Chapter 31

Tears rolled down from Ananya’s eyes hearing Sabari’s statement. She was about to burst out at any time.

In a shaky voice, she said, “Sabari!!! Are you serious? Just imagine the situation. Say you are gone to Thailand. Abilash would definitely ask for Vasu and if I answer that she is missing, do you think he will believe me? Fortunately if he believes me, what do you think his action will be..”

Sabari threw a confused look at her and replied, “You say…”

“He will go to the cops. The cops will ask him where was she seen last and Abilash will point the fingers at me. Now I will leave it for your imagination on how the rest of the enquiry would move”

Sabari took a deep breath and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Relax Ananya…I do understand that. Abilash would definitely go to the cops. His statements as part of his complaint would be favourable for us”

“Like what?”

“In his complaint, he has to start from how he knew Vasudharini. He cannot hide the fact that they both were in a relationship and that it was opposed by both their parents. It is in fact true that he eloped from their places and took your help. And then, Abilash had a heart attack for which he had to get admitted in the hospital. So far, from the above statements, Abilash or the cops would definitely suspect their parents and not us. The conditions are in favour of us. So, I want you to be confident and strong in this situation. Relax and be normal. If cops enquire you, answer confidently. Whenever you lie to the cops, always remember what you answered. Above all these, there is another supportive fact for us”

“???”

“Why should we ponder as neither of us killed Vasudharini?”

 “But, we have disposed her body without informing the cops”

“We had to do that to come out of a tough situation. Now, go and get some sleep. Don’t take this issue too much into your head. Take sleeping tablets if required. Once you get some sleep, your mind would be fresh. Before you get to sleep, don’t forget to switch off your mobile”

Ananya wiped her tears and walked towards the bedroom.

Location – Commissioner’s Office

Time - 9 AM

Assistant Commissioner Devendra and Inspector Baskar were seated in front of Commissioner. Commissioner looked at the polythene bag placed on the table and turned to Devendra and Baskar.

“What does this have?”

Baskar replied, “This one has the samples of the particles that we carried from the trench.”

“Can you unwrap it for me?”

“Sure sir”

Baskar took a newspaper and placed it on the table. He then, unwrapped the polythene bag and discharged the samples. They were spread on the newspaper.

The commissioner looked at the samples with his eyes wide open. The samples also had the fragments of cloth that were found in the trench.

Commissioner’s eyes hovered over those particles for few seconds and he said, “I could see some shards of cloth pieces and some thin mud…”

“Yes sir”

“The mud is thin and different. Did you get these checked with the forensic experts?”

“Yes we did.. Here is the report”

Baskar opened a file and took a report. He placed it on the desk in front of the commissioner. As Commissioner read the report, Baskar continued.

“Sir.. As per the forensic report, this is not actually mud.. They are a type of substance formed out of some microorganisms. The fragments of the cloth is a result of microorganism tests.”

Commissioner looked at AC and Baskar and said, “The report is really confusing”

“Sir!! We too felt the same and checked with the forensic expert. As per his statement, he cannot conclude what chemical reaction might have happened inside the trench unless we know what the microorganism is”

“Can’t they find out from the samples?”

“They tried, but couldn’t identify”

“Do we have any alternate ways?”

“May be we need to check some Bio Technologists”

“You got one already?”

“No sir… We are yet to… By the way, the forensic expert also gave an alarming statement.”

“What was that?”

Assistant Commissioner Devendra, who was silent until then spoke.

“The forensic expert said that the microorganism that was seen in the sample was something new to the forensic world, at least here in India. Someone might have imported it to our country for some experiments that was unapproved by the Bio Technology world. They also stated that the particles that we collected from the trench might be a resultant of such failed experiment with the microorganism.”

Commissioner looked worried and said, “Unapproved experiment??? This is interesting…”

“Sir!!! As of now, it is just an assumption from the forensic officer, but cannot be ruled out… We have to enquire this offline with utmost secrecy. “

While Commissioner was about to say something, Assistant Commissioner Devendra’s mobile phone rang. He looked at the phone display and it was Inspector Mahadev.

Devendra looked Commissioner and said, “Sorry sir.. An important call.. I have to take this.. “

“Please go ahead”

“Thanks”

Devendra stood, moved to the corner of the room and attended the call.

“Yes Mahadev”

“Sir.. I just got Prathap’s postmortem report.”

“Anything abnormal?”

“Not in Prathap’s postmortem… But in the diluted blood samples that were collected from Prathap’s refrigerator.. “

“What about it?”

“The density of the blood samples is thinner than the usual. Those samples are sent to the Micro Biological lab in GH for research and the technicians found something shocking.”

“???”

“The blood samples had some microorganisms and Prathap was actually developing it with the help of diluted blood. The technicians suspect that the microorganisms may have been imported from China.”

AC Devendra’s eyes widened as he heard Mahadev’s narrative.