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Chapter 19 : The Final Chapter

“Sir, we had been watching the moves of Ansh Awasthy. Priya had tried to warn him and asked him to stop calling her. She had told him that he did not deserve any apology but much to our dismay, Ansh was not taking her seriously.” Shekhar began to speak while everyone looked at him with curiosity in their eyes.

Letting out a deep sigh, Shekhar revealed, “Sir, we realized that Ansh spent his evenings in solitude. So, we decided to kidnap him from the lane near the park where the kidnapping could not be captured in the CCTV footage. We knew that florist shop had CCTV cameras but we had also found out that the range of those cameras was extremely low. Putting masks on our faces, we kidnapped Ansh in the middle of the deserted lane and pushed him into our new car, black Renault Kiger.”

“Making sure that we could not be traced, we took Ansh Awasthy to my garage in Old Delhi. He was already given a tranquilizer so he was not in his senses. From there, we transferred him to another car and took him to our Stone Crushing Plant in Mahipalpur during midnight.” Shekhar divulged the information and I was marveled at their presence of mind. With limited resources, these cunning Guptas were able to cheat the police and my investigation team. They had left no trace of evidence of their crime.

“During midnight, our plant was closed. The punishment of Ansh was decided. Varun, my brother owns a butcher shop. Before, Ansh could revive himself, we made him sit on a wooden chair and tied him up. We removed his clothes and loosened his body. Varun slashed the head of Ansh Awasthy which was full of jealousy and obsession towards Priya.” Shekhar revealed and I could feel a lump in my throat.

“How could someone be so inhumane to behead someone?”
I wondered but what Shekhar spoke next made me realize that beheading was still a humane deed.

“We panicked after killing Ansh Awasthy after all, he was a rich brat born with a silver spoon. We knew that our businesses would be brutally crushed and we would be thrown into jail so we decided to get rid of the body.” Shekhar divulged the information leaving me baffled.

“Raman bhaiya switched on the Stone Crusher while we threw the wooden chair in front of the machine which had the dead body of Ansh Awasthy tied to it. Stone crushers are big machinery units that crush large boulders into small pieces of concrete and gravel.” Shekhar explained.

“Once the whole body churned into small chunks of meat, we threw the head of Ansh in front of the machine. His head and body had the same fate. We killed him.” Shekhar spoke without an ounce of guilt in his voice.

“The small meat chunks were mixed with quintals of gravel and concrete which were packed in different sacks and later transported to different cities. We were sure, no one could make out the difference between meat chunks and gravel.” Shekhar revealed and I could see shock on everyone’s face.

These people were truly monsters, I realized. I gestured towards the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Rajesh Rai telling him that evidence was recorded when we heard the spirit of Ansh Awasthy asking, “Where are my clothes?”

“Raman bhaiya asked me to dispose them in the gutter but I have kept them in the garage", stuttered Shekhar fearing the spirit.

“Atharv, please collect those clothes and cremate them. I need to leave this physical world and transcend myself to spiritual world. Promise me, you will do this for me.” Pleaded the spirit of Ansh Awasthy as it revealed itself to everyone present in the room. Atharv stepped back in horror while Randhir Awasthy cried his heart out hugging the ghost of his son.

“Papa, please take care and don’t miss me much. I was not a good son but I always loved you.” The spirit spoke as mercury-red liquid oozed out from its heart-like organ while the old man cried more.