Deal Unto Death – Part XII

The next morning Ravi was awakened from his sleep by a call on his mobile. He picked it up.
“Hello..?”
“Mr.Ravi???”
“Ya speaking..”
“This is inspector Rajiv speaking.Do you know anyone by the name Sameer by any chance??”
“Ya…I just met him yesterday”
“Oh….ok..Mr.Ravi..Iam sorry to say that Sameer is dead”
“What???? My Goooooooooooood….when did this happen?? I was talking to him even yesterday night.”
“He was found dead in his room where he stays alone.The maid who comes everyday to clean up the room found him shot and intimated the police”
“My God….How did this happen????..............you got any leads,finger prints??”
“Mr.Ravi will you be able to come over to the police station.We would like to have a chat with you”
“Sure!! I am coming there right now”
Ravi jumped out of the bed.
He couldn’t believe whatever he heard in the telephonic conversation. He was wondering whether it was a dream as he had just got out of the bed. He freshened himself and called the inspector to confirm the location of the police station and then hurried to the place.
The police station was typical of what you can normally find in an indian police station.He could see two cells as he entered the station and could see that the inspector behind the desk talking on the phone with someone. The inspector looked at Ravi and pointed at the chair in front of him with a professional smile which disappeared from his face as quickly as it appeared.
Soon he was done with the call and replaced the receiver and looked at Ravi.
“You must be Ravi “he told Ravi.
“Yes Sir.Ravi…….Ravi Prasad…”He stretched his handshake.
“Iam inspector Rajiv” he shook hands across the table.
“How did this happen??? When did this happen??”Ravi couldn’t wait.
“It happened yesterday when Sameer was wait. We are yet to find out how the assailant broke into the house. Sameer was shot on his head as the murderer probably didn’t want to take a chance. I guess the gun must probably be of the .22 calibre variety,mostly stolen,hardly capable of inflicting instant fatal injury unless shot on the head. Seems like the assailant didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”
“Oh my god!! You got any leads??do you have any suspects??”
“That’s where you come in!! Your number was in his latest dialled numbers list,so we got in touch with you.”
“I had met him in relation to one of the cases I was investigating. Iam a private detective from Bangalore assigned with the job of investigating the death of Mr.Vilas.He was found hanging in his room in Bangalore”
The inspector clearly hadn’t expected this and leaned in his chair with his eyebrows raised.It looked as if he was expecting to hear more from him.
“This is my card” Ravi drew a business card from his wallet and gave it to the inspector.
“Hmmmm…so what were you talking to Sameer about?”the inspector asked as he was looking into the card.
“Generally about the case. His friendship with the victim and whatever he knew about his last days”
“where did you meet him”
“In a restaurant near crossroad”
“and then you went home??”
“No.Then we went to marine drive as he offered to show around the place as I hadn’t done any site seeing in Mumbai”
“How long were with him??”
“Totally some 3 four hours I guess”
“At what time did you see him last??”
“Around 7-7.30 I think”
“then you went home??”
“ya”
“Didn’t talk to him or contact him in anyway after that??”
“No”
“hmmm” the inspector seemed to be processing the answers from Ravi and trying to join the threads to piece together a logic.
“Are you aware of anyone following you or something during your meeting with Sameer ??”
“No Sir not that I am aware of”
“Can you think of anything out of the ordinary,that you noticed during your meeting with him yesterday??”
Ravi couldn’t recall anything.
“No Sir”
“Hmmm” the iinspector again got into his thinking mode as silence prevailed in the room for some more time.
“How long are you planning to stay here Mr.Ravi”
“I dunno,it depends on the progress I make in the case”
“Can you guess how long will that be based on the progress you have achieved so far??”
“hmm…..Iam not sure…there is still a fair amount of way to go”
“Will you be able to help us in the investigation whenever we need your inputs?? I think we would be required to contact with a few more questions as the case proceeds”
“Sure thing”
“Thank you for your cooperation Mr.Ravi. I really appreciate your coming in here today”, So saying the inspector rose from his seat.
“No problems, please feel free to contact me if you have anything to ask me”Ravi shook the hands with the inspector and left.
The inspector had his eyes fixed at Ravi as he left the room.
The head constable came up to the inspector and said, “I cant think of a motive sir”
“That’s the only god damn reason that stopping me from booking him in!!” the inspector replied as he continued to stare at the exit through which Ravi went out of the room.
……..to be continued.
Deal Unto Death – Part XIII