The wasted souls (Completed)

Chapter 2

Manohar Acharya, inspector in-charge of the police station, was just about to retire for the day when three of his men came in with a beggar, holding a bundle in his hand.

"We found him outside the railway station, with this bundle in hand," one of them said, pointing to the bundle that was moving in the beggar's arm.

Acharya looked at it puzzled and then glanced at constable Sharan, with a questioning glare.

"It's a baby...not his though...says he found it in the bin nearby. I went and checked...found another bundle...," he paused, "there was a human head in it,"

"Head!"

"Yes. Have cornered off the place,"

"What about the body?"

"Did not find it nearby,"

"Male...Female?"

"Female,"

"Ok, lodge him inside. Take the child from him and feed it. I will come back and question him after a look at the sight,"

"Feed it?" Sharan threw him an incredulous look, "What?"

"Milk...of course,"

"At this time...," he was in a state of confusion, "I mean at this time of the night,"

"Ask Tambe, he'll find some way," Tambe was the local grocer who resided in his shop with his family and small kids.

Acharya walked out, followed by two constables. The railway station was a few paces away from the police station. The streets were empty and dark, with not even a stray in sight. Not that there were many, hence the town was called sleepy hollow for no reason.

People did not react to anything, as they were too attached to their dull life. He inspected the bin, with the head in it. The surrounding areas did not reveal any leftovers of the crime as the constable said.

He headed towards the station master's office. He was seated reading his holy book in hand. Acharya wondered what he searched for in those pages. Since his transfer here four years back, Shantilal Badal was the station master, and never once did he replace that book with anything else. Maybe he was still searching. Shantilal, 55 plus, was due to retire and waited patiently for his release.

Footsteps alerted him of a visitor and brought up a little smile for Acharya.

"Just thought about you," he announced, getting up from his seat.

"Why bring me up in your thoughts?" he greeted the man with a handshake.

"As usual, another wasted soul,"

"Who was it, this time?"

"A woman,"

"Let's see it then," Acharya said and retraced his steps to the exit and stopped letting Shantilal lead the way. The constables followed them.

The scene was gruesome every time he came upon a new one. His heart clenched as though someone was squeezing it tight. His stomach hardened at the thought of a depressed and tortured human sanity wanting to take such an extreme step. Was death an answer to your problems? Maybe it was better than living in a shit hole.

The two constables had got down on the tracks to examine the half body that lay uncovered. They then traversed the tracks, one to the right and the other to the left to find out the remaining and returned only to inform that they had found none. Acharya and Shantilal threw confused and baffled glances at each other.

"What does that mean?" Shantilal asked.

"It's not an accident definitely," Acharya put in his thoughts, "but first we have to establish it," his keen investigative mind reverted to the head found in the bin but still, even if it was the same person, the upper body was to be found.

It was the first case that now needed an investigation since he came to this station. They had moved back to the station masters' office, while the constables were covering up the body. Shantilal was then briefed about the head found in the bin outside the station, with a baby. He was surprised that this sleepy town was used to dump a crime. He was sure that the dead did not belong to that town.

Acharya was back at the station to complete the formalities. When he reached, the baby was sleeping. It was no place for a baby, but until a case is registered, he could not hand over the baby to the orphanage, until then the cushioned chair was its bed, and the police station its abode.

The beggar was also fed and was on his back in slumber. Acharya did not doubt his innocence but had to prove that too. He doubted that the beggar would have any complaints regarding receiving free food and drink, three times a day, although he pleaded not guilty.

The next morning, it was the infant's cries that greeted him on reaching the police station. His wife Malani was inquisitive about the baby when he explained to her the reason for his late arrival home yesterday. They were childless, and any abandoned child made her restless, particularly this one. She had pestered him to bring it home until the case was over. He did not particularly favor the idea because once you are attached to it, then the separation would be a painful wound for life.

The only lady constable P. Daver was trying unsuccessfully to get it quiet. He cringed at the unpleasant, familiar odor and glanced over at the dirty chair the baby had slept in.

"What's the matter with it?"

"Don't know sir," she replied, "What a bother. It would not even drink the milk"

"I think you better take it to the hospital. Let them have a check, and if needed ask them to take care of it for a few days and report to me." he instructed, "And while you are there, ask about all recent childbirth deliveries that they conducted and collect their names and addresses,"

"Yes sir," she said and turned to leave when he noticed that she was carrying the baby in the dirty cloth.

"At least change the wrap," he said. It was human after all, and they all failed to notice it, including him. No one wanted to leave their space to do something good but would rather dirty their surroundings than take the pain to clean their muck themselves.

But ignorance was bliss, and he too practiced it sometimes and felt ashamed at himself. He was at least proud of his wife, who had the heart to look after the baby.

With the baby gone, he went through the statement of the beggar. There was nothing much of his life than begging. Then it was the statement of the station master, Shantilal. Here too, there was not much to be observed. With that aside, he sent out a message to the nearby town police station to informed them about the death and requested a report of any missing person complaint that was registered there.

The next four days saw no advance in the case. The baby was hospitalized with fever and was pulling on. Malani took it upon her to visit the hospital to sit by the infant, and he did not stop her this time. The upper body of the dead female, found on the tracks, was not traced anywhere. Although a mystery, there was not enough motivation to solve the case, and was treated as a routine affair, so the case moved at a snail's pace.

In the next few days, the blood reports came in deepening the mystery and creating a stir in the community. The head, as Acharya had assumed to belong to the dead person found on the tracks, was wrong. The blood report confirmed that they were two separate bodies. So now they had a headless body and a head without the body. But tests confirmed that the baby was with its dead mother in the bin.

Mainly because of the two murders, the case now came under the notice of the higher authorities. With that, pressure came upon Acharya to crack the case immediately.

But he had no clue to pursue any of the two cases. He sends away his constables to search in nearby hospitals of any recent delivery patients. The nearby towns were big and had two to three hospitals catering to the people. There were two such towns, and then there were three smaller towns too.