ANTI-SOCIAL NETWORK (9 page)

Somewhere along Richard’s monologue, Virkar and Naina had sat down on the rickety chairs facing the computer screens. They had been listening intently to what Richard was saying and now found themselves staring at him, flabbergasted. Finally, Virkar broke the stunned silence. ‘How the hell did you find all this out?’

Richard flashed a cheeky smile. ‘Uncle, all e-mails are there on the Internet to find.’

Virkar was still not convinced. ‘But the Cyber Crime Cell didn’t find anything.’

‘Does your Cyber Crime Cell Unit know about Soomdi email?’

‘What the hell is that?’

Richard took a deep breath and launched off like a professor addressing a classroom, ‘Soomdi email is the latest buzz on the streets. It uses complex encryption and elements of CipherSend and Safester, but is more secure because it is routed through a private and secure offshore server racked in a biometric security lockdown facility in Panama. It’s something like Little Brother.’

Virkar stared at him nonplussed. ‘Panama, Little Brother, CipherSend! What are these things? What are you talking about?’

‘It’s too complicated for you, uncle.’ Richard’s voice now held a hint of condescension.

Naina finally broke into the conversation. ‘But it’s not too complicated for me, so please continue,’ she said firmly.

‘See, ma’am, it’s like this. Normally, the ISP that you use to access the Internet stores all the data of your activities in their system—unless the servers are private servers and they are in a secure facility, like being housed in a nation that has legislation to stringently protect Internet privacy, such as Panama.’

‘But if it’s so well protected, then how did you get in?’ Naina asked, raising an eyebrow.

Richard smiled that cheeky smile again. ‘I have a Soomdi account. I used that to hack into the Anti-Social Network’s account and from there followed the trail of emails.’

Virkar’s brain was spinning but he sprang forward and walked up to the monitor. ‘Show me the emails,’ he demanded.

Richard rolled his eyes and tapped a few keys on the keyboard. A chain of email exchanges opened up on his monitor. Virkar speed-read snatches of sentences. As the page ended, he turned to Richard. ‘Fantastic. Go into the Anti-Social Network’s account and extract all their emails.’

Richard immediately held up his hands. ‘Not possible. By now, all the other emails would have been deleted and perhaps even their accounts would have been shut down.’

Virkar was taken aback. ‘
What
?! How?’

‘These secret ISPs respond very fast to security breaches,’ Richard explained patiently.

‘But can’t you use your account to hack in again?’

‘What, uncle? Do you think these guys are fools? I only got a two-minute window, where I could enter and get what I was looking for. By now my IP address will be blacklisted on all the lists of the secure email ISPs. Now I’m forever barred from such accounts. But it was worth it.’

‘Dammit, you should have checked for emails from the others, too!’ Virkar exclaimed, feeling frustrated.

But Richard only shrugged. ‘You only told me about those
three.
Jitna bola utna ich karenga
!’ Virkar felt murderous but when Naina put a restraining hand on his shoulder, he tried to calm himself. Her soft voice further soothed Virkar as she asked, ‘You’ve got all the proof that you need for your case, haven’t you?’

Virkar nodded, but voiced a thought that was bothering him. ‘Something doesn’t add up. Usman Teacher told me that both Rajesh and Kshitij were members of the ASN and he also said that there were a few more. We didn’t find any evidence of that in these email exchanges.’

Richard shrugged again as he said, ‘Look, uncle, that maybe so, but the emails I found give a different picture of the ASN.’

‘This Usman Teacher wasn’t really a paragon of virtue, was he? He could have given you some wrong information, too,’ Naina added.

Virkar raised his hands in mock surrender and, turning to Richard, said, ‘Okay, Mr Genius, can you get any more information on this Anti-Social Network in any other way?’

Richard smiled and glanced at Naina, who was rolling her eyes in mock irritation. ‘Maybe, but that calls for a renegotiation and an entirely new incentive package,’ he said.

Virkar sat back down on the rickety chair. ‘Okay, so what do you want?’

‘M
y name is Akhbir Singh Mann, but kudis like you call me Axeman,’ Delnaz finished her sentence and then stared at Virkar, waiting for his response.

‘Those were his exact words?’ he asked.

‘Yes, Inspector, I remember quite clearly.’

Naina, who was sitting beside Virkar at their table at a coffee shop, spoke for the first time. ‘Please don’t mind our questions, Delnaz. We just want to be sure of everything because there are a lot of lives at stake.’

Delnaz’s lips curled into an irritated pout. ‘Look, ma’am, I remember this quite well because of the way he said it, you know, with a Punjabi accent? He was totally VTD.’

