10 A Curious Case

Baragaon - The Morning After

They woke up to the sweet chirping of birds in the woods. Mrityunjay and Shivani were engulfed by passions and needs so long suppressed that the minutes of the night were too inadequate to douse the fire of their desires. After passionate love making through the night, they had finally fallen asleep, exhausted and satisfied, entwined in each other's arms. It was difficult to say where he began and where she ended. His hard torso bracketing her tender frame, they slept a deep sleep that night, after what seemed like a lifetime.

Mrityunjay, awoken by the chirping birds, stared at Shivani. She had slept without any nightmares. He felt his chest tighten as he struggled to comprehend just how much must she have missed him. He felt her love for him was far greater than his for her. The one woman, who had stood by him when his own mother wanted to make him a guinea pig, who fought to prove he had done no wrong...

Shivani stirred under his intense gaze. Craning her neck backwards to look at him, she pushed closer into him, if it were at all possible. "What are you thinking about?" she queried him, her eyes closed, soaking in his love. "Us," he responded simply.

She was fully awake by then and turned around as he bent down to capture her lips in a tender kiss. “I'll build our house here, by myself. There's no vets here in the villages close by. You can open your clinic here...” She didn't let him complete the sentence though.

"Mrityunjay, you may run away from circumstances, I will not. I know you've been through a lot, I understand your frustrations. And I am not going to force you to do something you don't want to do, but you too mustn't force me to do what I don't want to either," she pronounced, sitting up now.

He leaned on her bare back. "Will you be able to live without me?" he asked her.

"NO," she expressed firmly. “And now don't make me choose," she completed. Then, more seriously, "You have the ability to transform the lives of so many people. Why do you want to waste your self here?” she countered.

Mrityunjay got up and walked towards the window. Staring outside, he called out to Shivani, "come here,” he called. "Can you see that cloud floating in that never ending sky? Can you ever capture it in a cage? I'm that cloud," he stated causually. But watching her determined look, he made her one last offer.

"You don't want to stay here, it's OK. You want to go back, that's OK too. But I will not move out of this place.” As Shivani tried to say something, Mrityunjay brought her close and touched his finger to her lips. "Shhh, hear me out. Go back, stay there for six months. But as soon as summer starts there, come back to me," he said, eyeing her keenly for her reaction. Shivani looked at him incredulously.

Mumbai Police Headquarters - Department for Cold Cases - Present Day

Inspector Anirudh Dixit, had just moved to his position as Assistant Commissioner of Police in the Unsolved Cases unit of the Mumbai Police Headquarters. He had recently been transferred to his current location after his alleged involvement in corruption scandals during his previous posting in Chennai. He was the ASP of an important area in Chennai. But now, he was relegated to the unsolved cases unit.

The young cop detested the injustice meted out to him. It was a game of political masters not allowing the Police Department to function at it was mandated by the constitution. The elected representatives always felt they could over stretch the powers bestowed to them by the constitution. He had rubbed his political masters the wrong way and this was their way of punishing him, getting him implicated in false cases.

He had been livid, protested vigorously, but the system was designed to aid the politician and in the end, he had to eat his words. A compromise had been reached. He apologised for his impulsive actions, took the transfer and moved out.

It had always been his dream to be in the Police Services. He came from a family of teachers in UP. He studied hard, topped his university and immediately went in for Civils. He chose the IPS and after a few forgettable postings, ended up in Chennai. He refused to get married, immersing himself fully in his work. But now, at his desk in one corner of this huge headquarters, he had lost all motivation. He simply went in and out of the building, whiling his time away with a few colleagues, having tea at a nearby tea stall and generally going through random files.

As he sat bored at his desk one day, one of the constables brought a massive folder and placed it in front of him. This constable knew all the interesting cases that were filed away in unsolved archives and just to humour his senior, gave him the files of some interesting cases to read.

"Sir, this is the big daddy of all the cases," he said, smiling cheekily. "Read this one, you'll feel like you are reading a thriller," he informed.

"Really?" asked Anirudh, eyeing the constable with a smirk on his face.

"Oh yes sir! You won't be able to put the file down till you reach the end," he assured, smiling cheek to cheek. “And you know the best part? There is no ending..... yet.”

"Hahaha,” roared Anirudh, laughing loudly. A couple of inspectors working on their desk tops turned around to look at him, disapprovingly. "Sorry," he put his hands up in an apology.

He opened the file and immediately noticed the face of the handsome young man stuck to the page. He seemed to come from a good family, had the trappings of riches written on his face. "Spoilt brat," he muttered under his breath and read on. He did not realise, immersed in the file as he was, when the clock had turned to 6:00 p.m.

Indeed, this young man seemed to have endured so much, going in and out of prison, for a crime he seemingly did not commit. Anirudh was baffled by the case. He took the file home and spent the whole night reading through it. Once, twice, over the next week, Anirudh went through the file multiple times. He became so involved with the life of this young man that he almost nearly felt compelled to help him.

He became obsessed with the injustice meted out to this man who could otherwise have had a promising life ahead of him. This was it! He had found his redemption. Anirudh decided that he would look into this case first up. He immediately drafted a mail to his senior, requesting permission to re-open the curious case of Mrityunjay Gaekwad.