” said Sachin while Kabir and Vishal sipped their drinks.
“Look, I'm still very sceptical about this. I know you guys have got a plan, it even sounds good but the money involved in this is too much” Kabir interrupted midway
“Big risks mean big returns, Kabir. If the money involved is the issue for you then just buy a coffee maker and sell coffees on the road. I’m pretty sure that sounds like a fair deal for you.”
“This isn’t a joke. I’m not a person who’d throw in somebody else’s money just to check if my idea works or not.”
“Calm down, guys.” Vishal, with a pat on Kabir’s back “I get your point Kabir but trust me we’ll back out the moment we realise it ain’t working and if it does work, we’ll continue.”
---------------
Firoz took a seat in Mr. Goyal’s office as he waited for him.
“How can I help you sir?” entered Goyal “I’ve been told you are from the ADA. So, what brings you here?”
“I don’t have enough time to introduce myself so let’s just get to the point.” Continued Firoz, “What was Vishal Thakur’s designation in this company? And did he borrow some money in your recent memory?”
“He owned 25% shares of this company. But at the moment, he has only 10% holdings, the rest, he sold it to one of our owners a few days back”
“Do you know why did he sell those shares?”
“As far as I know, he had planned a new start-up with his friends and was looking for an amount for the initial investment.”
“Okay. When was the last time you met him?”
“Couple of days ago, on the 9th.”
“Alright Mr. Goyal. I need all the CCTV recordings of the last 3 days. Keep them ready, I might need it anytime.
“Sure Sir.”
Just when Firoz is about to exit, his phone rings.
“Meera this side. Sir, I have sent you the call details of Kabir and Sachin. Take a look at them.”
Firoz opens the pictures of Kabir’s call records, he takes a quick glance at the phone numbers and the names associated with them. Then he opens Sachin’s call records. To his surprise, he finds no calls made on that day while Sachin had stated that he had called Vishal’s father. He calls Meera again and asks her to look for call ‘recordings’ of Sachin’s number and that he wants to know the conversations he has had in the last 3 days.
Firoz now reaches the apartment where he finds Kartik and Kabir sitting together. Kartik approaches him.
“I think we’re close to reaching our target. Kabir’s statements are suspicious. He’s making no sense to me” said Kartik
“Is that enough evidence?” asked Firoz
“We do have some more. His fingerprints were found on the bedroom door and those are the only finger marks in the entire house. Anything from your side?”
“Nothing as of now. But I’m taking a look at the phone records.”
“Alright. Keep me updated.”
---------------
Firoz left the place and went straight to the Agency. There he was provided with a few sheets that had conversations Sachin has had on his calls. After taking a look at all the pages, Firoz took a pen and underlined 2 contact numbers. He asked Meera to give him details associated with these numbers. No calls on these numbers were completed. Either missed or rejected calls. One of them was dialled by Sachin 8 times in the last 48 hours while there were 6 incoming calls from the other number during the same time period. None answered.
“It seems these numbers were just used as some kind of remainders, because no calls were answered.” Said Meera
“Yes. No conversations were made on calls. I think whenever they wanted to talk about something, they just dialled these numbers but didn’t answer it. If I’m not wrong, they must’ve used some messaging platform to talk.”
Suddenly he gets a call from Kartik
“Firoz meet me at the apartment as soon as possible. There’s a big lead.”
Firoz reaches the apartment and goes straight to the second floor in Kabir’s house where he finds Kartik with a bag in his hand.
“What is it, Kartik?”
“We found this under Kabir’s bed. It has cash, around 20 lakhs and this bag fits quite comfortably in the locker that was burnt in Vishal’s room. Everything seems to be pointing towards Kabir, I think I’ll have to take him for interrogation.”
“But why do you think he’ll hide this bag here?” asked Firoz as he took the bag and opened it “I mean if he could commit a murder, he can certainly find a better place to hide it.”
Firoz took a picture of the bundle of notes kept in the bag. Kartik, without saying a word went downstairs and asked Kabir to get into his car. Firoz, meanwhile called Mr. Goyal and asked him to keep the CCTV recordings ready.
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OCTOBER 1ST, 2016. APEX DETECTIVE AGENCY
“You and I started out together at the theatre but I was never willing to choose this as a career. It is just too risky. Look at you now. You have the talent but you’re stuck at the same place and it’s been 4 years now. Try your hand at something else, Sachin. These theatre skits aren’t paying you enough, they’re not going to take you anywhere.” said Kartik sitting on his chair in front of Sachin who looked frustrated and stressed out.
