Chapter 5

Note – DO NOT READ if you have not read the previous chapter(s)


Inspector Mahadev looked at the jar that had the artificial eyes. The eyes were floating on the solution and it fascinated Mahadev.

Mahadev said, “These look like real ones”

Veterinary doctor Nageshwar said, “Yup.. These are made scientifically with the intent of making it look real. These prosthetic eyes are made of thin acrylic tissue cells. All the three chimps were implanted with these. The ‘Ocular Implant’ device would be embedded into these cells surgically. ”

“Interesting… What do you think would be the intent of these implants on the chimps?”

“Definitely not a good intent”

“Oh.. Why do you think so?”

“I have a reason… Follow me.. “

Nageshwar walked in the front and Inspector Mahadev followed him. They came out of the room and walked in the corridor. In next few seconds, Nageshwar stopped in front a room on the right and pushed the door.

The room had a couple of stretchers. On one of the stretcher, a chimp was lying on its back, with its eyes and legs stretched. It was unconscious and there were a bunch of sensors attached to it along with the Saline drips. There were frequent moments on the chest of the chimp and the monitoring devices indicated that it is alive.

Nageshwar said, “This chimp is the one that we are trying to save.”

“Okie”

Nageshwar walked closer to the head of the chimp, turned to Mahadev and said, “I want you to have a look at the head of the chimp and tell me whether you see something”

Mahadev looked at it for a few seconds, nodded his head is denial and said, “Hmm.. Sorry doctor.. I couldn’t see anything unusual”

Nageshwar took a deep breath and said, “That is ok Inspector. A doctor would have cracked this question quicker. Never mind. Let me tell you what was done to this chimp. They have done a ‘Brain Surgery’ on this chimp”

Mahadev was dumbfounded as he heard that.
“What??”

“You heard it right… It was a Brain surgery. In medical terms, a ‘Craniotomy’ was performed. In this procedure, a section of the skull called ‘Bone flap’ will be removed to access the brain. Post that, they have implanted the prosthetic eyes. ”

Mahadev was shocked and replied, “Oh my goodness”

“I would say that it is a brutal procedure done on this little one. Now, it is very important to find out why this was done… “

“Ya…true..  I will need your detailed report on this, so that I could send these to my forensic experts to look for more information in this case”

“Sure.. I will get you the required reports. However, I will suggest you another option. I have a friend Sidharth, an entrepreneur. He owns a couple of corporate companies in the city. One of them is a Bio Research and Development. It is run by a gentleman named Pratap, who is also a research scientist. You can get an opinion from him too. That would help to speed up your investigation.”

“Oh sure… “

“I will talk to him today and get an appointment for you”

“Yes please”

“Ok then.. I will let you know”

“Thanks doctor.. We will meet again when needed.. “

Both shook hands and Mahadev came out of the room. Just then, he saw SI Venu standing in the reception. Venu came forward as he saw Mahadev and saluted him.
“Hello Venu.. “

“Sir.. I have brought Habibullah along with me.”

Venu turned his head towards one of the pillars in the reception. Habibullah walked in their direction.
Habibullah turned to Mahadev and said, “Hello sir”

Mahadev scanned him from top to bottom and said, “Hi…So, you know one of the guys who were in the van…right?”

“Correct sir”

“What do you know about him?”

“His name is James…He is a driver and also involved in brokering sales of used cars. Twice, he came to me with details of cars that he wanted to be sold. He was looking for buyers. I was not too interested in those and ignored him. As a part time job, he was working for a corporate company too.”

“Which one?”

“I forgot the name of the company sir… Once he came to me in the company’s car as it had some issues. He was in uniform. It was a light blue colored shirt and trousers.”

“So, you had done some repairs on the car…right?”

“Yes sir”

“Didn’t you give him a receipt?”

“I did sir”

“Didn’t you write his name in it?”

“The usual practice is to just scribble the amount in a piece of paper and hand it over, only when asked. Usually, we don’t follow the practice of writing in a proper bill book”

“Hmm ok.. You said that it was a blue and blue uniform…correct?”

“Correct sir”

“Did it have a logo in it?”

Habibullah was thoughtful for a moment and replied, “Sorry sir… I couldn’t recollect”

“Most of you answers are negative… why is that so? Are you trying to hide anything?”

“Sir!!! He was not a regular customer. If he were one, definitely I would have provided some useful information. And the last time I saw him was with the Van that was in the newspaper...”

“Do you have any information about the guy who accompanied him?”

“He was fair, tall about 5’10” and around 30 years of age.”

“Were they discussing any topics of interest?”

“I didn’t hear them discussing anything sir”

“Hmm”

Mahadev turned to Venu.
“Venu?”

“Sir?

“We don’t have much useful clues from Habibullah except one”

“Ya.. The uniform colour…”

“Correct.. We have to shortlist the companies that has blue uniforms”

“I will start enquiring about that sir”

“The enquiry should be confidential…”

“Sure”

Mahadev turned to Habibullah.
“Habibullah!!! Keep your mouth shut on this matter”

“Noted sir…"
“Fair enough”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 50

Chapter 51 - The End

Chapter 1