LA RUMBA POOL PARTY

Chapter 9. Vikarabad murder

December 29th Sunday

Morning 9AM

Vikarabad Police Station. It was moderately furnished with few tables. A black coloured noticeboard hung to the wall beside couple of cupboards. The constables were busy with handling the daily rubble of police cases. A lean bared chest tanned village person was looked crooked over the premises. A young man in his police uniform, narrow face, slightly brown skinned, dark eyebrows and high cheekbones passed hurriedly towards the notice board and pinned an important notice. The police staff assembled after he left towards his table preoccupied with his cell phone call.

Phone rang in the station.

"Yes. SI Raghav here.” The well groomed, trimmed moustached, taut appearing, police officer said “What? ... Murder?"

What happened sir, the constable, Chary, an old man with wrinkled face and a paunch asked him inquisitively.

“I got information that someone found a dead body near Ananthagiri Lake.” He said sternly preoccupied with the case, wore his police cap and rushed out of the exit. The perplexed constable, placed the files in the cupboard.

“Will you come or shall I send your suspension order to your family?” Raghav shouted over his shoulder. Chary immediately closed the cupboards and scurried behind the SI.

Ananthagiri lake

9.30 AM

The police pulled over their jeep in the crime location, a deserted vast empty area beside a shimmering water body under scotching Sun. The wind blew intermittently to cool the atmosphere. In a few minutes it got busy with the on coming vehicles. Raghav adjusted his cap and jostled precariously through the surrounding crowd. Chary instantly alerted the crowd who gave a way for Raghav. He grimly moved towards the crime site and crouched over there with imminently observing eyes. A long haired and naked female dead body, macerated in water, lied flat on the stomach, with hands tied on back, with knife marks on all over her body, was drifted to the shore. He wore a glove passed on by the constable and lifted the face which was buried in the hair. Her eyes were poked sadistically; the disfigured facial features made it impossible to recognise the body. He turned the body the other side to reveal her bare body. A sutured deep transverse incision was obvious. “A serial killer is on the bay” Raghav said discreetly to Chary who stooped low to observe. “Yes sir. Same type of murder. This is 4th in a row”

The SI stood erect and faced the bystanders

"Did anyone saw any suspicious person around here?" He shouted with a stern face. The people exchanged looks and began mumbling discreetly. “Shut up. I asked a question.” They suddenly dropped their activities and maintained pin drop silence with stunned looks.

A local farmer with a turban told obediently "No Sir! In these areas the camping was banned after Disha's case. Rarely people ever come to this place these days. The tourism was completely stopped"

Raghav ordered his constable "check the finger prints of her and verify who the person was" The constable rushed. “Send the dead body for post mortem.”

The post mortem was done in Gandhi Mortuary. Amidst the gloomy place, surrounded by pile of dead bodies on stretchers wrapped in cover sheets, the forensic Professor, a middle aged man with sparse hair turned grey with age, his skin thrown into wrinkles, drenched with sweat walked sternly towards the assembled police officers led by Raghav. The middle-aged Man removed his spectacles, cleared his throat and told "She was brutally killed. Never saw such a gruesome murder. Her both eyes were poked with a sharp object. Blood is oozing from all over her body..." He told with a shock in his face.

"Any r**e?" Raghav asked inquisitively placing a kerchief against his nose to block the pungent smell of Formaldehyde.

“There was no sign of r**e but so many foreign objects were inserted in her v****a. n*****s were cut with a blade. All these were done when the girl was alive. So cruel. She was drowned to death and later threw away here in the muddy water"

"How do you say that doctor?" Raghav did a sweeping gesture.

"When I checked her lungs, it was inflated with water. It’s common with any drowned person. But the interesting fact was the water in her lungs” He eyed upon Raghav “It was tap water unlike the muddy water she was thrown in. So, the murder might have happened inside some house. And by revealing the nape of the neck, I could see bruises, which means someone forced her to death"

"What could be the time of death?"

"By looking her decomposed state, I can say she was killed on Saturday, I mean yesterday around 8 to 10 pm. And most important, see here" he showed the dead body body's back. "There are marks of scar on her. Mostly looking someone scratched and happened weeks back. It means she was under physically abusing relationship or r***d. Even her v****a and anus were filled with stones and bruised intentionally to eliminate the evidence of r**e"

"Was she r***d?!" Raghav widened his eyes.

"Around 1-2 weeks back. If she wasn't injured with the stones in her v****a, we could find some bruises but now it's not possible. I sent her blood samples for investigation. It tested positive for Beta HCG hormone. Blood urine sample tested negative. It means she was 1-2 weeks pregnant."

"Why didn't she get any abortion then?"

"Maybe the killer blackmailed with something not to get abortion. Maybe her s*x video. We don't know.

“And the killer was intelligent and careful enough not to leave any traces. He might have used a glove so we couldn't find any finger prints. And the water in the lake washes even if there were any.

“One more thing to notice. He was psycho path. He wanted the attention. So, he left the body so openly. He craved for attention. He wanted people to fear. Every psycho does have a tendency to leave their signature. And here he left the embryo as a signature.”

"Well we can save the embryo and do some paternity test to find the psycho"

"He removed the uterus" He showed the front side of abdomen. There was a transverse incision in the lower abdomen with sutures. “The uterus was removed from here and sutured so skilfully. He could be a Surgeon. A lame compounder can’t do these compound sutures so perfectly.”

"How do you say that she was 1 week pregnant then without embryo?"

"There are so many ways apart from the embryo to tell about it. By examining the ovary for corpus luteum, and also level of Beta HCG in blood secreted by the ovaries. It increases with the time. Show up in blood after 1 week and in urine after 2 weeks. She had Beta HCG hormone only in blood and not in urine"

Raghav nodded.

