Perfect Murder …. But

Perfect Murder …. But

One mistake ….. just one moment of naïve greed and I messed my life forever. A life that I had meticulously developed for the past ten years. Hiding here up in the hills as I cool myself in this evening air, the only option I now have is to give myself up to the police or get eaten up by animals.

My parents had named me Ajay. Studies never excited me. As a teenager my deeds caught the attention of Viju Dada and he took me under his fold. In a few years I became called as Ajya Bhau. I was responsible for collecting hafta for Viju Dada and also manage his cash deals.

My life in Aurangabad was shaping well when one day Viju Dada & I got arrested for murder. It was a deal that went awry.

We were to collect money for the white powder when the other party started an argument. One thing led to another and soon bullets were fired killing one of their men. I managed to grab five lakhs and ran away. No longer had I handed over the cash to a friend for safe-keeping when I was picked up as well. While the court proceedings were going on Viju Dada kept on asking me about the five lakhs and I kept on denying any knowledge. On the day we were sentenced imprisonment, he told me in a cold voice that he will get even with me. We were sent to different jails. I was sent to jail for 8 years and he was sentenced for 10 years.

One day there was a fire in the jail and the police had to move us to another jail en masse. In the melee that followed I escaped to my freedom. Four years in jail and I swore to myself about never getting caught again.

I collected the five lakhs from my friend and gave myself a new name – Vijay. I left Aurangabad the same day without informing anyone. Two days later I reached Aavri, a village near Guhagar on the West coast.

I used the money to buy a small house and made donations to the village temple. In the next ten years I developed good contacts with the locals, married a local girl Savitri and had two children. We started a small hotel in the village. As a city lad I knew what  kind of food tourists liked. Savitri learnt to cook those items. Within two years we built a first floor with five rooms.

But things were not easy as they seemed. I had taken a loan for constructing the first floor and there weren’t any tourists that year. So, the money flow was not as expected. I was not sure how we would survive if we did not get a few lakhs business in the oncoming season. Savitri was aware of this situation. We might have to sell the small piece of land that Savitri’s father had given us in marriage.

One day returning from the market I heard a very familiar voice – Viju Dada. He was very well dressed - the way city folks dress - seated with a decent looking lady. She seemed to be his wife. Savitri was serving them. He looked at me as I peeped across the cash counter and unnoticed by others he smiled at me …. knowingly. That sent a chill down my spine.

They ordered some food for the evening as well. Savitri told me that they were city folks who had purchased a huge sea facing plot some distance from our place and were planning to construct a resort. They said that they would be coming more often as ours was the only decent hotel in that village.

I was wondering how he found me and that made me edgy. Savitri asked me if all was well. I just waved my hands in a dismissing action.

They continued to visit us for the next few days. On one occasion they were accompanied by another person, who I suspected from his accent was a Gujarati. They mostly spoke within themselves like businessmen. I was happy that Dada did not express any knowledge about me.

One day as they left, Viju Dada whispered, “Meet me at four behind the Hanuman Mandir”. And that smile again. That withdrew the color from my face.

I met him at the planned time with a questioning face. Though I was not in the position, yet I prepared myself to confront him.

“I knew you’d be on time”, he said, “Does your wife know about your past?”

“Dada, keep her away from this.” I was surprised to hear myself say.

“Hmmm … which means she does not know.” He smiled again.

He continued, “OK. I’ll come straight to the point. Like you I’ve gone legit now. I hardly do any illegal business.”

He paused as he was trying to gauge my response.

“Ajya, I know very well that the Aurangabad police is still looking for you. I can make that go forever if you do me a favour. For this favour I will give you five lakhs before the job is completed and another five after its done. I will give you the weapon. I will plan everything such that you will never get caught. Because if you are caught I too will be in trouble. And at this age I don’t want to go back to jail. Neither do you. Right?”

I looked up at him. This time he was not smiling. His eyes were intent on the actions of a fisherman faraway casting his net in the sea.

“You want me to kill someone?”, I asked.

He looked at me and smiled with those expressionless eyes.

“Who?” I enquired.

“Jignesh Patel.” He replied.

Jignesh, his business partner I had seen the other day in my hotel. That’s all he told me about Jignesh Bhai. He went on to tell that the woman accompanying him- Madhuri - was not his wife. I tried to talk him out of this but he was intent that I do it. He asked me to think it over and visit him next day.

I thought hard that evening. I knew that Dada always planned meticulously and I could trust him with the plan. The ten lakhs that he was offering also would be useful for my family. By the time I reached a decision it was almost early morning.

The next day I met Dada. Looking at my long face he said, “Okay. Eight lakhs now and eight lakhs later”. He had mistaken my lack of sleep as a sign of rejection! I accepted the deal.

He told me that the following week Jignesh Bhai would be in Mumbai. He also gave me the weapon. I had expected a country made pistol, but was surprised to see a Videshi automatic revolver.

“You have to reach Chembur on Monday evening. Take this cellphone. There are 2 numbers stored in it as number 1 and 2. You will dial the first number when you get out of the bus at Chembur and follow instructions”. He went to explain how and when the other number was to be used.

He continued in dead seriousness, “You will shoot only three bullets at him at close range. After that you should wipe the revolver clean of your finger prints and place it in his right palm.”