“I know that very well, it’s just exhausting at this point. The money I’m getting over there is barely enough to pay my bills. But I can’t leave the theatre, it’s the only work I can do with all my heart.”
“That has been the case with me too lately. You know the nature of my job. Once a case is over, I have to keep waiting for the next one. Sometimes it’s real quick, I get a new case the next day itself and sometimes I end up waiting months and months for a new one. But all this time, I have to pay the staff here. At times it gets difficult to manage all the expenses. And I can’t just shut everything here and start something else. That would do more harm than good.”
“I was probably late to realise this but money matters mate.” Said Sachin.
---------------
“Hello Mr. Goyal, I hope you’re ready with the CCTV recordings.”
“Yes. Please follow me.” Goyal took Firoz to the Security Cabin where the latter asked him to play the recordings of the locker room where the cash was stored.
In the recordings of Oct. 9th, Vishal is seen entering the locker room along with Mr. Goyal who opens the locker and starts keeping the cash in a bag. Firoz pauses the video when the last set of notes is kept in the bag. He asks the technician to zoom in. He opens the picture of notes he took at the apartment.
He notices that the ‘numbers’ on the notes in the video and in the picture are different. In fact the denominations of notes are different as well. In the picture all bundles are of Rupees 2000 whereas in the video a few bundles appear to be of Rupees 200. He immediately calls Meera and asks her to check all the chats of Sachin on every messaging platform and to check if there’s any mention of some amount in lakhs.
In the meanwhile, Kartik took Kabir to an abandoned factory. He stopped the car and said
“Look, you’re well aware all the evidence is against you. It’s pretty clear you’ve committed this murder. And now..” Kabir interrupts him
“Try to understand, these are just coincidences. I don’t know who kept that bag in my house. And why will I even think of killing him?”
“That’s best known to you. Now listen to me very carefully.” After taking a quick gaze on either side of the car Kartik continued “There’s only one way out of it. I need a written confession.”
“First of all, why the heck should I give a confession when I haven’t done anything. And do you think I’m a fool? How can a confession help me get out of this mess?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation either do as I say or you are screwed anyways” said a furious Kartik.
“I won’t.” Kabir tried getting out of the car but Kartik pulls him back.
“Listen, you scumbag.” Kartik slaps him. “Listen to me. You’ll write a confession stating that this was all planned by Sachin. He was the one who stabbed Vishal and later on kept the bag in your bedroom without letting you know. Write that the original plan was to make Vishal unconscious and then bury the bag in the backyard but Sachin changed the plan without letting you know and that he deliberately killed Vishal to frame you. If you do as I say, Sachin will have to serve the charges and you can get away with minimum punishment.”
Kabir, with fear and shock in his eyes, proceeds to ask “But why do you want Sachin to face this? What do you gain from this?”
“That’s none of your business. I already told you, you’re not in a position to ask any question. Either do as I say or go find a way out of it.”
“Screw you. I’m not a part of this.” Kabir opened the door and left the place in a hurry while Kartik kept looking at him in the car’s mirror.
---------------
“These are some of Sachin’s chats which I think can be useful to us. There has been a mention of a company called ‘VA’, ‘Vishal’, ‘20 lakhs’, ‘morning’ these terms have been used repeatedly” said Meera.
Firoz, after taking a look at the chats asked, “Who’s the other person he has been talking to? And where did you get these chats from? This doesn’t look like any messaging app.”
“You’re right. They used to chat on an online gaming app.”
“Alright, great job. But who’s the other person?”
“Look, I couldn’t find any other details associated with this username, because it was deactivated last night. But I was able to get the location of the user.”
“What’s the location?” asked Firoz
“Have a look at it yourself.”
Firoz saw the location and was shocked. “How’s this possible? You’re sure it's correct?”
“Yes I am. The other person is someone from our agency. That's what the location says.”
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OCTOBER 3rd 2016. APEX DETECTIVE AGENCY
“We can’t just borrow from him. I mean we’ll have to repay it some or the other day.” said Sachin “We can ask him for a partnership in any of his dad’s business.. I mean a new start up where he’ll invest in my idea.”
