What is more important

Precautions not always work

At the announcement of the tragic news. Ranveer and Rajveer run out of the room, sit in their car and leave. Sime looks at their back in shock and in confusion. He is not sure if his urge to say goodbye to his bride is heard or not. When they reach the hospital, they see that Amma is lying on the bed and has minor injuries. There is a small cut on her forehead and a few scratches on her arms and face. The police officer who was guarding her home is in a critical situation. He has to undergo surgery due to the knife which was stabbed in his belly. His internal organs got injured. He fought with the attackers alone and survived many injuries. His face is full of bruises, his right elbow is dislocated, and his left leg has a fracture. He is conscious but not in the situation to say anything while Amma is unconscious. Doctors are not sure when she will wake up. Amma’s neighbours called the ambulance to take the two injured people to the hospital. By the time the ambulance reached, the strands of the officer’s breath had started to break but he continued to fight.

One of the neighbours came along to the hospital. Rajveer and Ranveer start to investigate her.

Rajveer: “What happened?”

The witness: “I was in my home making breakfast when I heard screams coming from her home. I was afraid and did not go there immediately. My husband leaves the home at dusk, and I have breakfast after dropping my kids to school. So, in the morning, when I make my breakfast, I am usually alone. Today was the same case. When I heard the screams of your officer, I was sure something was wrong. I do not know if you have seen it or not, but Amma’s and my home are in an isolated location. There are only two homes with a few houses one or two kilometres away. I do not know if they heard the voice or not. I sat beside my wall to peep through the small holes in our conjoined brick wall. All I saw was that there were four men dressed in our traditional clothes. One had a knife, and another had a pistol in his hand. Their faces were completely covered with shawls. They had also covered their heads with the same shawl. All of them were wearing gloves. However, the person who had the knife had wrinkles around his eyes. Therefore, I think he was in his forties. Another one I assume was young since from his physique he did not look like very old. Also, his movements showed that he was confused as the others seemed to be pro in what they were doing. He was constantly wiping the sweat off his forehead and would not hold your officer tight when the guy with the knife asked him to do so because he wanted to stab him. he had a small mark near his one eye. I am not sure which eye but there was definitely some mark. I just saw the back of the other two and do not know anything about them. I was afraid to death when I saw that Amma was unconscious and was laying on the floor face down. I put a piece of cloth in my mouth to avoid any sounds. When they thought that both of them were dead, they left. They came in a jeep. When I heard that the vehicle had gone, I peeped through my door to make sure. I stood there for a while panting. Then I started screaming so that someone would hear me. I accumulated all the air in my lungs and started shouting as hard as I could for help. I ran to the nearest house and asked them to help me. Some of them came with me and one of them called the hospital when he saw the entire scene. The ambulance came within 15 minutes. I came here with them.”

Ranveer: “Did you read the car’s number plate?”

The witness: “Sir, I am an illiterate person and have never seen the face of the school. I do not know how to read.”

Ranveer: “Do you identify numbers?”

The witness: “No sir, I don’t.”

Rajveer: “Can you tell us something else about the car?”

The witness: “I do not know anything about the car sir. All I know is that it was a jeep. I did not see it sir.”

Ranveer: “You did not see the car then how do you know that it was a jeep?”

The witness: “Sir, I went to the city with my husband once and there I saw many cars. I saw only one jeep there. The sound of that jeep was different from every other car that I saw. The sound of the car outside Amma’s house was the same and when I peeped through my door, I saw it going into dust. I got a glimpse of its size, and I am sure that it was larger than a usual car.”

Ranveer: “Thank you so much for your help. If we need you again, will you cooperate with us?”

The witness: “Yeah, sure.”

No one knew that this lady, who was younger than many men, would be willing to tell everything and will not be afraid of anyone.

Ranveer: “Rajveer, as per what this lady said, there is no one in Amma’s house and I think we should send our investigation team there.”

Rajveer: “I will call Simon to reach there as soon as possible. Also, I called Rishi to take care of the search and investigation warrants of the Gujrials. Also, do you think we should look into Sime’s home?”

Ranveer: “I think we should at least go there once.”

Rajveer: “Ok.”

One of the nurses comes out of the injured officer’s room and asks Rajveer and Ranveer to join her immediately. They do as she says. When they enter the room, they see that the officer is in a terrible situation. Ranveer loved all his subordinates like his family so this incident is very heart-trenching for him. he looks at his miserable condition and at his dry lips which are trying to say something.

Ranveer goes close to his bead and puts a hand on his forehead: “You will be fine, I promise.”

The officer stutters as he struggles to get the words out of his mouth: “Sir, sir, I tried. I did not betray you. I tried to protect her. I promise.”

Ranveer: “I know you did your best and I am proud of you. We will talk about this later. Currently, you should focus on yourself.”

The officer smiles and a tear roll down his eyes. Yet, he is trying to say something: “Sir, sir, there was someone else. There was a…” That is the moment when his ECG machine beeps, and the officer leaves this world for good.

Food for thought

Why do some stories remain incomplete and why is it more difficult to get over incomplete stories than complete ones?