The Magpie #YourStoryIndia

The Magpie

For Detective Ravi Krishnan it was not a new phenomenon to be called in the middle of the night for a case. Having just been promoted to Detective status many in the department still considered him a novice, which resulted him getting cases which no one wanted. It was a particularly rainy night, it seemed as though all the heat absorbed during the day was returning back again in the form of rain. The street light gave orangish glow to the drops of rain that fell torrentiously around his umbrella, the slum was dimly lit. Each house built on top of the other almost forming a mountain of roughly made houses.
He walked on wrinkling his nose slightly his nose at the smell of garbage mixed with smoke. He finally reached the scene and was greeted by his junior inspector who immediately began reporting the case to him. He motioned in the direction of the once dilapidated house which had now collapsed and was a burnt smoldering mess.
"The firetruck could not get in the street, luckily it is raining heavily which contained the fire while the firepersons could bring the pipe in." he informed.
Ravi Krishnan inspected the scene, it was a typical slum dwellers home, small barely held together by patched up concrete and now all was left of it were a few rows of charred black bricks and fragments of burnt plastic which was once the roof. There was a stray dog sniffing through the remains. Taking a deep breath he asked, "Any casualties?"
The Inspector again shook his head, "No Sir, only a man lives here, and he ran out of his house before the fire got too bad. As for the neighboring houses expect for the smoke their houses aren't affected."
"Where is the owner? Who called in to report?" The detective now interested.
"The owner himself called into complain. But sir, he didn't just call to complain about the house, he called to report a robbery. He claims that someone has stolen four crores from him." Ravi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at this, a man living in a Mumbai slum claiming to be a millionaire. He was skeptical about the truthfulness of the story but intrigued all the same.
"The owner is talking to the officer, sir. I can take you to him if you like." The Inspector informed him. Ravi shook his head and walked to the crowd that had gathered around the scene. From his experience as a junior officer he knew from experience that the bystanders sometimes noticed things that even experienced detectives miss. He looked at the crowd and asked an adolescent boy to come forward.
The boy looked a little scared but came forward nonetheless. Ravi put his hand on his shoulder and steered him away from the crowd. "Tell me son, do you know who lives here?" he asked. The child paused for a few seconds, "The house belonged to Mathur sahib but he rents it out. This new guy just came two months ago. He does not talk much and remains out most of the day. Only yesterday he had this huge fight with Karve when he found him inside his house."
"And who is Karve and what was he doing in his house?" Ravi inquired.
"Sahib Karve is our water guy, he supplies us water during the day and once in the evening. He must be supplying water at that time." The boy answered.
"Alright. Good boy. What is your name?" Ravi asked removing his wallet. The boy's eyes immediately went to the wallet and expecting a reward he eagerly replied. "Shanu sahib"
Ravi chuckled and handed him a 20 rupee note for his trouble and sent him on his way. The boy walked ahead but then turned and walked back towards Ravi, "Sahib, Karve wasn't the only person this man had a fight with. Today early night also we could hear shouting from his house, but the curtains were shut so we couldn't see who it was." Sure now that he had given all the information the boy went on his way.
Ravi pondered on this new information he had got. He would definitely have to question the owner about this. The rain had slowed down a bit and even the crowd had lessened around the scene. Ravi called his Inspector towards him as he came near he said, "Khare I want you to take the owner and go to the station and file his complaint. Keep him there only overnight. I will see him in the morning. I also want the unit to canvass the area for any footprint though it's unlikely to find it because of the rain. I also want the unit to question everyone in the neighborhood, ask them if they have seen or heard anything especially today night." The Inspector nodded and walked on to carry out the orders.
Ravi walked on the street looking for something that would make sense to him. But it was dark and the rain didn't make it easier to look for clues. He gave up and decided to come back in the morning.
The next morning, Ravi Krishnan was still as confused as the next before. He had gone through the neighbors' testimony, the little boy's story, and the forensic report of the fire at the house. Nothing made sense to him. To otop that he had firm orders to finish the case as soon as possible. He motioned Khare to get him the owner again so he could hear his story again. Ramesh the owner of the burned house was a spindly man. Not the kind of man you thought of possessing even a thousand rupees let alone four crore.
Looking at him firmly Ravi said, "You better be telling the truth. Otherwise, you will be the one spending the rest of your life in jail."
Ramesh joined his hands as though pleading to him. "Sahib, please believe me. I have never used illegal means to earn money. For the first time I used the extra to buy a lottery ticket by God's grace I won the lottery. My whole life was going to change. I remember clearly I kept the lottery ticket hidden in the bronze vessel and kept it near the temple in my house the night that it disappeared. I just went out for a few minutes and when I came back my house was burning and my vessel had disappeared. I'm sure that, that thieving Karve only must have stolen it. I'm telling you sir, he did it." He was in tears by the time he finished.
Ravi took a breath before replying, "Karve wasn't even in the city the night was set on fire. He was nabbed at Nagpur station on suspicion but then released. It wasn't him."
Mathur just kept shaking his head not believing anything that he thought wasn't true.
Later in the day, Ravi went back to the slum and tried to question the neighbors. It was still raining quite heavily, but life had moved on for the slum dwellers the collapsed house was the thong of the past. Ravi was sitting inside the neighbor's house sipping a cup of tea. The neighbor was just recounting his previous experiences with Mathur. The story was nothing unusual, nothing Ravi didn't already know. Ravi was just asking about Karve when a stray dog entered the house perhaps looking for shelter. Its black fur was patched in places as though singed, it kept sniffing about the house.
The neighbor got up and started to shoo the dog away. Looking at Ravi he said, "Sorry sahib, this dog steals any shiny thing or vessel he finds in the house. He really is a nuisance I will get him out in a minute."
But Ravi was struck with an idea. Could the answer be this simple? He motioned the neighbor to give the nearby give the nearby vessel to the dog. The neighbor though skeptical about it still gave the dog the vessel. The dog held the vessel between his jaws and ran out of the door, leaving Ravi to follow him.
The dog ran through the streets with Ravi in tow. He finally came to clearing of sorts. It was an old banyan tree. There were red strips of cloth tied to its branches mostly by devotees and its roots spread wide. The dog turned around and was out of sight behind its huge trunk. Ravi walked to the back of the tree, and found the dog digging furiously into the ground. A few minutes later, Ravi saw himself in front of an amazing loot for a dog. A number of shiny bronze vessels, keys, chains anything shiny. He bent down and went through the vessels looking to find the ticket.
Back at the station Ravi put the vessel in front of Ramesh. Ramesh couldn't believe his eyes. He took the vessel in his hands and turned it around then he put his hand inside almost closing his hoping it was true but he came up empty. The vessel was empty. He was almost in tears, "Sahib this is mine but my ticket sahib... my ticket it missing. My life is ruined."
Ravi seeing him so despondent put a hand inside his pocket and removed the lottery ticket and gave it to him. There were tears flowing down Ramesh's eyes. He joined his hands and profusely thanked Ravi. He walked out the station a happy man with his life back.
As they saw him go, Khare asked Ravi, "Sir, I understand the dog taking the vessel thinking it's shiny but how did the house catch fire?"
Ravi grinned," Do you see this vessel Khare, it is mostly used in pujas. This was kept at the temple near the ceremonial diya. Went the dog took the vessel he probably must have dropped the diya on the mat thus starting a fire. The dog must have left before Mathur tried getting in. You saw the house Khare it was a match waiting to be lit. It burned down in an instant. Anyway close this case now."
And just then the phone rang with a promise of new case bringing an end to this unexpected case