Sorry

By Aniruddha Malode

It was Friday morning, and I had a cup of coffee and a newspaper. My 4-year-old son came sprinting towards me with my mobile in his hand and handed it to me, saying in his babbling voice, "Papa, you have a call". I took my phone from him and could not resist kissing him on his chubby chicks, and I responded to the call.

"Inspector Abhinav Mahajan?" I answered, "Yes, speaking". "I am ACP Sanas. Report to me at crime branch headquarters in one hour." He hung up the call. I instantly left the house to beat Mumbai traffic and reach headquarters in time without saying goodbye to my son and my lovely wife. I could get detained by her for that.

"May I come in, sir?" I asked. He shook his head and asked me to have a seat. I came to know while waiting outside that it was his second day in Mumbai, and he is an investigation specialist with a track record of solving more than 25 critical cases in his career. He was an average-height person and did not have such an impressive personality, but his actions speak more for him than his personality. "How are you, Abhinav?" his voice felt too heavy for his character, "I am fine, sir. Welcome to Mumbai", I replied. I was still anxious about what is the reason for his calling me on such short notice.

"I have a very urgent matter to discuss, and based on the recommendation from your senior, I called you. Today at 6 am few morning walkers found a person asleep in his car on the outskirts of Dombivli, but they became suspicious as his car was blocking the way of a water tanker, and even after honking, he was not moving, so they called the nearby police station and police came to know he is dead. The person is identified as Mr Gautam Dholakia, a well-known builder in Mumbai. I know this is not under your jurisdiction but based on your records, I have decided that you should investigate this case as this is high profile, and before it goes viral in the media, try to get to a conclusion. Get in touch with PSI Shukla of Dombivli police station. He will be there to assist you." "I am on it, sir. I will keep you posted." I replied, left his office, went straight to the Government hospital at Kalyan, where the body is kept, and informed PSI Shukla to meet me there.

PSI Shukla was waiting for me at the hospital. He saw my car, came towards it, and saluted me. "What is the status? I want every detail on this case since you found the body", I ordered. "Sir, Mr Dholakia was found dead in the car around 6 to 6.30 and when we saw it felt like a person was sleeping. After carefully examining his car and body, we found a chit in his shirt's pocket written "SORRY". "Anything else?" I questioned. "Doctors are doing postmortem, and reports will be available in 2-3 hours. His family members are here, and also media got to know about the case", he replied.

I concluded in my head that it was a suicide based on my experience, but I decided to wait for the autopsy report. I questioned his family members about his mental state, and they said he was joyful. He showed no signs of stress or distress on the night he died. He used to go out at night frequently due to his business, so they did not question him regarding anything. I was thinking about the case of having tea in the shop near the hospital, and a constable came to me saying that the autopsy report is ready and the doctor wants to meet you. I immediately rushed to the hospital, leaving a half-filled cup of tea again. Maybe I should order only half a cup of tea or coffee today.

"Hello, Doctor. What does the report say?" I questioned. "He took at least 10 sleeping pills at once, which is the cause of death", the doctor replied. "Any signs of injury or bruises on the body?" I questioned again. "No, not at all", the doctor replied instantly. It was clear in my mind that this was a case of suicide, and I gave my insights and condolences to his family. I answered the same to the media as they were so interested and called ACP Sanas and repeated the same thing, and by the end of the day, the case was closed with all the documentation taken care of by PSI Shukla. I ordered a half cup of tea at the police station, and this time I felt like I should have called a full cup of tea, and after some time, I left for my home and hoped I do not get detained.

On Sunday morning, I got the call again from ACP Sanas, and this time, he did not ask me to visit headquarters, but he said to visit Pune and get in touch with PSI Jadhav of Kothrud police station, and he will explain everything. It was a long journey, and I decided to stay at my friend's house for a night. At almost 2 pm, when I reached Kothrud police station, PSI Jadhav welcomed me. "What is the matter? ACP Sanas asked me to reach here in a hurry", I asked. "There is a possible murder, and we found a resemblance with the case that you were assigned to on Friday", he replied. "Explain me; I am curious", I asked.

"Today, we found the body of businessman Mr Mahesh More, a renowned businessman of Pune, at his home. His family members went for a small tour to Konkan. When they returned on Saturday night, they found him sitting in a chair dead and found the same chit as you found on Friday, saying SORRY. Not only that, he took at least 10 sleeping pills, which is the cause of death, and that is why I said it is possible to murder because 2 people cannot commit suicide writing the same note.", PSI Jadhav explained.

