Chapter 1

Introducing the detective

Mumbai Branch of CBI (Central Bearau of Investigation)

"So, gentlemen, this was me reading out to you the opening paragraph of Santosh Bakshi’s novel “Dawl”. It was a Bengali novel published in 1997. This excerpt has been translated by Soumendu… a professor of English at the Delhi University. Now, as you know the event described in this bit of the text is very familiar… it occurred twice on the surface of this Earth. Once of course, in the pages of this novel… and the second time, outside the residence of Minister. Jaiprasad Kolhapure. The novel is the predecessor chronologically. And its translation into reality is the national concern our force is investigating on. The first theory is of course that the crime method is inspired by the novel."

The atmosphere of the room possessed a perceptable weight of meditative brainstorming. The CBI (Central Bearau of Investigation) had very few assemblies that were so calculative yet irresolute about the initial procedures. They just didn't know what to start with! Their cases were usually administered with familiar templates, detecting lapses in information and documentation. But this crime was, for its sheer bizarreness, too freaking inaccessible. The presentation was being delivered by the Joint Director of the Mumbai Zone of the CBI, Mr. Srivastava, who had been entrusted with the dynamics of this insane lot of work. Not that he was not as clueless as the rest of the people, but he probably had some acknowledged expertise at harnessing a bunch of clueless men, and being an authority for a tiring trial and error that could continue forever. 

"As you know, on December 3rd 2014, that is yesterday, an event almost absolutely resembling this text had happened, and the media has been very talkative about the first grand political murder in many years. However, unlike the book, four reporters had been killed in the process. The assassination of Jaiprasad Kolhapure is evidently a criminal revolutionary response to his recent unpardonable corruption charges, which the CBI had itself contributed in publicizing. The reporters killed were quite young… we all know that. This odd undertaking is very well-known, but its association with the novel has not been spoken about in media. Very minimal awareness of this is expected because… this is the interesting part… this book was banned about two months into its release. Very precautious measures have been taken to not allow the outflow of this information. And no translated edition has been released by then. About hundred and thirty people had bought the book already. The ban is not removed till today. So… You get it right! That is our advantage. Of course, the entire readership won't be traceable.

"The book was banned because it was outright political criticism, apparently. There are three things I want to say about this crime- there is this book thing… which is either just there to distract us, or is the main clue considering that very few people know about it. If it was not for Shoumendu our force would never be informed about it. Secondly, however fictionally exciting the method is, it was a logistically big crime, which makes the investigation easy in one way, despite the bookish duplication of the explosion which was probably a way to remove the clues. According to the book, there was a poisoned dart that was shot out by one of the reporter cameras… that technical modification had been done, you see. But then the cameras are now burst out, so we can’t access this theatrical crime through the props directly engaged in it. But it was indeed a poison dart that killed the minister. So, we might assume it was from one of the exploded cameras. Aand the third point is… the criminal is not solitary. The mastermind might be crazy, but there is a bunch of people involved in this, and no one was in the immediate vicinity when it happened. The “Are you ready for the worst?” question was a recorded voice that played from the gun in disguise of a camera, or any other accessory. The voice as we heard in most of the TV footage that survived, was distorted."

 Behind Mr. Yash Shrivastava, the projected screen had started displaying some related visuals. The first was a labelled diagram of an artist's, or rather- a mechanical engineer's impression of the murder weapon. The camera, indistinguish from all others of its family, internally modified. 

"So, it’s more or less an easy case. We have forbidden the media from announcing the book link, so that a lot of public speculation does not invade our approach. Let's first think about the media people. get in touch with them. Interrogate thoroughly. They have been displaying a possessiveness for the matter, sympathyzing with the comrades whom they lost in the disaster."

There was exchange of whispers at one end of the table. Nishant, 36, had always been awaiting an occassion to exercise the deduction rationale that he had mastered over a steady diet of detective fiction as a teenager. He found the case rather exciting, and he embraced the cluelesness. The sense of devotion which they personally associated with the case was more owing to the challenge of the investigation. A legal mechanism avenging the death of a notorious politician was certainly not what made it interesting. 

Nishant's inclusion in the team was mainly because he had a lot of internal contacts in the media. His ex-wife was the political editor of a reputed news channel, known for her boldness and wisdom. She was now better, cultivating her workaholic eccentricity and large social concern, alone. We'll come to that later, but fact remains that Nishant knew most significant people in the channels. And it didn't take much thinking to realize the media's role in the investigation. It was evident that all the props in the drama were media equipment.

Some people even hypothesized conscious participation on the part of the the media representatives, or at least the reporters sent there. The entire journalistic melodrama enveloping the victim could be a masquerade. This was not an insane guess, because this is how it happens in the story. In the story one particular reporter who was very affected by the issue on a psychological level, had designed the stage. She had carried the camera that shot the poison dart, and had installed mild explosives in the rest of the cameras, while their bearers were oblivous of them. The click of a button was supposed to crush the cameras into unidentifiable pieces. 

But in reality, if we don't completely go by the novel, there could be an external agent. Someone in disguise. Someone not at all a reporter. 

The assembly was not very responsive. Excited, but not responsive. 

Nishant broke a hopeless silence- 

"Sir, what about the writer?"

"What about him?" Mr. Srivastava stooped closer.

"I think he has a nightmare!"