BALI 100 KM (Book 1) ✔

Chapter 2

He was not expecting Maman the next day so, he reached the stall late, but the sky was still shrouded in darkness. The stranger had bothered Bandu the whole night. There was something unusual in the way he showed up in his shop, but his brain could conjure up the reason for his discomfort. That stranger, even if he were the murderer, what would he want with Bandu?

Having stacked his cycle to the side, he moved forward with the lantern, intending to hang it, but strangely found himself tripping on something. And unable to prevent the fall, he went sprawling down- dropping the lantern from the fingers and landing on something hard. Using his hands, he propelled himself upon his elbow and tried to feel the ground in the dark, but came in contact with the lantern instead and he grabbed it. Carefully balancing himself, he stood up and backed away a few steps to light the lantern. Holding the lantern up, he moved forward to inspect the ground but soon halted in his track. Someone appeared to be lying on the ground.

"Hey...get up!" moving cautiously forward, Bandu shouted.

"This is not a place for you to sleep. Get up! I want to open my shop" There was no movement, so Bandu bent down and shook him, "Hey...get up!" he urged once again.

Doubts started racing through his mind when there was no answer, "Was he dead now?"

The person was down on his stomach, and as he moved his light over the body, he got the exact idea why there was no movement. Yes, there was blood that had pooled by the torso. He stepped back and scanned the darkness around.

"Was there an accident?" he couldn't ascertain in the dark. He was now stunned.

"Was he murdered or something?" he thought as his nervousness increased.

He wanted to be out of this scene, whatever it was. Being involved in another bloodshed was not his game. He had gone into a trance of thoughts as he picked up his cycle and paddled away. Memories- they were always uninvited guests in his life, which he couldn't control from surfacing and terrorizing him. Bandu had to force himself out of it after realizing the fact that he was anyways involved in a mess since the body was lying in front of his shack. So, the sensible thing to do was to inform the police before they found out and then held him responsible for the murder, although he had every doubt about being treated fairly.

A few minutes into his ride, he encountered the police patrol vehicle. He waved the lantern to stop them. After narrating what happened, they followed him to the shack and got down to inspect it. Armed with torches, one constable was at the body, and the other went to check out the nearby area.

"He is dead alright," one said.

"Better not move the body. Wait till everyone comes. I will inform over the wireless," the other said and walked to the jeep.

The constable who was bent over the body now stood up and came over to Bandu.

"You have to wait here until we record your statement."

"Yes," Bandu replied and moved over to sit under the banyan tree. He knew the worst was yet to come when they would start to question him.

Dawn broke into the horizon, and slowly things became clear to the eyes. Traffic too increased and with that curious by-passers would slow down to access the situation. Some daring ones stopped and enquired with the constables who never entertained them. It was a long wait but, it finally ended when an entire entourage of people arrived packed in two cars followed by men in uniforms on their two-wheelers.

They knew their goals, and headed in that direction, and got down to work like a swarm of bees. There was but one man who stood out in the whole troop. He stood at medium height, sans uniform, that displayed the contours of well-built physic. He went over to survey everyone at their work to ask questions, gave orders, and then took his position at a prominent place from where he could see the proceedings.

Occasionally, the constables came forward and, after salutations, briefed him. His gaze, though sometimes strayed over at where Bandu sat, and finally, they summoned him to come. That was it now for Bandu- he was going into the lion's cage, he thought. He trotted towards them, not displaying his apprehensions.

"What's your name?" the well-dressed man asked.

"Bandu Raghav, sir," he said.

"How old are you?"

"35, sir,"

"Appearances are often deceptive," the officer said, "It sits aptly with you. Why do you cover yourself so much,"

"It's cold, sir,"

"Really?"

"Remove your turban- I want to see your face clearly," the inspector ordered. Bandu clenched his jaw and slowly lifted the turban from his head, letting his wavy, overgrown hair down. He tried to comb it in place with his hand.

"Just as I thought. You look out of place here. Are you sure that you are not hiding anything from me,"

"There is nothing to hide, sir,"

"Ok, then, let's hear your story,"

He then went on to narrate what happened while being scrutinized thoroughly. They carefully weighed his words and counter-questioned him many times. But Bandu remained unperturbed throughout the questioning. The interrogation ended quickly, as there was not much input he could give. They made him sign the statement. During the interrogation, much action had transpired in the background. Firstly, they moved the body away, and secondly, what came as a surprise and enraged him was that his shack had been opened for search leaving all the belongings inside in disarray.

Bandu, who maintained a clean disposition, was unhappy at this but did not raise his complaint.

"You cannot open the shop until further orders," his attention was diverted back when the constable addressed him. The officer had moved away, "and do not go outstation without our permission as we will need to question you again," the constable stated.

"But I disclosed everything I know," Bandu countered.

"Why, is there any problem for you to come to the police station when called?" The constable questioned him in a stern tone.

"No...no, I have no problem in coming," Bandu said, shaking his head in denial and quickly headed towards his shack, but again a voice halted him.

"You cannot go in there right now. We will let you know when to open the shop," the constable said.

"But my things...they are in a mess...I need..." Bandu grumbled but was again interrupted.

"Those will remain as they are...we need to investigate further," he explained.

Bandu looked on dejectedly as the men roughly pulled down the sheet on the shack and stuck a yellow tape around it. There was nothing that he could do as he saw his world go out of his hands.