I was shocked and excited because if this was murder, then the murderer would be ingenious. I started to make assumptions and visited Mr More's home, but we found nothing. No fingerprints, and our only chance of catching the murderer was blown away when we knew that the CCTV at the entrance of the apartment building was not working. As per the autopsy of Mr More, he died at around 2 pm to 3 pm in the afternoon, and Mr Dholakia was killed at around 12.00 to 12.30 am in the morning. That means the murderer must have travelled to Pune on Friday or Saturday Morning, but it is too difficult to find out based on travel details as daily thousands of people travel from Mumbai to Pune. Maybe both of the deceased have a mutual connection, and we asked their families if they knew each other, but they were unaware of that. I asked for a photo of the chit from Mr Dholakia's pocket and matched it with the chit we received at Pune. We found out that the chit is written by the third person, and this made us conclude that this is murder, and if he or she plans to murder anyone else, then he will do it within 1 or 2 days as these two murders happened with one day gap in between. I asked Pune and Mumbai police to circulate the news that if anyone knows about these two murders, then reach out to the police, and if the information is relevant, then he or she would be rewarded with Rs. 50000. Media started asking questions, and people started raising questions on Police System.

On Sunday evening, I called PSI Shukla and asked to interrogate the people who found the body and the people whose shops were nearby and informed them to ask them if they saw anyone with Mr Dholakia. I was still in Pune, so we visited Mr More's residence and tried to ask questions to his neighbours and people nearby, but we found nothing. I planned to stay at my friend's house for a night but had to stay at the police station, thinking and trying to find out about the case.

Sunday night went on making assumptions and scenarios. Caffeine kept me awake, but we got nothing, and then we received a call at 7.30 am. A person named Jabbar Sheikh called and said he knew the people that had died, and they visited him a year back together. "Where are you now?" I asked. "Sir, I live at Karjat, and these two people visited me, and there was also a third person with them. They came to see property to build a farmhouse, and they liked the place, but the deal was called off due to some reasons, and since then, I have not heard of them."

I had to move to Mumbai, and on my way back, I stopped at Karjat and visited Jabbar. After interrogating him, I came to know that he is a property broker, and Mr Dholkia contacted him through his mutual contact as he wanted to build a farmhouse in Karjat and for that Mr More, whom he knew very little, was also interested, but the property was so big, and they needed a third person to finance. Mr Dholkia brought a third person with him whom he referred to as "Singh Saab" all the time. The broker doesn't know the third person's name, but that third person may be his target. My mind started to join the dots, and I doubted that this could be the property dispute or something else is happed that day that was the reason the murderer was killing them. Meanwhile, I asked the police to find out who this "Singh Saab" was and make sure he was okay. As he was a friend of Mr Dholkia, police traced him quickly and confirmed he was safe.

On my way back to Mumbai, I thought about the possible reason for the murders but could not get a clue. I informed everything to ACP Sanas and asked permission for him to place the constable at the entrance of Taranjeet Singh's, aka "Singh Saab" home. He lived alone in his big ancestral bungalow at Kalyan. His son lives in Germany, and his wife died 2 years ago, so he lives alone. He was a real estate investor, and that's how he knew Mr Dholkia. After I reached Mumbai on Monday evening, I visited Mr Singh and asked him what had happened at Karjat a year ago. "Dholakia told me there is a property at Karjat on which he wishes to build a farmhouse, and Mr More was already in contact with Dholakia, and they needed more finances, so Dholkia approached me, and we decided to go to visit the property, The property was good, and we decided to buy it, but after a few days, Mr More backed off, and we could not find another partner, so we backed off".

"Mr Singh, tell me exactly what happened that day?" I asked. "Dholakia and I reached Karjat at around 12.30 pm, and Mr More came from Pune with his driver shortly after us as he wanted to visit his daughter in Mumbai. One broker showed us the property; I am trying to remember his name. At around 3 pm, we decided to head back to Mumbai, but Mr More's car had some issues, so we called one mechanic from a nearby garage, and he said it would require 3-4 hrs to repair. We offered Mr More a lift to Mumbai, and he agreed to come with us, and he informed his driver to come the next day to pick him up. We dropped him at Ambarnath, and we went ahead, and after few days, Mr More called off the deal, that's it." he explained.

