Kartik Khandelwal

“The progress of a case does not leak on its own, Mr. Kartik,” Ms. Yashika told me. “Nothing is leaked by the police officially or legally.”

It was the Office of Chief of Police, Delhi and I was sitting in front of the desk of Ms. Yashika. The desk was full of paperwork, documents, folders and a desktop lit open. “But then who leaked this information?”

“I guess it’s not such a big problem, Mr. Kartik, as for now.”

“But--”

“It was not such an important thing to be leaked, sir.”

“Okay, but what if something important leaks afterward? Can you take--”

“No, we won’t take any actions as of now.”

It was a rude reply. She didn’t even look at me the whole time; always stick to the desktop and paperwork. It’s good though, but she should also pay heeds to people like me who need urgent attention.

I opened the door and walked out of the office when I saw Prakash waiting for me. “What happened, man?”

“Someone leaked that the criminal who died at the police station was important for our investigation.”

“So what?”

“‘So what’? Prakash, someone is leaking our information outside. It’s supposed to be a private case, and any information leaked at the base can also go to the media, and you know what uproar it would make if the public gets to know about this.”

Prakash scratched his chin and said, “Yeah, you must be right, pal. But firstly, lemme remind you that your group is asking for assignments. We still don’t know how to start the investigation. What assignments are you gonna provide them? At last, we needa start from somewhere.”

“I got something to share, I guess. Collect them; I’m coming in a few minutes.” He turned left and went past behind me. I continued walking towards the right of the room towards the stairs of the building.

The small banner read ‘Floor-II’ and I exited the stairway and turned left. I walked past about ten rooms which were on my left, when finally I turned left towards a certain room which read ‘The Suiciders Defense Group’. Before opening the door, I turned back towards the other side of the corridor. It was a glass-wall from where I can see the clouds and the blue sky. “Somewhere out there,” I thought as I looked at those clouds. “… the Suiciders are planning for their next move.”

I pushed open the door and found all of my team gathered in there, waiting for me. I walked towards my desk in front of them and announced, “So, I’ve got some assignments for you all. I’m not gonna go easy on y’all.”

“Sir,” Richa raised her hand. “There must be some CCTV footage or something which we can obtain to catch the murderers, right? So why don’t we try that?”

I looked at her for a second, and then replied, “Already tried it all. They all are very clever. They always choose a path to run away where the CCTV cams are low in number, and then somehow destroy most of them. Moreover, we live in India, where people nowadays don’t spend their money on CCTV because a terrorist leaving to its base through their market is not an everyday business they face.”

“Oh,” Richa said as she moved her hand down.

“So, uh, let’s begin with the assignments. Richa and Prakash, you two are gonna visit the Central Jail here in Delhi and interrogate all the inmates who have arrived there after 3rd December, 2018. The same would be done by Mukesh and Sonia at the State Jail of Delhi. I’m giving you three days, and till then, Imma investigate something else.”

“Yes, sir. But, what benefit would it do?” Sonia asked. “Don’t you think that we should start with something like investigating past cases and files?”

“Yes, but a majority of them still can’t be termed as the work of the Suiciders, so it may cause a lot of confusion. I guess we should try with them. The criminals have a large network of their own, so if anyone of them has heard of the terrorist group before entering the jail, it’d be beneficial.”

“Can rely on that explanation,” Sonia replied and sat down. She looked as bored as she was before. “By the way, she said as she looked at some papers. “You replied that you gotta investigate something else. What’s it?”

“Gonna tell you all after you finish this,” I replied. I thought, “I can’t just tell them about the mole. I’m not sure myself of the angle, and the mole can be here between us five. So, it’s better not to rely on someone else and do it alone.”

“Okay,” she shrugged.

“So, any other questions? Or we end this?” Seeing no raised hands, I noted, “Either I’ve solved their doubts, or they think that I don’t trust them because of such an uncanny reply.”

I dashed down the stairway the next minute and turned right from the stairway at the ‘Basement’. I entered the basement, which is used for security purposes in the HQ. I dashed through the dark corridor and thought, “I just hope my theory of the mole is correct.” At the second last room of the corridor, I read the words ‘Security Room’ printed on it and then quickly opened the door. “Anyone here?”

“Yes, sir?” One of the four men wearing their blue uniforms asked me. “How can we help you?”

“I wanna talk to the Security Head of the HQ.”

“Yes?” The man behind them replied. He was having a watch on the monitors covering the left wall of the room. The middle-aged man with some white hair turned at me and replied, “At your service, sir.”

I walked towards him and said, “See, Mr. erm…”

“Ayush Kumble.”

“Mr. Kumble, I just wanna know if there was anyone who had asked for the CCTV footage of The Suiciders Defense Group?”

“Yes, sir, I remember exactly that there were some people, but I can’t remember their names or faces.”

At this reply, my eyes were wide open in shock. I swiftly said below my breath, “My theory was correct.” Then, I commanded him, “If anyone ever comes back, ask for their names and then disallow them. I want their names at all cost.”