The Diary of Harihara

Chapter 5

21st March, 2017 Tuesday

With hovering thoughts circling my head, I walked back to my room. As I climbed up the stairs, I kept thinking about the double murders in the city. There was something extremely unsettling about it for me. As I reached my floor, I saw Arjun walking around in the corridor. He seemed restless.

"Hey man, what's up?" I asked Arjun.

"Hi bro. I was waiting for you man. I need to talk to you about something and I don't know what to do" he said with panic stricken face.

"Calm down buddy, what happened?" I asked him.

"Come inside, I will tell you" he said as he pulled me into his room.

Arjun was the kind of guy who you typically identify as someone who is mellow in life. He was a smart kid but never exuberant about anything. He never took the center stage but was good socially. He was a diplomat. He never agreed with anyone nor did he disagree with anyone. And sometimes that just reflects in the way you live. Arjun's room was neither clean nor dirty. He was there and there about. He was a good sportsman though. He loved playing cricket. There were posters of great cricket players on the wall in his room. There was a small chair by his balcony door which had piles of clean clothes. He threw down all the clothes and asked me to sit on it. Just as I sat, my phone started to ring. It was Rohan.

"Hello"

"Hey man, it's me Rohan. Listen, are you a bitch or a snitch?" he enquired.

"What the fuck?" I asked.

"So, Lahari sir gave us assignment last week which we have to submit tomorrow. If you have already completed and haven't given me your work, you are a snitch. If you haven't completed it yet, well, then you are a bitch" he said with a tippy tone.

"I'm a bitch. I haven't even started it" I said with a smile on my face.

"I knew it. Anyways, if you do complete it, just lemme know" he said and cut the call.

I looked at my phone and kept it inside my pocket. Arjun was sitting in front of me, breathing heavily.

"Okay, tell me what is wrong with you?" I asked him.

"Dude, the police have asked for me to go and visit them" he said.

"Well, you knew Amit well. Of course they are going to call you man. Just go there and tell them whatever you know" I said as I popped a Tic-tac lying there into my mouth.

"Dude, that's the catch. They aren't calling me regarding Amit, they wanna talk to me about Keertan" he said.

I looked up in shock. I could not understand why Arjun was being called out for the murder of Keertan? Has it got to do with the spat between Karan and Amit? I couldn't figure things out. And suddenly of all the thoughts flashing before me, I remembered the dreaded New Year 's Day. And I trailed back to that memory...

1st January 2017 Sunday

Inspector Raksha was a tall, beautiful and well-built police officer. She was not married and lived a single life. Raksha had recently been transferred to the district under which AihikaNagar and Noipal were a part of as an Inspector. She was one of the most respected and fearless cop in the state. She was honest and sincere which resulted in her getting transferred multiple times. Everyone feared her, for she was "Law is the law" kind of officer. She was well learned and knew things about criminology. She even took personal interest in crimes against women, in the sense of "correcting" the culprits physically. The only drawback in her revered career was that she had never handled any criminal case worthwhile her caliber. As she was a woman, the system in place did not allow her to be a leader in any major crime investigations. She had been in the service or nearly seven years now and had never handled a cutting edge career building murder case on her own.