I left his house, thinking about what could have gone wrong. He told me everything exactly as told by the broker, and I reached home after two days. I was tired mentally and physically. My son came running towards me. I hugged him and went to bed as soon as I could. My phone rang, but I was so tired that I could not pick it up. It rang again, and my wife woke me up saying, "Constable Thakur is calling you. Take it". "Pick up and ask him to call tomorrow," I said, and suddenly I remembered that constable Thakur is one of the two security constables placed at Mr Singh's home. I jumped out of bed and picked up the call. It was 1 am at midnight, "Yes, Thakur speak," I replied. "Sir, We grabbed one man running out of Mr Singh's home, and we took him to the nearby police station. Please come". He said. "What about Mr Singh? Is he okay?". "Yes sir, he came out when he heard us shouting. We said we caught him. Now you can sleep peacefully."

My tiredness vanished, and I quickly grabbed my uniform and reached the police station. A young man in his thirties was sitting quietly in the lockup with no fear. He looked up at me and looked away. I was so furious that I asked the constable to bring him outside and, without asking anything, slapped him on his face. "Why did you kill them? What was your motive? Who are you? Did anyone pay you to kill?" I showered questions on him.

"I received money, but I did not kill anyone. I am selling mobile covers in front of Kalyan station. I do not know what you are talking about. A man called me yesterday saying I will give you 1 lakh rupees just for running from the police." the suspect said. "At first, I did not believe him and disconnected the call, but the man said he knew that I needed money for my wife's surgery and the man would give 50 thousand rupees in advance, so I said yes, and when I woke up this morning I found a plastic bag hanged to my door with 50 thousand in it and there was a letter which said that to Run from police at exactly 12.30 am, I have a letter to show you if you do not believe me." he continued.

Things were getting interesting, so I asked, "How did you get in there?""The man suggested in the letter to look for a chance and sneak inside whenever I find an opportunity in a day and wait for 12.30 am, and as it is a big property and two constables are not enough to guard the area, I sneaked from the gate which is not functional and waited in the bushes backyard where no one usually goes."

My brain was so confused because I heard of serial killers only in Sherlock Holmes, but now I am dealing with one. "Why would he make him run?" I was thinking and shouted in anger and anxiety, "It was a distraction. Let's go quickly to Mr Singh's house." We reached there in 15 mins, and the door was open, and we saw Mr Singh sleeping on his bed with one hand and one leg out of bed as if he was trying to move but could not. We immediately moved him to hospital but unfortunately, after 2 hrs of trying, his soul left his body. A doctor came to me and handed me the chit saying, "SORRY". I had never felt this low in my entire career. ACP Sanas was angry, and the police department faced backlash from the media and people due to our inefficiency. Three high-profile murders and no clue, that was really embarrassing for me.

The following day, I interrogated the person we caught running. We ceased his phone and checked his call history. He mostly got calls from his wife and brother, but two calls came from an unknown number. The first call came from the Thane Railway station Phone booth. We immediately rushed to that location and found a railway CCTV directly pointing towards a phone. We checked CCTV at the time of the call and saw an elderly man making a call. He was almost 5.5 feet tall, had a fair complexion, and wore a simple Kurta Payjama and a Side Handbag made at home. He called and started to move towards the exit, but he was sure to avoid CCTV capturing his face.

He was not an ordinary killer, but from his appearance, he seemed to have a motive. We traced the second number and found that number is of a person named "Somnath Shinde." We outlined that person, and he lived at Dadar. We raided his home and started interrogating him harshly as we have been so frustrated since last week following this case. But after questioning him for hours, we found that the person on the streets of Thane asked him whether he could make a call to his son and spoke for a minute or two. We asked him whether he could identify that person, and he said he was in his fifties to sixties. The same description as of police pinpointed.

We were clueless, and the next day, we received a call from Mr Somnath Shinde saying that he spotted the elderly man at Thane station at almost the same time he made the two calls. We could not get anything from CCTV, but we assumed he would visit Thane Railway station in the evening. We placed more police officers at the platform he was spotted.

And the following evening, we hit the Jackpot. One of the constables spotted a man with the same bag as identified in the CCTV stepping out of the local train, and his features matched our description. When he saw the police approaching him, he started running and tried to outsmart the police, but we caught him successfully and took him to the RPF cabin at the railway station. The on-duty PSI called me, and I reached the destination.

"Tell me, why are you killing people? You are doomed now." I furiously shouted. He seemed frightened, "I did not kill anyone. Why are you holding me like this?" Keeping in mind his age, I did not hit him and asked

"Then why were you running from us?" "I travelled without a ticket and thought I would have to pay a fine. That is why I was running," he told us in fear. "What is this bag doing with you then?" "I bought it today in the local as the person was selling it at a significantly lower price; in fact, almost all his stock got finished in our boggy as many people liked it."