“Your plan will not work” I chided him. I was surprised how an experienced gangster like Dada could plan such way. “You are trying to show that it’s a suicide. If a person wants to shoot self, then that person will always go for the head or chin not the front of the body. Also the gun will not remain in the palms.”

“Ajya, I have spent my life at this. Don’t teach me.” He retorted. He also asked me to throw the phone in a canal before leaving in Mumbai.

I was angry at the way he snapped at me, but the money he was offering enticed me and I decided to go ahead. I told Savitri that I was going to Mumbai to meet some senior bank officers to see if the loans repayment terms could be renegotiated. I also told her that I was going to keep my phone at home as there was some issue with the battery and I would be returning late that night or the next day.

After I alighted from the bus in Mumbai, I called the first number in the mobile and after brief question answer session a car came to pick me up. There were two persons seated in the front. I changed my clothes in the car and put on a cap as I was told. The car took me to some isolated place near the sea with a lot of rocks and was told to alight. I walked about 100 paces and I saw Jignesh Bhai waiting for me. The plan was that Jignesh Bhai had been told that he will receive a package from me. I was told to put my hand inside my jacket with the intention of pulling out the packet, but instead zip out a gun and shoot him point blank.

“You are on time. Have you got it?” he asked.

“Yes”, I said and reached for my pocket and pulled out the gun and shot him three times at point blank.

I cleaned the gun and was about to place it in his palm when I decided against it. It was brand new gun worth more than a lakh Rupees. If I kept it to myself it would come handy some other time, I thought. I quickly put the gun back in my jacket pocket and walked back towards the car.

The car door was open for me. Once inside we left the place and I was made to change in yet another set of clothes and made the second call from the phone. Once the call connected I said the single word, “Done.” It was all over in less than five minutes.

 

From there they took me to the bank where I met some people who declined to reassess my loan and infact threatened me to pay up or my property would be confiscated.

I returned to the car and they drove me back to the bus stand. On the way they ordered me to throw away the phone in a canal. I complied.

I reached Aavri early morning the next day. Since Viju Dada did not come, I went to meet him. He was upset that I went to meet him.

“Did I ask you to meet me?” he croaked, “Go back. I’ll let you know when to meet.”

There was no action for the next couple of days. Then I got that dreaded message from Dada. He visited us for lunch.

“Four o’clock, same place.” He said as he paid the bill.

“Tell me in detail what you did that day. You can take whatever time you want but don’t miss anything. Give me details of every minute since the time you boarded the bus to Mumbai, till the time you entered your home here.” He said in a dead serious voice.

 I narrated the sequence of events exactly as they happened, but he seemed to have doubts.

“Did you clean the gun and leave it in the palm of his right hand?”, he enquired stressing on each word.

“Yes”, I lied to his face.

“OK. Go away. I’ll give you a message to meet me. I’ll keep the remaining amount ready.”, he said.

Ah! At last we were reaching closure, I thought.

Sure enough, in a couple days I got the message to meet him. He was pacing up and down when I reached the meeting place.

“You bastard! You lied to me. Where is the gun?”. He hollered.

I didn’t have any option. I confessed that I had kept the gun to myself. I tried to assure him that it was safe in the sacks of grain at my house.

“You are a total idiot. You have screwed up my entire plan. With the money that I gave you, you could have bought another one for yourself. If you wanted a gun for yourself, you could have asked me for a gun you fool.”

I was still not understanding. Why was he so upset just because I stole a gun? The task assigned to me was done successfully. I was beginning to get angry. I thought this is just a ploy to deny me the remaining amount.

“You nincompoop,” he was finding new words to humiliate me,” That gun belonged to Madhuri. She had taken a huge loan from Jignesh and he was harassing her for that. I have recordings of their phone conversations. She doesn’t know but, I had stolen her gun and fired two shots and kept the gun in pocket of her jacket so that traces of Sulphur from the gun would remain in the pocket. Some fibers of the jacket fabric are also planted on the gun’s body. I had arranged for her to meet Jignesh just five minutes after you left. With all this evidence against her, she would have been implicated. She had a motive you idiot.”

He paused to breathe and continued, “The bitch was sleeping with him all the while pretending to be loyal to me. I would also have had my revenge. All this would have happened if you had left the gun over there you idiot!”

He was very upset, but I kept on thinking there was no reason why the police would raid my home. The gun was there but all track’s leading to my home were covered very well.

So, unless someone had ratted about my involvement there was no chance that I would be investigated. And it suddenly dawned upon me that during the court proceedings Viju Dada had threatened me about getting even. Yeah he was capable of delivering me to the police.

With the gun in my house, I would be in huge trouble. I broke into cold sweat. I also remembered that Savitri would tell the police that I was in Mumbai the same day. I had an alibi about meeting the bankers but suddenly it did not seem enough. I ran towards my home.

From a distance I could see that the police had already reached my home. To save myself, I ran towards the hills.

Now its been past evening and as I go through the sequence of events in my head, I can only blame myself for my greed of keeping the gun. The only option I now have, is to give myself up to the police or get eaten up by animals. One mistake… just one bloody error of judgment and I have messed up my life forever.