Kartik Khandelwal

I opened the door of ‘The Suiciders Defense Group’ and entered inside it. Prakash followed me. It was a typical investigation room, handed to investigative groups to meet and work together. Usually, the investigation rooms resemble a classroom of a school in structure--a desk at the front with a white board and marker, with seats for other investigators facing it. There are over twenty investigators in a group, with three to four special investigators leading them. But, when I opened the door, I found just three to four people sitting inside the room. I walked towards the central table, my desk, and observed there were four more people except us, three women and a man. The central table is the desk of the leader of the group. One of the women, wearing a black coat over a black formal skirt and black stockings, stood up and walked at me. “Ms. Yashika Malhotra, why am I handed such a small group?” I whispered at her.

“The Suiciders are still not considered real, Mr. Khandelwal. It’s just a theory, and we can’t afford to use a large part of our budget on such uncertain cases.”

“But, what about the man who we found to be the murderer from this gro--”

“In case you have forgotten, Mr. Khandelwal, he’s still not proved to be a murderer of ‘The Suiciders’ about which you have been talking about.”

“Tsk!” I said as I held my waistline.

“So better be happy on what has been provided to you.” She turned left towards the door and left the room.

I looked at my guys. Then, I clapped my hands and said, “So, uh, let’s start with the introductions. Lemme start by myself.” I sat walked in front of my desk and with my butts on the desk for some support, I start talking. “I’m Kartik Khandelwal, the Head Investigator of The Suiciders Defense Group. I’ve been a part of many investigative groups and have had many achievements in the past due to my field-work, but this is the first time I’m leading any group. So, uh, what about you all?”

A young woman wearing a crimson pea-coat upon a black pair of leggings and black boots stood up first and said, “Good morning, sir. I’m Richa Chadha.”

A middle-aged man, wearing a grey coat-suit, stood up and said, “I’m Mukesh Ahuja.”

Then, I noticed Richa grunting a woman wearing a white top. “Get up, pal!” She nudged the woman beside her.

“Okay, okay!” She replied without any excitement. She looked bored of it all. “I’m Sonia Sachdeva.”

“Uh. Hello, Sonia,” I smiled awkwardly. “So, I guess we should start, right?” I waved at Prakash and told him, “Prakash, take your seat.” Prakash followed suit and when I was sure he was seated, I began speaking. “So, what we are standing against is no typical terror society. This group, who we are gonna call ‘The Suiciders’, is a group of murderers who kill a person in such a way that the murder sight appears as a suicide. It prevents the police from considering a variety of possible investigative angles and therefore, many cases of such suicide remain unsolved.” I stood up and wrote ‘The Suiciders’ on my white-board behind. “I, along with Prakash, had seen many such cases in the past where the suicide has some elements that it’s a murder, and that too by a number of people, but the group always had their hand above ours.”

“I’m proud to announce that after prolong talks with State Head of Delhi Police, Ms. Malhotra, we’ve finally been able to open up this legal investigation,” Prakash said with a smile.

“But sir,” Richa held a hand up. “If we don’t know if it’s a suicide or murder, how do we find out if it’s a murder, suicide or the work of The Suiciders?”

“Good question!” I pointed out my marker towards her in appreciation. “So, we have a small line which divides the murders or suicide and the work of the Suiciders. If a person dies without any particular reason, we first consider it a murder or the work of the Suiciders. But, if there’s a reason for the suicide, we investigate that to how much extent they are valid. On that basis, we conclude if it’s the work of Suiciders or a suicide. Many a time, they all intersect with each other, so it becomes very hard to point it out that it’s Suiciders or not.”

“It’s gonna be no easy one, right?” Sonia said.

“Yes. So consider yourselves lucky to be a part of this group.”

“Okay, but we have no leads, witnesses or even any proof if they actually exist or not. So, where are we gonna start from?”

I moved towards my desk and opened my bag-pack, which was beside the desk. I crouched towards the bag, opened its zip, and searched for something in it. I hustled the laptop, books, files, folders and other important paperwork here and there. Then, I took out a black bag which was the size of a hand. I opened its zip as I got up from the ground. I took out some photos and kept them on the table. “Everybody!” I clapped my hands and then waved them towards me, signing for them to gather. Everyone stood up from their seats and walked up towards me. They stood round the table as I scattered the six photos. They all were the photographs of the murder scenes. “They all are the murders confirmed to be of the Suiciders’. Notice how realistic they look.” One of them had shot himself on his sofa, another one was hanging through a rope on the fan, someone was lying dead due to cutting his nerves, and there were other murders that looked exactly like suicide. “One similarity the victims share is that they are old, though it’s not the case every time. Moreover, they--”

“War…” We all looked at the shocked figure. “We are probably at war,” Richa said.

“Yes, Richa. We’re at war.” I saw the fright in her eyes. I didn’t want to scare them more, but my sentence was necessary: “And let’s promise that we are gonna get martyred for the country, but won’t let this terrorist group win.”

“India’s first terrorist group,” Prakash corrected.

“Yes, India’s first terrorist group.”