The Gentleman's Game

5. Truth Or Lie

Crime Branch

Salim barged into Abhijeet's cabin, "Sir, Dr Tarika has sent the report. It is Chris D'Souza. Sir...." Abhijeet raised his hand, "Calm down Salim. Sit down first." Salim sat down opposite his senior. "Now tell me." Salim took a deep breath, "Sir, Chris D'Souza is an old criminal. He has been arrested many time for drug dealings."

"Was Sanjeev into drugs?" Abhijeet asked. "No sir," Salim answered, "We found nothing suspicious in his belongings. His blood report was also absolutely clear. Plus, his career as a cricketer was flourishing, why would he destroy it?" Abhijeet nodded, "So, we cannot establish any direct link between Sanjeev and Chris. Maybe this Chris fellow was ordered to kill Sanjeev." The ACP thought for a while and then asked, "Salim, do you have his address?" Salim nodded. "I want him here as soon as you can," the ACP ordered. Salim nodded and left with his team of constables.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Abhijeet said. Apoorva walked inside and said, "Found it, sir. The number belongs to Hetal Mehta. She is a reporter, works for ABC." "Interesting, why did Sanjeev contact a reporter? We should meet her," Abhijeet said. "There is a problem in that," Apoorva hesitated, "I called on the number and it was answered by a lady constable. At present, Hetal is in City Hospital."

"Damn it," Abhijeet yelled, "Let's go there, Apoorva. Hetal might lead us somewhere."

*********************************************************

City Hospital

Abhijeet and Apoorva walked to the reception. Showing their badges, Apoorva asked, "We are here to meet Hetal Mehta." The receptionist directed them.

Abhijeet and Apoorva were greeted by the lady constable. "How did it happen?" Abhijeet asked. "Sir, it was me who found her last night. A truck had rammed into her car. The driver is on run. I brought her to the hospital and informed my seniors. They are trying to trace the truck driver."

The door of the ward opened and the doctor walked out. "How is she?" Apoorva asked. "She is out of danger," the doctor said, "She has a fracture in her right leg and has suffered heavy bleeding. We have done the necessary medications. No internal injuries. We will have to wait till she regains consciousness. A few tests have to be performed after that." Abhijeet nodded and shook hands with the doctor.

As the doctor walked away, Abhijeet asked the lady constable, "Did you find anything of significance from the place of accident?" "No sir, We found her purse. It had her driving licence, her Aadhar card, some money. We also found a phone but it was broken. We have sent it for data recovery."

Abhijeet nodded and thought for a while. "Sir, it could be a hit and run case," Apoorva stated. "We will have to find out. We cannot ignore the possibility of attempted murder," Abhijeet spoke, "Apoorva, I want the best officers here. And tell them, if anything goes wrong, they should be well prepared to bear the consequences. Hetal might tell us exactly why Sanjeev was murdered."

*********************************************************

Location: Shivay Chawl,Thane

The atmosphere was in a total contrast with all the bling bling of the city. The small building was covered with algae on the outside. The ladies were doing small chores, men were busy in chattering and drinking, children were playing games.

The team got out of their car. Everybody was surprised by the sudden visit of the police. They started looking for Chris, a man who was in his early thirties, with cunning eyes, dusky complexion and a cut on his forehead. They asked the people about but the response was in negative.

After a while a lady approached Salim. "Son I have some information about Chris," the old woman whispered, "His house is on the fourth floor. He is usually alone but sometimes his friends come over. Most of the times he is out of the house so he seldom comes home." "Thank you mam," Salim said while joining his hands.

The team went into his house. The door was locked. A constable broke it with his gun. The house was a pigsty. Newspapers were spreaded here and there, utensils were dirty and were all over the house. The team went inside into the bedroom. They started searching here and there and after a while found a packet which was full of drugs and confiscated it.

They continued the search and found a book. Salim looked into this book. It contained the list of the customers who had ordered drugs from him. "Look here, the last order was a day before yesterday from Mr. Wilson." Salim noticed that this man had ordered drugs from Chris several times. He dialled the number and Wilson answered the call.

"Hello, who's this?"
"Mr. Wilson, it's Chris's assistant here. Did you order some cocaine from him?"
Wilson was flustered,"No, sorry wrong number."
"Wilson, don't worry. He knows that I am calling you. We just wanted to check if you have received the packet."
"Yes."
The call ended.

The team left immediately and traced this number.

*********************************************************

The team reached the location. They were in front of a mansion located near the sea. They all went to the entrance and rang the bell. "Police, open the door right now," Salim yelled. The door opened and the team went inside. "Mr. Wilson, I was the one who called you pretending to be Chris's assistant. You are his regular customer. So, tell us where is he right now?" Salim blustered. "I....I don't know where is he," Wilson stuttered. "Listen you! don't waste our time and tell us immediately."

Suddenly Wilson's phone rang. It was Chris. "Answer it and put the phone on speaker," Salim whispered.

"Yes Chris, what now?"
"Bro, are you enjoying your time? This time I have given you the most superior quality. Make sure you use it to the fullest," a drunk Chris spoke from the other side.

In the meantime police managed to trace Chris's location. "Come with us." The team along with Wilson left to capture the drug dealer.

*********************************************************

Location: Ace of Clubs, Marine Drive

The police entered the pub. Everybody was high and dancing to the item songs. The police started searching for Chris. Before they could find him, Chris noticed Wilson. "Hey bro! What are you doing here?" a drunk Chris said while hugging Wilson. He reeked of alcohol. While the greetings were being exchanged, the police arrested Chris.

"What are you bastards doing here? I didn't do anything wrong. Why are you arresting me?" Chris yelled. Despite several attempts to escape, he was knocked down by Salim and was taken to the Crime Branch.

*********************************************************

Crime Branch

Abhijeet entered the interrogation room with a stick in his hand. "Finally we caught you," he said with a smirk. "What's my fault?", Chris cried. "Stop pretending like a fool. If you don't want to get beaten then just answer truthfully to all my questions. Got it!" Abhijeet was in rage. Chris nodded.

"First of all after getting punished several times, why are you still doing the drug business?" "I wanted to make lots of money and the easiest way was drug business," Chris said in an attitude. "We will get to that point later. Why did you kill Sanjeev?" Abhijeet looked into Chris's eyes.

"Sanjeev Arora? I don't have any sort of connections with him why would I kill him?" he was a bit flustered. "Bring it in," Abhijeet ordered. Salim brought a laptop and played the cctv footage.
"It's you, right? Don't deny because we found a strand of hair and it was yours," Abhijeet yelled, "Tell me, why did you kill Sanjeev?" " Because someone ordered me to...." " Who?", Abhijeet was angry. Chris looked around and said, "That vice captain, what was his name?" Abhijeet slammed Aviral's photograph on the table.

"Yes. This guy. He gave me five lakhs to do the job."