“And what if the business doesn’t work?” asked Kartik
“But do you have a better option?”
“Yes, I do. Pitch him an idea for a start up and ask him to arrange the funds.” Said Kartik
“And..?”
Kartik, looking at his picture on the wall said “And... leave it to me”
---------------
On his way to the apartment, Firoz finds Kabir walking on the pavement.
“Kabir, why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to be with Kartik?” Firoz stopped his motorcycle.
“Now what do you want? Are you going to take me to some other corner of the city and ask me to put the blame on someone else just like your boss?” Kabir looked scared and nervous.
“What are you talking about? Where did he take you to?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what’s going on”
“Look, I know you are not involved in the killing and I know something that’ll help us to find who it is. You’ll have to cooperate.”
Firoz starts the bike and on the way to the apartment, he asks Kabir to let him know what Kartik told him to do. Kabir did as said. Soon, they reached the apartment and went straight to Sachin’s room.
Firoz locked the door from inside, sat in front of Sachin, took his gun out, he loaded it and kept on the table while Kabir remained standing in the corner.
“Before I ask you anything, tell me all that you know. And try not to act smart. I can shoot you right now and place your body besides Vishal’s and no one would question me. So just speak up.”
Sachin, after a long pause starts with a sigh
“It was all planned by your chief (Kartik). He asked me to convince Vishal for a new start up and arrange funds for the same. I managed to do that. So Vishal bought a place in Mihir Complex and he was supposed to pay for it partly in cash. And that cash, he arranged by selling his shares in Vikrant Automobiles. He had to pay this cash by tomorrow. He kept the cash in his cupboard. The plan was just to get the bag and make it look like a robbery.”
“And you ended up killing your friend in the process?” asked Firoz.
“No, killing him was never a part of the plan. It was an accident. And it wasn’t me who did it.”
Both of them kept staring at each other for a while
“Go on.” said Firoz
“Kartik”. Sachin wiped the sweat on his forehead and continued “ Kartik took the bag and...stabbed Vishal.”
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4:25 AM, 11TH OCTOBER, 2016.
Sachin opened the main entrance gate of the apartment and in came Kartik who was dressed all black from head to toe.
“Where’s the mask?” asked Sachin
I’ll put it on once I get into his room.”
“Fine. I kept his bedroom’s door open at night. I came out when he was asleep so it must be open. The bag is in the cupboard on the left. It is kept in a locker inside, so you’ll have to break it open.”
“Don’t worry, that’ll be done. Keep an eye on Kabir.” Said Kartik as they moved towards the stairs.
“If anything goes wrong, get away through the window, don’t come this way.”
Sachin went upstairs and Kartik barged into Vishal’s room. He removed a gas cutter from his bag and burned a part of the cupboard first and then the locker. He removed the bag from the locker and moved backwards, he mistakenly touched a glass of water kept on the table behind. The glass fell down and Vishal got up instantly. Kartik, with a knife in his hand warned Vishal to stand still and started moving backwards towards the window.
Vishal ran towards him and tried to grab the bag, but slipped due to the water poured on the floor, and ended up with the knife in his stomach. Kartik, then slit his throat with the knife and placed his body on the bed. He went near the door and called out Kabir thrice before jumping out of the window.
“So my guess was right. That bag kept in his (pointing towards Kabir) bedroom had fake notes?”
“Yes. Kartik brought it and kept it there when you were not around” said Sachin
“Great. Indeed a great plan. But you see, it would’ve been even better if I was a part of it right from the start.”
Sachin looked at him in a state of shock and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Here’s your phone. Talk to Kartik right now. I need a share in that money. Or else, I have a witness in him (pointing towards Kabir) and enough evidence to prove you guilty as you may know. So go on, make a call.” Firoz, at this moment, seemed polar opposite of what he was the entire day. He signalled Kabir to come forward and continued
“And you, Kabir. I do have something for you too. You see, when Vishal’s dad arrives, he’ll search for his son’s killer. And while doing so, he might end up foiling our plan. So why don’t you take some money, lay low for a few days and return when things calm down.”
Kabir didn’t say word and kept staring at Firoz
“No?” asked Firoz “Well in that case...”
He picked up his gun and shot two rounds of bullets straight into Kabir’s chest.
(Keeping the gun back in its holster) “Money matters, mate.”
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