SATYANWESHI; SEARCH FOR TRUTH

STORY #1; SATYANWESHI

                             CALCUTTA 1932.

A tall, young fair man asked a gatekeeper "is commissioner sir in?" the gatekeeper went inside and said to the commissioner that " a person named Byomkesh Bakshi is here to meet you, he said that he has earlier talked to you " the commissioner ordered the gatekeeper to send the man in. Byomkesh went inside and greeted the commissioner. Byomkesh said"Namaskar, my name is Byomkesh Bakshi, I earlier called you up on the telephone." the commissioner requested him to sit down."thank you " Byomkesh replied. He said in a very serious tone that he is here to help the police in the CHINA TOWN case murders and also concluded that he heard the police is very jittery about that matter. the commissioner asked him that was he listening all his talks on the telephone.  Byomkesh replied, "I was just standing outside your office, sir." "Then how come you know about it? " asked the commissioner.  Byomkesh replied "I can see the case file of CHINA case murders on your table, and I think I can help you in this matter," the commissioner said "the police themselves are very worried about this case, who are you to solve the case, A detective? "   Byomkesh replied"I am a satayanweshi, I am always in search of truth, I guarantee that I won't disappoint you" after a long period of silence the commissioner replied "OK , young man>" but  Byomkesh interrupted and said "but I have a condition that  only you and I know that I am working for police" the commissioner said "well, good luck young man" they both shaken their hands and  Byomkesh went to investigate the matter.

The next day Byomkesh when China house, there he saw'Anukul lodge'he went inside three he saw and a man sitting on a desk.it seemed like he was the manager there.Byomkesh him if he had any place where he could stay.the man asked him "by the way how did you get the address of Anukul lodge?"  Byomkesh replied that he was just passing by as he saw the board outside and just came in. The man said " here we only have 5 rooms to live in, last month only Rajeshwara Babu died, 1 room got vacant.Ajit babu was asking me a room here for 7 months so I offered the room to him" Byomkesh asked the man for some water, the man went outside the room to get some water.  Byomkesh said,"I see the rooms here are pretty big, aren't they ?" Ajit babu replied yes.  Byomkeshfurther said "can 2 people share a single room? I am ready to pay the full rent for the room". Ajit babu asked  Byomkesh his name, Byomkesh cant reveal his identity so he replied that his name is Manoj Kumar. Ajit asked  Byomkesh that what does he do?"  Byomkeshreplied that now he got a place to live, soon he may have a job too. Byomkeshaasked Ajit that what he does, Ajit replied "nothing, but I have a passion to write, sometimes my articles get published in the newspapers also. when the manager came with the glass of water, Ajit said " babu, I think that we both can share a room. the manager replied " ok, you can stay, bring your stuff here'' 

while  Byomkeshwas coming back with his stuff he saw police there, he asked one of the policemen that what had happened, the police replied that there a poor person had been murdered. When  Byomkesh reached the Anukul Lodge he asked Ajit that aren't they afraid to stay in this type of place where the murders are so common Ajit replied: "no why are you asking?" Ajit further said " let me introduce to our caretaker Mothi ram,  Byomkesh asked several questions from Moti ram about the people living there. Moti ram said that "the one who lives in room no. 2 he is always eating 'paan', he ever talks much, the one who is living in room no. 4 is reading bug, he even reads a book in the dining hall and the one living in room no. 5 is a diabetic patient, he is a bit aged and cranky too, now the room no. 1, there lives the manager of the lodge his name is Anukul babu, he is a doctor, he never charges the fee for any medicine from their lodge members. he is an impatient, yet very kind man. 

As soon as Moti ram finished his answer Ajit said "I have to go somewhere, I will be a little late " as soon as Moti ram and Ajit left the room. Byomkesh picked out a drill from his bag and started to drill the floor where the leg of the bed was placed. At night, near 10;00 Ajit returned, he saw  Byomkesh lying on the floor with his ear touched the floor. He asked  Byomkesh that what was he doing but, he replied nothing.

The next morning Moti ram came to their room and said that the one who lived in the room no. 5, Ishwar babu was brutally murdered, when  Byomkeshand and Ajit reached there they saw all the lodge members there everyone was very serious. 

that same night he went to Anukul babu and said that he is having a headache thus Anukul babu gave him a powdery substance and said to eat before sleeping, Anukul babu also offered Ajit to take some pills for good digestion. when  Byomkesh entered the room he took up several pillows and put it in a horizontal line, it seemed like it was a man sleeping and covered it with a white sheet, it exactly looked like a man was sleeping there. he warned Ajit not to eat those pills.he also said that when he will put on the lights he has to pick up the iron rod and stay alert.

when the clock struck 1:00 a.m. they both can hear the squeaking of the door, they saw Anukul babu with a big knife, it was looking like he wanted to stab  Byomkesh with it.  Byomkesh said, "you are under arrested for killing 7 people and having an illegal supply of cocaine all over Calcutta". Ajit was surprised that Manoj turned out to be a detective or a policeman!

the next day  Byomkesh invited Ajit for a tea, there when he reached, Ajit's mind was full of questions,  Byomkesh said " sit down, I'll tell you everything but first have some tea"  Byomkesh shouted and said, "Putiran, get some tea!" while they were drinking tea  Byomkesh said my name is not Manoj my name is  Byomkesh Bakshi, and I am a satyanweshi; an  Inquisitor. Ajit asked but how did you know that Anukul Babu was the culprit."  Byomkesh said "as Ishwar babu was a diabetic patient he very often goes to the toilet, the night before he died, he was going to the toilet, he saw Anukul babu murdering a person on the street in the middle of the night. it shooked him, he wanted to cross-check that what he saw was true, the next day he wanted to do so but was unable because he didn't get time. he got time to talk after the dinner. Anukul Babu said because of nervousness he may have seen the wrong person and given him some pills so that he can release, but those pills contained morphine powder so that he may become unconscious. Finding a golden opportunity, he went into Ishwar Babu's room and killed him. The next night, I lied that I had muscle aches. Then he gave me the powdered substance which was given to you too, which also contained the morphia powder. And further you know. As Ait was leaving,  Byomkesh offered him to live with him because he will now feel lonely without him. Ajit agreed and from then they both started staying together.