Whodunit - Chapter 23 - Case Solved?

“What’s going on here?” I stepped between Shammi and Shvetank.

“We need to take him in for further questioning.” Shammi nodded towards Shvetank.

“No.. you can’t..” A distraught Aarti was holding on to Shvetank’s arm. “I’ll tell you everything!!” She pleaded.

“Aarti, what are you saying?!” Krupa tried to dislodge Aarti from Shvetank’s arm.

“No.. mum, I know what I’m doing.” She shrugged off Krupa’s hand.

“Everybody calm down!” I ordered.. “Shvetank, you are coming with us. Mrs. Krupa, you have to drive your daughter to the station.”

“She hasn’t done anything! She’s just saying some things to protect him.” She glared at Shvetank.

“Regardless, Aarti wants to say something, and I need a parent’s approval for that.” Krupa Mitwe turned towards Dhruv with a pleading look on her face.  Dhruv shook his head. Krupa sighed, “Fine, I’ll get her.”

We left Shvetank in a holding cell while Shammi filled me in.

“So, I went to the college like you said. And I checked up on Shvetank. Guess what his primary subject is?” He asked.

“I give up, what?”

“Biology. So not only does our boy have access to the labs and Chloroform, I made the lab assistant check, there is some concentrated chloroform missing from the storage area.” I whistled.

“Wait.. That’s not it. The rumor around college is that he was known to experiment with different kinds of substance abuse.”

“And he had the knife.” I said.

“What knife?” I quickly filled in Shammi about the knife. Forensics was going through the contents of Shvetank’s bag but I had already given then a head’s up on the knife.

“But why did he do it?”  Shammi and I were brainstorming now. Before we interrogated the suspect, we needed to have as much information out as possible.

“Didn’t you say he was seeing Aarti?” Shammi asked me.

“Yeah. You don’t think that’s why he killed Rajat right? I mean it’s a little far fetched.”

“Hear me out.” Shammi put up a hand to silence me.

“The last call Rajat received was from Krupa’s house. What if it was Aarti?” I opened my mouth to protest but then stopped. Maybe he was right.

“Lets ask him some questions before Aarti gets here.” I suggested. Shammi nodded. We walked into the holding cell, where Shvetank was looking increasingly nervous.

“What’s going on! Why am I here? I didn’t do anything!” He exclaimed.

“We know about the chloroform.” I said quietly.

All wind zapped out of Shvetank. His shoulders slumped.

“It was an accident. I didn’t mean to..” he put his head in his hands and began to cry. I had to remind myself, that even though he was legally an adult, he was just 19.

“Shvetank.. why did you do it?” I still couldn’t guess a motive.

“He caught me..” He paused. “Doing weed. And he asked me where Aarti was.”

“Where was she?”

“Hiding. She didn’t want her father to find her. She had taken the money from him.” He was sobbing now.

“Money for what?”

“To buy the weed.  And when he turned around, I just dabbed a little chloroform on my handkerchief, and put it around his mouth. I never meant to kill him.”

“You’re lying.” Shammi said roughly.

“No.. no.. you have to believe me. Please! I just wanted to make him unconscious, so that Aarti and I could escape.” He was pleading with us.

“So that’s why you went back to stab him?”

“But I didn’t! He got stabbed?” Shvetank looked perplexed.

“Shvetank. We found a knife, identical to the one you have on the crime scene.” Shammi explained patiently.

“But I lost my old one. I don’t know where. That’s why I bought a replacement.”

We spent an hour with Shvetank, but he did not budge from his statement , that he didn’t stab Rajat Sinha. We were still charging him with murder. He was the murderer, I could feel it.

And Aarti’s testimony, would only confirm it. I was waiting eagerly to interrogate Aarti and be done with this case.

Whodunit - Chapter 22 - A confession?

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. Everyone seemed to have one or the other motive. But first things first. I texted Shammi and asked him to go to Shvetank’s college and do a background check on Shvetank.

I kept an eye on him. I saw Aarti walk up to him swiftly and glanced at me again. She knew something. Either that, or she knew someone who knew something.

I took a step towards Aarti, now would be a good time to question her,I thought,  when I suddenly realized, Aarti was still a minor. Just 17 which meant I would have to question her either with her mother’s consent or with a lawyer. I was thinking about a work around when some one called out for me.