Virkar looked confused.‘VTD?’

‘Vernac Trying Dudegiri.’

Virkar sat back, not entirely satisfied with Delnaz’s explanation, but then he had nothing else to go by. It had been two days since he had worked out an arrangement with Richard, which now leaned entirely in Richard’s favour. Richard had gone off for a week-long vacation in Goa. Of course, all expenses for this vacation were borne by Virkar and Naina from their meagre salaries, but Richard couldn’t care less about that. In fact, he took great pleasure in sending regular SMSs to Virkar and Naina telling them about the great time he was having. Meanwhile, all SMSs from Virkar seeking more information about the Anti-Social Network had gone unanswered…until that morning, when Virkar had received a short SMS from Richard:
There is a girl called Delnaz Motiwala who lives in Nana Chowk. You need to speak to her
.

Since no further information was forthcoming despite his best efforts to contact Richard, Virkar swallowed his anger and proceeded to seek out Delnaz. Not wanting to alarm her, he had used Naina as an intermediary to arrange a meeting with Delnaz at a coffee shop in Tardeo. At the prearranged time, a young, voluptuous, good-looking girl walked into the coffee shop. She was wearing clothes that bordered on skimpy, and all eyes were on her as she sauntered up to Virkar and Naina’s table. Virkar had found himself tongue-tied with embarrassment as Delnaz sat down, displaying her ample cleavage to all and sundry.

Before he could gather his wits, Delnaz began, ‘Inspector Virkar, I hope you will keep your end of the bargain.’

Virkar was stumped. In his head, he cursed Richard for having put him in this situation without any prior information. Thankfully, Naina came to his rescue. ‘Delnaz, just so that everything is absolutely clear, please tell us, what is your understanding of the bargain?’

Delnaz rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. ‘That I will tell you about the guy and you will tell no one about my “Chalu Girls Network”.’ Virkar was still struck dumb but nodded in response. He didn’t even want to know what the ‘Chalu Girls Network’ was.

Delnaz wasn’t satisfied with just a nod. ‘Inspector Virkar, do you agree to the terms?’ she asked again.

Virkar opened his mouth and a hoarse ‘yes’ tumbled out. Satisfied with his response, Delnaz leaned closer. Her cleavage now became extremely distracting for him but since he knew that Naina’s eyes were watching him carefully, Virkar made it a point to keep his own eyes carefully around the region of Delnaz’s nose.

Delnaz’s then continued, her tone growing conspiratorial. ‘Well, a couple of weeks ago, this guy inboxed me on my network with his photograph. He looked pretty hot, you know, with the chiselled, Italian kind of looks, so I sent him one of my DPs, too—display picture, Inspector,’ she explained, responding to Virkar’s confused look. ‘Anyway, then he sends me a semi-nude photo, you know, with a lot of butt showing. He had a nice butt. So I sent him a similar picture of mine. Next thing I know, this guy calls me. How the fuck did he get my number? Anyway, he looked cute in his pictures, so I talked to him, even though he had a total vernac accent. Then he asked to meet me. So I said, cool lets meet at Yoyo’s, you know, at Chowpatty? He lands up there and the first thing he says is, “My name is Akhbir Singh Mann, but the kudis like you call me Axeman.” I was so turned off that I got up and left then and there.’

As Delnaz paused to catch a breath, Virkar and Naina caught each other’s eye, confused. ‘So you want to hear the rest of it?’ Delnaz asked and continued before they could respond. ‘A couple of days later, he inboxes me the picture of my ass and says that he belongs to the Anti-Social Network and if I don’t pay him ten thousand bucks, he’d put my picture all over the Internet.’

Naina grew excited. ‘So what did you do?’

Delnaz smirked. ‘I sent him a topless picture of myself and told him to put that one up.’ Naina’s jaw dropped as Delnaz added, ‘That one was all over the Internet, anyway.’

Virkar coughed in response. Naina raised an eyebrow at him, but his face showed no emotion as he asked, ‘So what happened then?’

‘Nothing. No response. Zilch. He never got back to me. But I sent out his DP to the girls on my network, warning them against him.’

‘You mean the “Chalu Girls Network”?’ asked Virkar.

Delnaz nodded. ‘Yes, the network you’ll never tell anyone anything about.’

Virkar smiled. ‘Yes, I won’t. That’s a promise.’

Delnaz opened her voluminous handbag and extracted a crisp, folded white paper and pushed in on the table towards Virkar. ‘That’s a printout of his DP.’

Virkar unfolded the paper and saw a high quality picture of a young, well-built guy with Punjabi good looks.

‘Thanks so much, Delnaz,’ said Naina, indicating that the meeting was over, but Delnaz wasn’t in the mood to leave.