Breaking News:

A woman around 25 years was brutally murdered and thrown away in the Ananthagiri Lake. The body was drowned with cuts all over the body. Bruise over the back of neck. Someone drowned her to death with holding over neck.

Who was the murderer? Is he a psycho killer?

SI Raghav rushed out of the mortuary with a kerchief on his face. On the way he called ACP Samar and informed about the details of the case. "Whoever we are looking for, is a psycho killer."

"Inform all our other police stations. The criminal might be within the city. If you find anyone suspicious, interrogate him immediately. Such killings happened in other parts of the state too. We need to find him"

"Yes Sir! I will follow the orders"

"Through the finger prints of the body we traced her. Her name was Pranitha, and I am sending her address. Find for clues in her apartment. She was drowned inside a bathroom, right? It can be in her home too. Investigate all the people in her circle"

SI reached her apartment in Sai Srinivas Girls’ hostel in Chaitanyapuri colony, a lonely unpleasant bulging with shady basement. The walls were old with paint peeling off giving an eerie appearance.

The watch man, an old man wearing blue coloured uniform sat in his chair reading newspaper. The approaching steps alerted him to look at Raghav who stood opposite him folding his hands and asked him about Pranitha being preoccupied observing the ambience.

“She is a good person, so generous to elder people, the kind one wants to be a daughter" the old man told with gentle smile, looking for his cane.

"Anything suspicious about her activities before?" Raghav stepped near a cane thrown unnoticed. He handed it over to the watchman.

The watchman nodded “Everyday whenever she comes, no matter how late at night, she never forgets to greet me. But that day, almost 2 weeks back, around 12 pm, she limped all the way to her room with a melancholic look and rushed inside anxiously with out any acknowledgement of my presence. I took the lead to talk a few words but she curtly replied to stop annoying her. She was never like that." He adjusted spectacles. "Since then she was not the way she used to. Nervous, bad tempered, frightened, sneaks in and out at odd timings, avoided eye contact and remained alone at her apartment. "

"Alone? How you know that?"

"She sent her mother to a clinic before the incident. She had a stroke that evening. Poor lady. Always bed-ridden or wheel-chaired. Her daughter was everything for her. According to the policy of the hostel, old woman are not allowed. After seeing the woman’s helplessness, our warden was convinced to let her in” The old man sighed.

The constable finished his patrolling in the basement and joined Raghav. Raghav whispered the constable to collect more information regarding her mother. The constable nodded. Raghav faced the old man. “Did you talk with her again?”

He wiped his tears and adjusted his spectacles.

"For next few weeks, every Saturday it’s the same routine. When * asked her out of concern, she scolds me not to interfere in her matter like a father. The woman had some aversive feeling towards her father." Raghav whispered to his constable again. “Find about her father too. And it’s clear that she r***d every Saturday for a couple of weeks?"

"r**e!" The old man overheard their conversation and widened his eyes "What happened to Pranitha?"

"She was murdered yesterday night around 9 pm"

The lean and wrinkled bespectacled old man crashed on the chair.

"I am sorry. She might be like a daughter to you. If you have any more information, let me know"

"Sure sir. And her apartment was 206. 3rd floor."

Raghav along with a constable reached her flat. It was locked. He broke the lock open and entered inside. It's a single bedroom flat with an attached kitchen and bathroom. There was 27inches TV on left wall with book shelves on right side. Inside, a door led to a bed room. A double bed with a wardrobe full of casual dresses.

A mirror with a rack on its bottom situated to the right side of the bed. He pulled the racks open. Cosmetics. Nothing important. When he was leaving, a calendar beside the mirror held his attention. He observed the certain dates marked with red colour which reflected her periods. Her Last menstruation date was 7th of December. He felt there was a connection to her murder on 28th December.

The old man revealed the fact she was r***d twice in her conspicuous staggering. On December 14th Saturday and December 21st the last r**e attempt exactly happened 14 days after LMP. His eyes sparked with an assumption of the motive.

He immediately called ACP Samar "Sir I searched her home"

"What did you find?"

"Her Last Menstruation date sir"

Samar scowled "What! Is that a joke?"

"I found a pattern here. The psycho criminal whoever attempted r***d her twice on 14th and 21stth. Her LMP was 7th December. Every woman ovulates in 10 to 14 days after LMP. We know that couples are advised to have s*x during this period to increases the chances of pregnancy. He ensured she was pregnant and killed her.”

"If he was so eager to make her pregnant, why did he kill her and abort her with his bare hands?"

"We don't know that yet. She could have aborted the pregnancy within 72 hrs with abortive pills but she sustained it which means... the killer blackmailed her to retain her pregnancy. The psycho wanted to leave his signature of embryo. If anyone wants to get rid of the psycho with such intention, one would find a faster way of investigation for pregnancy. And blood levels of Beta HCG, a pregnancy marker, released by corpus luteum, raises to significant level in blood at the end of 1st week and in urine in 2nd week. And in scanning around 5 weeks"

"So, she got a blood investigation to verify. Investigate all the Diagnostic centres. We may find a clue. If we make this information of psycho killer public, it may lead to chaos. Stop media from interfering. If the news is hidden, the killer will be careless and make a mistake.”

“Okay sir.” He hung the phone call and headed towards his jeep.

His phone beeped again. It was the constable Chary who he sent to investigate about her mother.

“Sir, I checked the Yashoda hospital as per the information. This woman expired recently and the CC camera on the Saturday shows that Pranathi was with her mother serving her all night”

“Impossible”