Lucknow is famous for its rich culture, hospitality and heritage sites. Tourists throng to Rumi Darwaza, Bara Imambara and Chhota Imambara, and scores of other heritage sites. Bhool Bhulaiya in Bara Imambara is very popular amongst the youngsters.

A 22 year old boy and an 18 year old girl were seen entering Rumi Darwaza in a jolly good mood, laughing and cooing as most youngsters do.  But a couple of hours later all was not well when they entered Bara Imambara. Unlike the exuberance of a typical romantic couple, these two now looked sullen and in a gloomy mood. They went through the motions and exited the heritage site quickly. Some thorny issues, most likely about their future, were probably worrying them.

Mohit was a tall muscular guy with a clear complexion. He was a bully in his neighbourhood and was known as a trouble-maker. He looked handsome with Bollywood star-like looks and was quite smooth while dealing with the opposite sex. Geeta looked younger than her 18 years. She was pretty and very charming in her ways. 

As they left the building, they had a heated argument which brought tears into her eyes. Further down the main road, the couple turned into a by-lane and then entered a dilapidated garden where hardly anyone else was present. Maybe the chill of a winter evening had prevented people from venturing into this garden which did not have anything interesting anyway.

The sad couple settled down in a corner where there was a half-broken bench, which was in a slightly precariously tilted position. At least there was a street light illuminating that part of the park. There was silence as both were reflecting on the problems which were spoiling their relationship. Suddenly, when Geeta replied curtly to Mohit’s query, there was a flare-up of tempers. In the heat of the moment, Mohit raised his hand menacingly. Utterly surprised by this action of Mohit’s, Geeta got up to run away by shoving Mohit on one side. But Mohit caught her with his left hand and took out his knife with the other hand – just to scare her. But unfortunately, in the scuffle, the knife pierced her throat. In a moment, life ebbed away from Geeta and she collapsed on the ground in a heap, blood flowing all around her.

Mohit was shocked when he realised what had happened. Murder was never his intention. He lost control of his actions because of the rage which disturbed his mental balance. 

He was familiar with crime but not murder! Now that she was dead, he had to dispose of the body or else he was in deep trouble. He looked around to see whether anyone was around who had seen the murder. To his surprise and shock, he saw a youngster, not far from where Geeta was lying on the ground, who was moving towards the crime scene. Mohit knew what he had to do. He rushed forward to silence the intruder with his knife. But as he came nearer, Mohit noticed that the youngster was moving with a white stick in his right hand and moving in a hesitant manner. Mohit realised, with great relief, that the youngster was blind and therefore had not seen the action. The blind youngster turned to the left towards the exit and went out of the park. Mohit put his knife back into his trouser pocket, with a sigh of relief.

But Mohit still had a problem at hand. How was he going to dispose of the body, he thought? Then an idea struck him. He had noticed a big truck parked outside the park adjoining the road. The number plate suggested that it was based in Maharashtra. Most probably, the driver  had gone for dinner and would restart on his journey before midnight. The backside of the truck was covered with tarpaulin, tied with a rope. All Mohit had to do was drag the body a few yards, lift the body over the low wall of the park and then it was only a few feet to the truck. He had to open the backside of the truck and dump the body inside, securing the tarpaulin again. With a heavy stone, and a heavy heart, he thrashed the girl’s face so that identification of the body would be difficult. And then he went ahead and did as he had planned. As the road outside was deserted due to extreme cold, the operation was smooth! Then he wiped all fingerprints carefully. He took care to spread some soil over the blood on the ground so as not to raise suspicion in the morning.

Mohit knew that they had met secretly that day and so Geeta would not have informed anyone that she was going on a date with him. Besides, they were of different caste and so never expected their parents to agree to their wedding and so the question of informing them about their affair did not arise.

Mohit thought the body would be far, far 

away from Lucknow before it could be discovered. As there would be no papers on her and as her face was disfigured, police would not be able to trace her place of residence easily. Her parents would get worried and lodge a police complaint but in the absence of her body the police might think she has eloped with someone.

In actual fact the body was discovered by the driver of the truck just on the outskirts of Lucknow when he opened the back-side to load some more luggage. The driver was of course dumbstruck on noticing the unwanted piece of luggage in his truck! He promptly informed the owner of the truck who advised him to contact the police. The police made inquiries and found out the place where the truck was parked. They combed the park and soon found the blood on the ground where the girl was murdered. But unfortunately there were no cameras around the area and so could not make headway in the investigation. There were cameras at the monuments but in such a wild rush of tourists at these

places, they could not make any headway in identifying the couple.

Ramesh was a youngster studying in an Art College in town. He was a prankster and loved fooling people whom he knew and strangers too. He loved the theatre and dreamt of becoming a great artist one day. On that fateful day, he had gone to his College to rehearse for a small role in a drama planned for the following month. He was to act as a blind man who was moving around with a white stick and being made fun of by street kids. 

After the rehearsal, being a fun-loving boy, he discarded the beard and such make-up and moved around the streets of his neighbourhood, posing as a blind youth. He loved when people – especially girls – offered to assist him in crossing roads or to help him in getting up after a slip and a fall.

So in search of some more adventure, Ramesh moved into the garden in which Mohit and Geeta were present. As he went nearer to the couple, on hearing their tense conversation, Ramesh became a bit apprehensive. Then he heard the muffled shriek of the girl as she was hit by the knife. Ramesh was shocked to see the murder and then alarmed when Mohit saw him. However, he did not panic and using his presence of mind, continued to act as a blind person. To make it look absolutely real, he even faltered in his steps, just as a blind person would do. His body was trembling when Mohit moved towards him menacingly but then was relieved to see him back off. He quickly turned towards the exit and was safe when he was outside. He sat down beside the road to calm down his stressed nerves before he walked a few hundred feet away to his home.

Next day, Ramesh informed his parents about his misadventure. They advised him to inform the police. At the police station, Ramesh gave his exact version of what happened the day before. He gave a good description of the man. To make things easier, he said the guy looked like Dev Anand of yore but with a slightly broader nose. An artist made a sketch of the murderer and circulated it in the form of pamphlets. 

Soon police got feelers  from their informants and Mohit was arrested. Initially, he protested, saying he was innocent. Then the police conducted an identification parade in which Ramesh nailed him as the actual murderer. Faced With this damning evidence from an eye-witness, Mohit admitted to his guilt. He  was prosecuted and convicted. Life sentence behind bars was awarded to him for his crime. 

Police got information about Geeta from Mohit and so could retrieve her distorted body and inform her parents about her murder.

Ramesh was happy that his acting ability in adverse circumstances could nail the culprit.  Now he was sure that one day he would become a great actor!