“Inspector Chetan?” An elderly man dressed in a sharp suit called me. Lawyer I presumed.

“That’s me.” I walked towards him.

He glanced at some papers in his hands, “You wanted to ask us some questions? We have some time, if that’s ok with you.”

That was a first for me. Lawyers generally avoided cops like plague. I said so once we were inside his office. He grimaced.

‘Rajat was a friend of mine. And I want to offer all the help that I possibly can.’ He seemed sincere. I had nothing to lose.

“So, when did he change his will?”

He shook his head. “No, its not what you think. He has changed his will twice this year already.”

“Can you give me some specifics?” I had no idea whether this information was to be confidential or not.

“Not really, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Initially, Rajat had a well balanced will, with everything divided between his ex-wife, kids and Tara. Then six months ago, he changed it and added Smruti to it. And two months ago, he changed it again. Completely cut off Tara.”

“But Tara didn’t know about it?” I interjected.

“I can’t be too sure about it, but she did call me a couple of weeks ago to ask me whether Rajat had changed the will recently.”

I raised my eyebrow. “And you didn’t find it suspicious?”

“No.. Couples do it all the time.” He explained. “They discuss something amongst each other and one of them comes down and makes the change. But we don’t give out the details to the spouse. I told her the same thing, that I was not at a liberty to discuss it.”

I nodded.. “So who would be benefitted the most from Rajat’s death? Financially, I mean.”

His answer surprised me.

“Krupa, Aarti and Dhruv.” He smiled at my surprise.

“But Smruti Sharma told me that she was the one who walked away with the most.” I protested.

“You see, Rajat wasn’t sure whether Smruti was genuinely fond of him or she was with him for his money. So he never really gave her a true picture about his wealth. So according to what Rajat told her, she is walking away with the maximum. But the truth is, Rajat’s main possession was his shares. All of which he’s left for Dhruv. He wasn’t sure Dhruv would accept it though. He made arrangements, so that if Dhruv declines to take it, it be liquidated and the money put in a safe deposit till Dhruv decides to take it. Strange right?”

I nodded. “All this for a adopted son? He must be really fond of him.”

“Yes. He is.” He corrected himself. “Was. He was very attached to Dhruv. He also left his house, where Tara is staying right now, to Krupa. Of course, Tara can contest this will, and I’m pretty sure she’ll be able to get some of the money and maybe even the house.”

“Do you have any idea, how was Krupa Mitwe’s and Rajat Sinha’s relationship?” I was just shooting in the dark. I didn’t really expect the lawyer to know.

“No.. not really. Sometimes I think that Rajat used to tolerate her just because she was Dhruv’s mother and Dhruv dotes on her. You can understand, their divorce was bitter.”

We heard some commotion outside. I raced outside.

Shammi was blocking Shvetank’s way. Aarti stood between Shvetank and Shammi. She was crying hard.

“Okay..” She sobbed, “Okay, I’ll tell you everything.. Just let him go.”

Whodunit - Chapter 21 - The Will

Before I could say or do anything, the doors opened. Mrs. Sinha walked out in a huff, with her lawyer trailing behind her.

“We’ll see you in court!” she screamed as she stormed past me.

Obviously the will hadn’t pleased her.

Smruti came out next looking bewildered.

 “When did he change it? He told me he was planning to.. but I didn’t know he had already done it.” She was talking to herself.

“Smruti? What happened?” I asked.

“Oh Chetan, he cut her out of his will. He cut Tara out. She is to get a very paltry sum.” Smruti looked upset.

“Why is that upsetting you?” I was surprised. I had thought she would be happy that Tara got cut out.

“Don’t you see?” She said, “Now people will think I killed him because of his money. And his stuff that you found at my place? Oh my god!”

“Calm down Smruti. Take a deep breath,” I tried to calm her. “So who walked away with the maximum?”

“Me..” She said sadly. “He left his shares in the factory for Dhruv and put a lot of money aside for Aarti’s education and Krupa’s maintenance. But Tara, he completely cut off. He kept saying he was going to cut down on her share, but he must have changed his mind after that big fight that they had.”

“What big fight?” Nobody had said anything about a fight between Mr. and Mrs. Sinha.

