Chapter 6

It was 11 AM when Inspector Mahadev’s SUV entered the posh campus of ‘Biospace Technologies’ in Taramani. The building had 5 stories covered in dark tinted glass.

Mahadev was dressed in formals and had avoided his uniform. He walked to the reception, introduced himself and told his purpose of visit. The receptionist dialed an extension in the intercom and after a few seconds turned to Mahadev.

“Sir!! You are take the elevator to the second floor. Mr. Prathap’s room will be to the left and he is waiting for you.”

“Thank you”

Mahadev threw a smile and walked to the elevator. In less than a minute, he reached Prathap’s room. He knocked the door and got a response.

“Come in please”, a voice was heard from inside.

Mahadev pushed the door and entered into a large room. Mr. Prathap was seated behind a large table. He was bald, dressed in well pressed white shirt, black trousers and a blue tie.  Mahadev was impressed with Prathap’s rimless glass and colored French beard.

Prathap stood up from his chair and welcomed Mahadev.

“Hello Inspector. Doctor Nageshwar had called couple of hours back to inform me that you will be here to meet me. Take your seat”

Mahadev and Prathap occupied their chairs.

Pratap continued, “Nageshwar narrated the incidents around the chimps. How can I help you in this regard?”

“The latest update is that the third chimp is dead now. All the three chimps have undergone some sort of experiment. Those chimps were injected with Spinal Anesthesia for a ‘Craniotomy’ procedure, where the skull has been opened to replace their natural eyes with artificial ones. We are trying to find out the motive behind this experiment.”

Pratap, who was listening keenly asked, “Can I look at the postmortem reports?”

“Sure”

Mahadev gave a file that he had carried along with him. Pratap opened the file and just when he was about to flip the page, his landline phone rang. He picked the receiver.

“Hello?”

The voice from the other side answered, “Sir!!! This is James speaking”

There was a sharp spike in Pratap’s brain and he got an absorbed it as his condition demanded it.

“Yes??”

“Sir… The cops…”

“I’m in an important meeting. I will callback once im done”

Prathap disconnected the call. He turned to Mahadev, smiled at him and said, “Sorry.. It was a research scholar on the phone”

“Not a problem. I’m sorry for bothering in your busy schedule”

“No No…Don’t be sorry.. You have come to take my inputs on a very important case. It is my duty to cooperate with you. Give me couple of minutes, let me look at the report and go through the details”

“Sure”

Prathap went through the reports for a few minutes and turned to Mahadev.

“This is such a dreadful experiment on the chimps. Usually these kinds of experiment happen in countries like UK, Germany and US. I’m surprised that these happens here too. The artificial eyes implanted on these chimps belong to the prosthetic type and is manufactured by a UK based company.”

“Hm… I have a question”

“Yes?”

“Once the prosthetic eyes are implanted, can a person get back their vision?”

“Not at all… You can ask, why the hell then someone implants it for a huge price. I have an answer for it. Usually, these eyes are implanted by people who have eyes disability. Say, someone had lost his vision in one of his eyes due to an accident. The damaged eye will slowly shrink and will look completely different from the other. To make it even, these prosthetic eyes would be implanted that would look like one that is real as appropriate to the structure of the person’s facial structure. “

“In our case, why should they implant the prosthetic eyes for a chimp”

“That is where I’m a bit confused. I couldn’t find a reason for them to do a Craniotomy on chimps. A prosthetic eye can be implanted without opening the Bone Flap. There is no link between the surgery and the implant”

“Who do you think are doing this kind of wild experiments sir?”

Prathap squeezed his lips, shrugged of his shoulders and said, “It is a tough question for me. The reason is simple. In the current rapidly growing Medical Science market, hundreds of Pharma companies have mushroomed. This experiment on the chimp might be an experiment by one such Pharma companies. As per the law, experiments on rats and rabbits are allowed. However, to test it on the chimps, one need to get approval from the ‘National Bio Research Centre’ in Delhi. Else, it is considered illegal. If any of the companies is proved experimenting, then their permit will be cancelled along with 5 years of imprisonment”

Mahadev nodded his head in acceptance as he heard Prathap speak. He said, “Now I understand why the men who drove the van abandoned it in the middle of the forest after they were chased. They had planned it well by using a van that had a duplicate registration on it.”

TO BE CONTINUED