Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, is such a unique city – in spite of it being the most cosmopolitan city in India with a very high population density, surprisingly, the crime rate in this city is much lower than those of other major cities.
This is what Police Inspector Sunder Rathod was thinking proudly while sitting in his office in Dadar when he got a call that a businessman was murdered in his home, not far from his police station. He quickly gave instructions to seal the area and remove all residents and any onlookers from the premises. The flat of the murdered man was on the 2nd floor of a 6 storied building. The time of the crime was around 6 pm.
Inspector Sunder reached the site of the crime with a couple of assistants. He ensured that everything was done to secure the area on that floor and the entrance to the building. Using discretion, those exiting the building were to be interviewed to get some insight into the murder. Unfortunately, the two CCTV cameras installed on the entrance were not in working order. As the shoe marks on the floor indicated, the murderer had escaped down the stairs after the dastardly act.
The name of the man murdered was Mohan Bapat. He was a 25 year old bachelor living alone in his spacious flat. His office was in Navi Mumbai. His maid servant arrived at 7 pm and was shocked to see his boss slumped on the floor, blood trickling over the floor. Apparently, a sharp 8″ knife was thrown at him from a distance which pierced his heart causing instantaneous death.
Inspector called the forensic experts to make their investigation at the site. It was found that the murderer, after killing his victim, had approached the dead man just to make sure that he was dead. In doing so, he had partly stepped on the blood on the floor. From the marks seen on the floor, it was inferred that he must be wearing shoes of size 10. The shoe marks on the floor, as the murderer made his escape, got too faint to be seen after a few steps down the stairs. Enquiries revealed that no valuables were removed from the room except a large gold-plated trophy which Mohan had been awarded for winning an All India debate competition. Perhaps the murderer thought it was made of solid gold! There were no finger prints on the murder weapon except the victim’s as he had grabbed the knife instinctively after being hit. The scanning of the flat did not reveal any fingerprints except those of the maid’s and the murdered man’s.
Mohan had no apparent enemies. He was an easy going youngster who was famous in college for excelling in extra-curricular activities such as debating, taking part in sports etc. In college he had become associated with Meena to whom he was engaged later on.The inspector spent the next couple of days interrogating the family members, including Meena, and all persons who occupied the building. Nothing suspicious came to light. The inspector paid special attention to those who wore large shoes.
Inspector Sunder combed the surrounding area of the building. Nothing abnormal was found. All phone calls to Mohan and the outgoing ones were scrutinized to get some idea of any suspicious communication. These did not result in any successful leads. Inspector Sunder was perplexed as he was not making any headway in the case.
As Sunder sat in his chair at home, two weeks after the crime, contemplating his next line of action to solve the murder mystery, he received a message from one of his deputies. A young boy of about nineteen, was found murdered under a flyover in Dadar. He was attacked from behind by a knife and died instantly. The body was lying in a dark corner and was discovered by a man passing by at 7:30 pm. It was deduced that he was murdered around 7 pm, when it was quite dark. Inspector Sunder reached the site and gave all necessary instructions which are normally given to safeguard sites of crime. Forensic experts were called, the body was photographed and enquiries made. Local people were interviewed for getting any first hand information. Unfortunately, there were no eye-witnesses.
From his photograph, which was identified, by a local boy of his age, it was learnt that the murdered boy’s name was Samir. He was a shoe-shine boy who plied his trade on a footpath in Dadar. The informant, namely Bunty, was his friend and he too made an earning from shining people’s shoes. In fact the two boys sat adjacent to each other on the footpath in Dadar, where they did their business.
Inspector Sunder was perplexed! Who would want to kill a poor nineteen year old boy? The modus operandi suggested similarity between the two murders. Similar type and sizes of knives were used in the two murders. The connection was further confirmed when Bunty told the police that Samir was not sincere in his job for the last two weeks. His behaviour changed after the visit of a man to his shoe-shine kiosk on that fateful day. Bunty vaguely remembered that the man was very tall and lanky but could not give any details of his features. After the man left, Samir immediately closed his kiosk and departed in a hurry. It was very strange. From that day onwards Samir went missing from his job a few times and gave some excuses for his absence. He kept his bag with Bunty when he was gone from the site. He further told the police that both the boys kept their wares in a small shop nearby at night for safe keeping.
Police went to that particular shop and took away Samir’s bag for investigations. The bag contained all the assorted items common to a shoe-shine business: brushes, polish containers, polishing cloth, shoe stand, needles, strings, leather pieces etc. Then Inspector Sunder got lucky! In a small plastic bag they found a white piece of leather with a red coloured stain on it. Forensic investigation revealed it was a blood stain matching that of the murdered businessman. Inspector Sunder put one and two together and inferred that Samir had somehow got the sample from the side of shoes of the murderer, when he came to him to get a shine. He must have sensed the palpable tension in the man, post a criminal act. So he followed the murderer with the intention of blackmailing him. Next day when he learnt about the murder, it confirmed his suspicion. But why would a murderer stop at a street corner, after carrying out a gruesome crime, and that too for a shoe-shine? Maybe the murderer had to wait for an accomplice or just had to stop for a while to calm down his nerves before making his next move? Of course, he must have been unaware that he had stepped on to the blood lying on the floor. Perhaps he was a regular visitor to Samir’s kiosk and that’s why he chose him on that day to get his shoe-shine and to regain his composure.
Inspector Sunder thought he had made good progress in the case but still did not have a clue of the murderer’s identity and his whereabouts. He had a hunch that the other boy, Bunty, would provide him with some more vital information. So he was summoned to the police station for interrogation. Did Samir ever tell him which place he was going to recently, during his absence from their place of trade? At first, Bunty said he was unaware but then remembered that Samir had once mentioned Mulund in one of their conversations. He also mentioned ‘Atiti’ but could not confirm if it was the name of a person or not.
To Sunder it was clear that the culprit was tall and lanky, wore10 number shoes, had his home in Mulund and was a regular visitor to Dadar. Probably, he had studied in the same college as Mohan’s and there was a rivalry between the two as Mohan had won a trophy in a prestigious debate competition while the murderer had lost. Was it the reason the gold-plated trophy was missing from Mohan’s room? Further, could there have been a romantic triangle between the two and Meena who later got engaged to Mohan?
Inspector Sunder went to the college in Kalyan where Mohan had studied for his graduation. Police got the names of all students who had participated in debates and other extracurricular activities and who belonged to Mulund. Whilst some of the persons had left Mulund during the past four years, two of them remained in the suburb. One man’s address was given as “near Atiti Hospital, Mulund ” His name was Arnav Ghate.
Six feet 2 inches tall and wearing number 10 shoes, Arnav lived opposite Atiti Hospital in Mulund. He was one year junior to Mohan in college but narrowly missed getting the first prize in the prestigious All India Debate Competition. He thought Mohan had unduly influenced the judges to get the top prize. Arnav also had a crush on Meena but, in spite of his competence in speaking, lacked the courage to woo her, eventually losing her to Mohan. A criminal streak in him was kindled and he vowed to take revenge. Arnav tracked Mohan to Dadar and took a job there to facilitate his revenge.
Arnav was charged with double murder, prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Inspector Sunder mused that if only Samir had reported his finding to the police instead of blackmailing Arnav, he wouldn’t have lost his life.