TRUE LIES-PUZZLE FROM ANANDNAG

4) STORY OF THE WHEAT GARDENS

       The sky was golden with the well lit sun, so the ripen wheat fields which added on the lusture to the roadsides as we drove across from chandigarh to pathankot. The empty and broad highways reminded me of a glacial river that carry sediments from the highlands so jet black and absorbing all glare off shore.
        The only halts we had were those toll gates where we had to show our identity cards for passage. Later on it was green on either sides with a few mills and estates visible as glance. The yellow flowered mustard yards reminded her of a scene from DDLJ and she smiled to me.
         "Can you stop down here?" She requested knowing that we were driving in an expressway were one should not stop roadside.
        Unable to push her down in to depression after ditching our north east trip, I took a turn to the subway and drove out of the express way in to those mustard fields. After clicking a few photographs over there and relinquishing her lost dreams she came back to me and asked that question.
        "Where are we going to?"
        "So you don't trust me darling." I looked into her eyes so deeply that she bursted out.
        "Its not about trust.You spoiled our plans first of all and taking me somewhere else at your will. So I want to know where it is, so that I can inform my parents."
       "We are going to pathankot to meet a family, whom you might know. Rest shall remain a suspense sweetheart." Saying that I started the car and drove all the way to jalandhar and further to pathankot.
      Our car next halted for our breakfast in front of a punjabi dhaba at gurdaspur and my better half however enjoyed the parathas and mattar paneer over there. Then we drove by eleven to a small village near pathankot called nurpur, our car halted in front of a huge farmland and rest journey we had to walk through the wheat fields which were blooming with the fresh harvest.
         Our journey ended up in front of a bunglow from which an old lady in late seventies came down to greet us.
"You must be Capt Madhav, the doctor from Khush's unit." She recognised me so well because I had already informed them about my arrival.
        "She is the grandmother of a courageous soldier called Sep Savinash singh, who was once awarded sena medal for saving the life of Lt Col Ajay , during OP rhino seven years back." I introduced her to my sweetheart and he looked at me confused.
        "How come you know them so well? Any military connections?"
        "Even you might know her if I would say she is the grandmother of Harleen Kaur, the maid of Col Ajay and Mrs Chauhan." This time she was shocked instead of getting surprised and asked me.
        "How and why did you take us here?"
        "Do you like hearing stories?"
        "Yes of course."
        "Then we are here to do a story on Late Savinash singh." I clicked my lids so that she could catch my intentions and we started with the interview.
       "Doctor saab, my son Savinash was a good farmer like his dad. I raised  harleen and him without their parents from their early childhood. He  was hardworking on ground with his closest buddy Khushwant, they were together always since their teenage days. They worked in these wheat fields for years, then attended the recruitment at faridkot and got selected to serve SIKHLi paltan.
          They were buddies forever in their training and further in duties with the regiment." The grand old lady started narrating their story upon my request.
        "Yes granny, khushji had told me a lot about them..But you have any idea what had happened to him at bagdogra?"
        "Son he had prooved his valor there, when he saved the life of his commander Saab from naga militants who had abducted him. They both drank inside that 'crow hut' once they were back on leave narrating me the whole story. We were all proud of l him and our sarpanch had arranged a meeting to congratulate him for his achievements." She handed us both two glasses of sweet lassi and we sipped them to bottom passionately.
          "If you could say granny, what happened to him for committing suicide?"
      "Son , we don't know the exact reason. He was a hero to his regiment after that adventure , his commamder took him as personal buddy and nominated him for Sena medal. Myself and harleen were involved in looking for a gorgeous wife for him by the next time he would come for leave.
     But one day we got a call from the regiment saying that my son killed himself with a bullet. Unfortunately even khush was away on a temporary duty to know what had gone wrong with him. Next we saw him in this courtyard wrapped in the white clothes inside a glass box covered with the national flag.
      We cried a lot for weeks, until khush arrived himself to wipe our tears. He has been my son since then, always with us in our kin and kith. I later married harleen to him and she lives with him happily at Bagdogra." The old lady was almost breaking in to tears and what I could give her was to give a shoulder to rest. She hugged me tightly and shed all her burden in to tears.
        "Granny your son was a great soldier, so do your son in law. You should be proud of them forever. By the way, do you live here all alone?"
      "No my dear son. Khush had brought a small boy five year back to take care of me and farm lands. Now he is a young man, who manages all by himself." She took me to sukhvinder singh an orphan boy whom Khushwant singh adopted as his son legally five years back.
        Though I arrived at nurpur with the crude mind of a detective, I left leaving more to ponder on the humanitarian grounds behind those  brutal murders  we both had witnessed.
        On her way back she asked me the same question as she had started reading my minds.
"Are you suspecting Khushwant singh for the murder of your 2IC and harleen kaur for the suicide of Mrs Ajay?"
         "Yes, I have solid reasons for that. The bullet on his chest was from an INSAS rifle from a soldier with boot size twelve."
         "But he wasn't there among the five people you guys  had interrogated." She threw her point for his defence.
         "Yes, he hid himself being the CHM. But he once told me,he couldn't get inducted to siachen because they couldn't find a scarpa boot to fit to his size. As far as I know scarpa boots are available up to the size twelve and not beyond that. I confirmed it with the SM saab at rashtriya rifles and it was true." I slowly started opening up Pandora's box before her which I had aquired during my two day stay at Bagdogra waiting for my girlfriend to complete her enquiry sessions.
           "Oh that's so shocking but what would be the motive for such planned murders? That too of an officer, his lady and child together."
   "There is one more murder which even I hadn't realised until I noticed all these people were together at Bagdogra in 2005. Maj Diljith was also murdered in a similar passion during one of their operations together. I discussed it with the SM saab and he too nodded to my suspicions.
        In both operations Hav Khushwant guarded the backs of the respective officers, cover fired for them and ultimately killed the militant after both officers were shot in chest. This time there was a boot mark over his chest which probably revealed his identity."  I narrated her my deductions but we had no further evidences to clarify them.
        "But that doesn't make him a murderer, we need some solid evidences to proove he is guilty.. Atleast a self declaration from him would suffice."
        "Yes I know. Since the body of Col Ajay and Maj Diljith were recovered from operational areas no ballistic study would suffice to proove him guilty. The post mortem report  of Maj Diljith doesn't give any suspicions of a murder as bullet had scorched past his chest. But we have recovered an INSAS bullet from Lt Col Ajay Chauhan during autopsy. So we might be able to prove he is guilty if put in a court of enquiry." I explained her my planning to go on with the case though it wasn't a part of my duty.
        "Yes you might be, but how can I proove that Harleen had poisoned her master in her food or something with 'ALTOK' a well known weedicide from punjabi fields?"
         "If you have stocked the sample bottles after autopsy it would be possible. The batch number and QR code might give hints to the place where it had been purchased. May be a few finger prints might be recovered  from it and if the investigators had raided her home immediately after the incident, may be many precious clues would have been collected." I gave some vague ideas I had about solving these crimes.
          "By the way, what is our next move?" She asked me just to know whether we would end up behind this murder mystery through out the leave.
        "How about a long drive to Kashmir valley?" I smiled at her anticipating she would be super excited about my new plan. But she had started understanding me better than anyone in this world.

*********To be continued***********