I had my head spinning, I came out and bought a water bottle from a shop at the railway station, and while drinking water, I saw two more people with the same bag. It was not possible to catch everybody and interrogate them.

Now a killer is like a sand particle. We searched for a killer for a few more weeks, but no sign. We used to interrogate the persons with the same bag, and they gave us the same description as ours. We made multiple sketches, but the face was so generic that it was very hard to find, and unfortunately, we had to let go of the case and close it as suicide for all three people even though we knew it was murder.

I was so quiet for at least a month. Sleepless nights made me weak. But slowly, I recovered. A year passed, and my record downgraded to good from excellent because of that one case, and it made me realise that there is always someone better than you. One evening I came home early and took a nap. My wife came to me and said, "You got a letter from someone named Sudhakar Waghmare." I did not recall anyone named Sudhakar Waghmare, but I opened the letter. Inside the envelope, I found a chit saying "SORRY", and my heart skipped a beat. I opened the letter. "Want to know about SORRY murder mystery? Visit BIT hospital Kalyan tomorrow at 11 am". I immediately informed ACP Sanas regarding that, and he said to take a few constables with me tomorrow.

Once again, I experienced sleepless night after a year and got ready at 7 am. The time is relative is correctly said. I reached the hospital at 10 sharp and inquired about Mr Waghmare. The receptionist guided me to the ICU unit. I asked the constables to wait outside and went inside the room. A man of 5.5 height and fair complexion was lying, and a boy of my son's age and a lovely lady were sitting beside him. He saw me and called me near with his hand. I sat near him, and he started speaking softly, "I am the killer, and I do not feel guilty about killing him. I killed them because they killed my son." He continued to speak, and I don't know; I just wanted to listen.

"Two years back, I was diagnosed with cancer. I lived alone in our apartment in Badlapur, and my son was in the US. My son, his wife and my grandson came immediately when they came to know, and he wanted me with him for the treatment, one day we both went to the hospital, and I was waiting for him in the car, and he was standing on the footpath speaking on the phone and then suddenly the car hit him. I ran towards him, but he was no more, and then a drunk person came out of the car and watched my son lying in his own blood. The mob stopped their car and took them to a police station, and I was called too. I was furious at them and asked the police to file an FIR, but the police officer ignored me. I was made to sit outside for 2 hrs, and I could hear laughing sounds from inside. I tried to go inside but was denied to enter. After two hours, all three drunk people came out, looked at me, said SORRY, and handed me one Lakh rupee." tears rolled out while speaking.

"I don't need that money. I need my son. My son was already earning crores. So I decide to follow them and kill them. I cannot tell you how I killed them and planned because I do not have that much time left, but I have my confession ready in writing, and my Daughter in Law will give it to you. I would have surrendered myself when I killed Singh, but I wanted to spend my remaining time with my grandson, so I decided to find a way to flee. I studied about you also, and I see you are a good officer, so my confession will help you to win your confidence again. You can start your legal procedures, and that's all I had to say."

I was speechless and numb. After a few minutes, Mr Waghmare's daughter-in-law gave me his confession with his signature. I left the room, and returning, I touched my pocket and saw a chocolate I had bought for my son. I asked the constables to wait outside and went up to give chocolate to the grandson of Mr Waghmare. I was about to enter the room and heard sobbing and a conversation between Mr Waghmare and his daughter-in-law.

"Papa, I owe you my life. I will not be able to repay what you have done for me. It was me who killed them, and you took charge of yourself. You are the best dad and best grandparent. It was easy to kill the first two-person, but if you had not helped me with placing yourself as a killer in front of the police, I would not be able to kill that Singh," she said while sobbing.

"I have lived enough. It's now time to start a new life. I will be gone in a few days. Sell everything we have and join your previous job in the US. Get married and live life peacefully. Now go and eat something. I am fine."

She wiped her tears and came outside, and I showed her that I had just arrived. I greeted her, gave her son a chocolate, and left without saying anything.

I was so shocked and sad. This secret is like a heavy stone in my heart, but I wanted to support the Waghmare family, so I submitted the written confession to the court, and the court issued an arrest warrant. By the time we reached the hospital, he was no more. There was silence, pain, and anger in his daughter-in-law's eyes, but she was calm.

We called her to the police station after a few days to complete all legal formalities. She signed all the legal documents, completed the formalities, and was about to leave my cabin, and I said, "Ma'am, Happy Journey".

By Aniruddha Malode