“Well, Rajat wanted a divorce..” I gaped at her.

“And you did not tell us this before because???” I was trying to keep my temper in check.

“I didn’t think it was important.” Smruti said lamely.

“When was this?” I was kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier.

“The day we met for dinner.” I shook my head. Exactly on the day of his murder, Rajat Sinha had fought with his wife and probably told her that he was going to cut her out of his will.

“She didn’t agree for the divorce?”

“No.. You see, Tara is a smart woman. She knew Rajat had a roving eye and she made him agree on a pre-nuptial agreement. She told him he could have the divorce, but she would take every single penny of his.”

Whodunit - Chapter 20 - The Lawyers and the Boyfriend

As it turned out, I didn’t have to barge my way into the lawyer’s offices. I was invited. By Smruti Sharma.

Rajat Sinha’s lawyers had called all the family members for the hearing of Rajat’s will. Smruti, now petrified for her safety, wanted me to accompany her. I started to explain to her that she would be perfectly safe when I realized I would get no better way to judge the family’s reaction.

I was on my way to Rajat’s lawyer’s office. Smruti was already there. It was in upmarket area. Expected nothing else from Rajat Sinha. Nobody stopped me at the security. They all recognized me from the papers. They waved me in even before I could show them my identity card.

Smruti seemed relieved to see me. I looked around the room I saw Mrs. Sinha, Krupa Mitwe and their lawyers. Smruti had got only me.

 I nodded at Mrs. Sinha who was conferring with her lawyer. Krupa Mitwe gave me a half smile and came towards me.

“Inspector, I did not expect you here.” She turned towards the girl behind her. I recognized her from the pictures, “Meet my daughter Aarti. Aarti, this is the Inspector who’s investigation your father’s death.” I started smiling at Aarti and then stopped. The girl was absolutely petrified of me.

“Aarti..” her mother admonished her. “Say something.”

Aarti mumbled a hello and ran towards a guy. If he was Dhruv, there was no family resemblance there.

“I’m sorry about her behavior Inspector. His death has been surprisingly disturbing to her.” Krupa apologized.

“Is that your son with her?” I kept my eye on both of them. Aarti was talking nervously to the boy. The boy glanced at me a couple of times. He too was nervous, I realized with a start.

“Good heavens no! that’s her boyfriend Shvetank. I don’t know why she has to get him everywhere. They have been inseparable past few weeks.” My ears pricked. I was surprised Krupa didn’t mind her young daughter hanging out with a guy who was clearly in college if not older. Long hair, piercing on his eyebrow, tall and lean. I could see why he was such a favorite with Aarti, he looked like a rock star.

“That’s my son..” Krupa interrupted my thoughts and pointed towards the door. I turned. A young man was standing there. Compared to Shvetank, Dhruv looked clean. He looked like the kind of son parents wish to have. He walked towards his mother and put a protective arm around her,

“Who is this?” He asked her, looking at me.

“Inspector Chetan.. He’s investigating your father’s murder.” Chetan's Dhruv’s eyes shifted to his sister and then back to me.

“How do you do Inspector?” he asked coolly.

“Very well.” Some commotion at the door distracted us. The lawyers had come. Out of respect for the family, I walked out. Following me, Shvetank walked out. The doors closed behind us. I could do nothing but wait.

After a while of waiting around aimlessly, I turned my attention towards Shvetank who was nervously fiddling with a paper weight kept on the table.

“So what do you do?” I asked him casually.

“I uh..” he started nervously. “I’m a student. I’m studying for my bachelors degree..”

“Oh.. You and Dhruv are in the same college?” I wondered how long I would have to sit out here.

“Yep.” Shvetank started digging into his bag. Clearly he too was bored. “So..” he said suddenly, “Did you catch the murderer?”

“Not yet.. Did you know Rajat Sinha?”

“No, of course not. Never!” I was a little taken aback by the vehemence of his denial. I decided to check his background and then question him further. Shvetank pulled out an apple from his bag.

“Do you want some?” he offered.

“Sure.”

Shvetank dug into his bag and pulled out a knife to cut the apple into two. I stared at him, mesmerized. The knife he was holding, was the exact same one that we had recovered near the body.