‘Don’t you guys want to hear the best part?’

‘What?’ asked Virkar, surprised that there was more.

‘A few days ago, one of my girls spotted the asshole.’

‘Where?’ This time it was Naina who broke in.

‘Mr Axeman tried to chat her up on the bus on her way back from college. Can you believe it he used the same line? “My name is Akhbir Singh Mann, but kudis like you call me Axeman.” Please, how about some variety? Anyway, my friend says he lives somewhere in her neighbourhood in Byculla.’

‘How does she know that?’ Virkar asked.

‘She saw him getting off the bus. Of course, she isn’t a despo to have followed him so she doesn’t know where he lives exactly.’

Virkar smiled, unable to believe he had finally caught a break in his case. ‘One last thing, what bus stop did your friend first see him at?’ he asked her.

‘Near the Jewish Synagogue bus stop.’

‘You’ve been very helpful, Delnaz.’ Virkar’s smile grew broader. Delnaz got up from the table and walked out of the coffee shop with all eyes once following her swinging hips once again as she glided towards the door. Virkar, who had receded into his thoughts, was suddenly pulled out of them by Naina’s sharp voice. ‘Seen enough?’

Virkar was confused. ‘I don’t know. What do you mean?’

‘Seriously?’ said Naina in disbelief. ‘You were thinking while your eyes were on her butt?’

‘No, I…I…no…’ he sputtered, getting red in the face. Naina got up from her seat abruptly and flounced out of the coffee shop. Virkar followed a little sheepishly, trying not to pay attention to the titters of laughter around him.

T
he Magen David Synagogue is a one-storeyed structure with Victorian character. Its four tall frontal pillars and clock tower ensure that the synagogue is the most imposing building in its area. The B.E.S.T bus stop number 1120 is located on the main road that passes in front of the synagogue. Small stalls and shop fronts line the pavement, conducting swift business with the passers-by.

Adarsh Footwear Repairs across the road from the bus stop was one such shop. In truth, it was a small 4×4 mochi’s shop that had managed to hang on despite the Municipal Corporation’s demolition drives. Virkar had been crouched inside the tight space among the shoes and chappals with Adarsh Ravidas Mochi, the owner of the shop, for almost four hours now, staring at the bus stop and closely observing every passenger that got on or off the buses that stopped there. Virkar was used to the long wait and the frustration that accompanied surveillance but Adarsh was unfortunately not used to it. He was getting fairly antsy and Virkar was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea after all.

Although he had Akhbir’s photograph and Delnaz’s information, Virkar had decided not to immediately rush off to his colleagues at the Crime Branch. He was not entirely convinced about the whole Internet extortion racket run by a group of young college kids. In his years of dealing with criminals, Virkar had seen all kinds of devious minds but the current set of circumstances seemed too far-fetched, even to him. He wondered whether it was because he was a little out of touch with the latest developments in technology or because he believed that these kinds of brutal crimes were generally committed by older people. Young minds could not be so corrupt, he had said to Naina who had been urging him to bring in his team and grab Akhbir, aka Axeman.

‘How can we be sure he even exists?’ Virkar had continued, finally driving Naina to the point of frustration. She had walked off, accusing him of not believing Richard’s and Delnaz’s information because they were youngsters. As a parting shot, she had said that he would have been rushing into action if the same information had been given to him by someone like Usman Teacher. As Virkar sat staring at the buses that swung to him by the bus stop, he wondered if there was an element of truth in Naina’s statement.

The thirty-third bus of the morning had just arrived and left when Virkar felt that his bladder needed emptying. He glanced at his watch; it was nearly 3 p.m. He had been sitting at the mochi shop for six hours. Moreover, although he had had some lunch brought in by Adarsh, he had not taken a loo break. Surveillance activity is normally is done in twos, where one partner backs up the other whenever such breaks are needed. However, since Virkar was by himself on this one, he decided to trust Adarsh’s abilities for the five minutes that it would take him to walk and relieve himself at the nearby corner
khopcha
used for such activities. Leaving Adarsh with Akhbir’s photo and crossing his fingers, Virkar strode towards the
khopcha
, thankful for the opportunity to stretch his legs. He reached the corner of the road and turned into the ruined shop front that lead to the small open space behind that served a public urinal. The overpowering stench of ammonia hit his nostrils. He chose the least smelly corner and reached for his zipper. Suddenly he heard the shuffle of feet behind him. A slim figure lined himself up next to Virkar and began to unzip to relieve himself. Virkar was a little irritated at having been disturbed and couldn’t help throwing an annoyed look at his temporary neighbour.