Sense & Sensibilities

Take me back to the night we (died)

29 April, 2023. Time: 9.45 pm

A group of unknown assailants Forced themselves into house no. 64. Of Sarthak street. Only one person was present at that time in the house – Mrs Roshni Arjun Rawte. They tied her up, as per forensic reports probably for 2-3 hours. There were multiple stab wounds on her whole body, major cause of death being bloodloss caused by a deep cut over her throat. No signs of any other assualt like beating or sexual. Around 11.39pm a call was made from landline of residence to Kosabi police station – where ASP Rawte was posted. There was no sound on the line except for a scream.

*Sound of tape recorder being, a woman's blood curling scream echoed for a long time. It seemed like she was exhausted, and the call went disconnected*

Of course he rushed to his house – approximate 50 mins away from police station. He found the door opened, blood stains over the flooring and walls. He didn't call for backup when he came, so he was all alone. Next details are hazy, so it's assumed that he found Roshni- long dead since the call. It's unclear whether she was actually alive during those phone calls or those were just recording, as the time of death is mentioned between 10 to 11 pm – same time during the phone calls. ACP Rawte was hit with a blunt object on the back of his head. He went unconscious immediately – later in his testimony he mentioned seeing blurred outline of a tall, lean man hovering over him. When he woke up, police was there. He was injured too – there was a long, deep cut on his arm. Right over the tattoo where his wife's name was engraved.

Aisha closed the notebook she was reciting from, giving Riya some time to process the case details. She took a sip of water, then cleared throat to get her attention.

"Any questions?"

"What is the status of investigation now?"

Aisha made a sound of approval. "Good one." Pulling a Chair, she started. "The obvious suspect that time, was any criminal or someone whom Arjun sir had pissed off. Someone who had a large team, was capable enough to carry on one murder and one attempted murder, kept his team under control – obviously possessing a sharp cool mind. Someone with experience, someone with courage in that level – it was a risk when he came in the vision of Sir. He could have identified him. And when I say attempted murder, the term is used loosely. The intention was to commit only one murder."

"Why hurt him then?"

"I think you will have the better answer."

Riya thought for a few moments. "There was a call made to police station but no sound other than her scream? No sound of the murderer? No threat, no taunts, no gloating?" Aisha shook head at that. "What was the intention then? To bring him home as quickly as possible? To make him witness the death?"

"if the answer is yes then?"

"Then... then." There was a pause. "then it's probably to teach a lesson?" her words were halted. "And you said there is a scar on his arm? That's like a trophy then."

"Trophy how?" Aisha frowned. "Isnt trophy is something a killer collects for his own pleasure? To keep the memory to him/herself to revisit. There was nothing missing from the house. I don't think that's a trophy."

"the killer did took something. He took the identity of Roshni. The physical and symbolic one. He ruined the tattoo, scarred it. He will remember this – just like ACP will. The Killer will revisit it when he wants to." Riya looked at her. "Any suspect?"

"There is this gang Sir was investigating back then." Aisha went through her notebook, turned a few pages and finally reached the pointers. "Name is unknown, but they were involved in drugs smuggling. Before you ask – yes, I had read the file. Their drugs were genuine, came from Russia via route of Afghanistan. Sir had pages of reports, notes and theories on that gang. Multiple raids – official , planned and unofficial, surprise ones. Many people were caught, but nothing came out of it . Maybe he saw something which wasn't captured in these reports. Anyways, here is this interesting thing. Sikandar."