Deal Unto Death – Part IV

Ravi’s master plan to beat the hosur road traffic by going in the evening bore little fruit as he was stuck in heavy traffic anyway.

As he was moving inch by inch towards electronic city he was thinking what kind of questions to ask Vilas’ manager. He didn’t even know what kind of guy he might turn out to be. But the rich experience he had acquired by meeting people in his profession had given him enough confidence. Also he couldn’t help thinking about Vilas. What kind of guy was he?? Is he the crazy unstable guy as described by kishore?? Is he the eternal cribber, not happy about anything around him,getting depressed over everything and anything?? Or is there something more to him than what meets the eye. Was he plagued by the stress in his professional life or was it his personal life that drove him to suicide. He had almost missed the electronic city bus stop as he was lost in these thoughts.

He got down the bus and crossed the road. He went to the gate and a security personnel came up to him. He told the security personnel that he wanted to meet an employee in that company. After a bit of argument,the personnel referred him to the security head. Ravi reasoned with the security chief who called Vilas’ manager and asked him whether he would be interested to meet Ravi and told him the purpose of his visit. After a bit of silence Vilas’ manager agreed to see him.

“We usually don’t let such visits from strangers Sir but we will let you through this time. Hereafter please plan your visits outside the campus” the chief told in a stern voice with an expression which oddly resembled like a smile.

Ravi was given a visitor’s ID card and was instructed to go to one of the buildings in the sprawling campus. He spotted the building which looked like it was made purely of glass without any solid frame and entered into it to meet another security guard who also served as a receptionist for the building.

“I want to meet..Uh….Raghav.. this is his number” he gave the piece of paper which was given to him in the security check point.The guy at the desk called the number and told Raghav that someone is there to meet. After disconnecting the line he said.”He is on his way sir, you can sit there while you wait.” So saying he pointed to a set of furniture placed.

He thanked the receptionist and sat on the sofa.

After some 5-10 minutes a bespectacled gentleman who looked like he was in his late thirties,climbed down the stairs and walked up to Ravi.

“Hi…….you must be Ravi……Iam Raghav”

“Hi , Iam Ravi from Meena detective agencies. I am here as a part of an investigation on the ………uh………death of your colleague Vilas”

“Oh….ya ….sad thing!! He was …uh…bright chap…. Mr.Ravi, Do you mind if we talked about this in the cafeteria. Its time for my tea break which I usually take at this time everyday”

“Oh sure no problems!!”

Soon both the guys were walking towards one of the food courts in the office campus.

“How is he like??I mean vilas??” Ravi asked.

“Well…pretty bright chap…was a bit and immature…needed some cool head then and there!! Otherwise pretty … pretty..you know….useful”

Ravi was just little taken aback by the usage of the term “useful”, but he continued.

“Did you happen to have any kind of misunderstanding or any issues with Vilas”

“Well…….ours is a demanding client and the project pretty challenging…I got to say Vilas was not upto it !! attitude wise and he had problems trying to cope up with ……you know…..the pressure and all that.And….we had quite a few heated discussions a few times when he used to get pretty much over the top…you know what iam saying??....”

By the time they had reached the canteen. Raghav ordered a cup of tea and some light snack and offered to buy something for Ravi. Ravi declined it saying he didn’t feel like having anything.

“Come on man,the tea is pretty good here”Raghav insisted.

Ravi thought for a while and said”On second thoughts , I think I will have just tea”

Raghav ordered a tea and they found a place after getting their orders.

“So where was I” Raghav started.

“I think you were saying something about project pressure or something”Ravi said.

“Oh Ya..Like I was saying..This is pretty interesting job you know!! Interesting and challenging..but if you are not up to it,it can really get to you!!And this guy!! It looked he had some kinda personal problems as well!!”

“personal problems???”

“Oh ya….he used to get some calls every now and then on his mobile and he would just disappear …and he would come back after a really long time……..you know what iam saying…….”

Ravi wasn’t very sure what he was saying.So he raised his left eyebrow.

“I mean…..this guy…he always wanted to go back to Mumbai or pune or whatever…somewhere close to his home..and was really pushing me for a transfer…I told him about the project and all but he never listened…..”

“Someone wanting to have a workplace near home is not such an unusual thing”

“I know but……trust me I have been in this business for a while…and have seen people wanting to go back home and all……..I mean this guy… there was something to it…May be its just me but…..You know..something wasn’t normal.”

“How was his relationship with other team members”

“He was pretty cool..you know…professional and all…and pretty good in communication and all…”

“was there..uh anybody in your team?? Any gal with whom he had any special relationship”

“sorry dude!! There are no gals in the team…may be that’s why he hung himself.Ha ha ha” so saying he started laughing out loud.

Ravi let out a half laugh though he didn’t find the comment all that much funny.

Just then Raghav looked at his watch and said.

“Oh shit…listen man… I got a meeting for which I really got to go now…uh… you can call me ,if you really need something…and……”,he opened up his wallet as he was speaking and drew out a business card.

“Oh sure ,Thanks !! I got to say that I really appreciate your time”

“Hey no problems!! All the best” so saying he left the table and started walking briskly towards his building.

Ravi sat there for some more time finishing off his tea. He was in a deep thought. He was trying to assess how genuine Raghav was. Was he telling the truth or was he trying to put him off track. Ravi knew he had one sure shot way to find that out. He knew he had to go to Mumbai.



To be continued………….

· Deal Unto Death – Part V