Murder at Crescent Point (15 page)

‘But what can I do sitting here?’

‘Uncle, you remember Inspector Rajan of Sangalina Hills who was investigating Jyoti’s case? He is now ACP at Somabad. I have discussed the matter with him. He wants some concrete evidence from you which will prove that you were compelled to sell the company because of the ransom demand for a large sum of money from the kidnappers. Please send a formal complaint giving dates and some evidence to him. Please note down his address and my phone number.’

Mr Taneja’s voice sounded heavy with emotion as he said, ‘I am touched by your concern for your friend and our beloved daughter. My wife and I are still unable to reconcile ourselves with the fact that she is no more. Perhaps it was our fate to lose her.’ Then recovering, he said, ‘I will send a formal letter to Mr Rajan at the earliest and also call you. Thanks once again, my child.’

Nikki heard the click of the receiver being put down. She felt sorry for the couple sitting so many thousand miles away, battling with the painful memories of their daughter each day.

A few days later, ACP Rajan called up Nikki, ‘I have got the papers from Mr Taneja. Can you come and see me?’

When Nikki went to his office, he showed her a notarised affidavit from Mr Taneja. He read out only the relevant portions to Nikki. One part stated,

The kidnapper always insisted that the tape containing their messages should be returned with my reply but in the last tape in which they had given the delivery instructions they did not ask for my reply. I had kept that tape with me and the same is being sent herewith.

The voice on the tape said:

Taneja, this is the final message from us. Please listen carefully the instructions for delivery of money. You will personally bring the whole amount of the ransom in currency notes of 1000 or 500 denominations in a van and not in your car. You will drive the van yourself and start at eleven tonight from your house and come on the Somabad-Sangalina Road. At the tenth milestone you will turn left and drive for another five miles, where you will find an abandoned godown with an open gate. You will drive the van inside and park it at the far end where you will find a motorcycle parked with ignition keys in it. You will leave the godown immediately on this motorcycle and abandon it at the outskirts of the city. After we have checked the money we shall release your wife who will reach Somabad early morning tomorrow. I warn you once again. If you want your wife to return safely you should comply with these instructions. Any attempt to act clever or going to police will mean sure death of your wife.

Nikki said, ‘I have heard this voice before.’

‘Maybe…one of the kidnappers.’

‘Maybe,’ responded Nikki, unsure.

‘Mr Taneja has also said that in retrospect he feels that kidnapping was a means of getting control over his firm and he does not rule out its linkage to the death of his daughter in order to put additional pressure on him,’ he further informed Nikki.

‘What do you think of this?’

‘I think I can now justify the re-opening of the kidnapping case. We will have to move two ways. Firstly, we will check with the stock exchange regarding the procedure followed for the sale of shares. Simultaneously, we will look for the kidnappers. I have called the police sketch artist. He is waiting outside. You describe to him the appearance of the two men who picked you up so that he can make their sketches.’

Nikki asked, ‘What about Jeevan Das?’

‘I would leave him alone for the time being. After all, he must have acted at someone’s behest. It is possible that the investigations of the kidnapping case might throw up something which could establish his linkage more clearly.’

Nikki was elated. Finally things had begun to roll!

— CHAPTER NINETEEN —

The Mystery Deepens

After a few days Nikki got a call from ACP Rajan. He said, ‘We have been following the information regarding the sale of the company. There does not seem to be any irregularity in the transaction. Mr Taneja presented his company for sale which was initially bought by a set of brokers and then transferred to an industrialist, Seth Ghanshyam. It is a fact that the share price fell by about 50 per cent during the period of transaction. So Mr Taneja would have sold practically all the shares of the company for
20 crores and eventually lost control of the organisation. But that does not prove anything.’

Nikki thought for a while, ‘Is it possible to find out the source of money available to the brokers or Seth Ghanshyam which enabled them to buy the whole company in three-four days?’

‘Daily transactions at stock exchanges are quite heavy and all the money is not paid up front. But we could look into it because of the special circumstances of this case. I will have to take the help of my sister organisation because such probing is normally confidential and not open to the police.’

Three days later Nikki again got a call from ACP Rajan. He sounded very excited. ‘I have some news for you. Can you come right away?’ When Nikki reached his office she was asked to wait in the outer chamber. After a while, a number of uniformed officers walked out of ACP’s room. He peeped from his door and said, ‘Come in, Nikki. Sorry to keep you waiting. Some important developments have taken place in this case. I was having a conference with my officers.’

Nikki’s curiosity mounted. ‘We have made two major breakthroughs. Firstly, we have been able to nab one of the kidnappers, John, whose description you had provided to our artist. He is in the interrogation room. The purpose of calling you here is so that you can see the man and identify him. We shall do that a little later. But the main thing is that while checking the accounts of Seth Ghanshyam for the relevant period, we have stumbled on a set of transactions which substantiate Anurag Taneja’s statement,’ said the ACP as he walked to and fro in the room.

‘At the start of the transaction period, a sum of
19.50 crores was credited into the account of Seth Ghanshyam. Tracing back we found that this money had come from an account in the Oriental Bank, opened by Mr Khanna. Jeevan Das who was holding an account in that bank, was his referee. The amount deposited was also
19.50 crores. After the transfer of the money the account was closed. The whole transaction took place within a week.’

Nikki said, ‘Very interesting. So Mr Khanna is the prime mover. I heard him telling Mr Taneja that he will try to ensure that the company is not lost. But his motive was entirely different. He wanted to become the Managing Director of the company. He connived with Seth Ghanshyam, arranged kidnapping and then used his influence on Mr Taneja to make him sell the company.’

ACP Rajan said, ‘This end is tied up. Let us go to the interrogation room.’

The door of the interrogation room was closed. The ACP pointed to a glass window, ‘This is a one-way see through glass. You can see through it but the man inside cannot. Look and tell me.’

Nikki peeped through the glass window. Sitting on a chair with his head bent was John looking rather subdued. Nikki said, ‘He is the man. I am sure.’

ACP Rajan said, ‘Thanks. You may leave now. We will deal with him.’

Nikki was thrilled. ‘I am so happy that things are taking some shape. I will be interested to know the progress. Can I call you some time or come here to meet you?’

‘You are the principal player in this case. I myself will call when I make progress.’

Their next meeting took place fairly soon. ACP Rajan informed Nikki, ‘We could break John down and he told us that he, and others with him were merely the front men. The real person was one Farooqi who is a respected businessman and has a well-known antique shop in the main market. We apprehended him. His testimony is really quite revealing.’ While putting on the tape he continued, ‘These days we record the statements of the accused so that they do not say in the court that they gave the statement under duress. The voice analyst can always find out whether or not the person was talking under duress.’

The tape started.

Interrogator: Farooqi, the charges against you are kidnapping of Mrs Taneja, the wife of a well-known industrialist four years back with a view to extract a huge ransom and also committing the murder of the daughter of Mr Taneja and another woman a week before the kidnapping, in Sangalina Hills.

Farooqi: What murder? I don’t know of any murder committed in Sangalina Hills. This is a false implication.

Interrogator: So you admit that you had kidnapped Mrs Taneja?

Silence.

Interrogator: Your front man John is in our custody, he has told us all and we have other evidence which clearly points out that you were the mastermind behind these crimes. There is no need to pretend your innocence.

Farooqi: Yes, I admit kidnapping. But I have nothing to do with any murder. This is not my line.

Interrogator: OK, supposing I agree for a while that you did not commit the murders, tell me why you kidnapped Mrs Taneja?

Farooqi: Four years ago, in the month of December, a corporate executive by the name of Mr Khanna was referred to me by one of my contacts. Mr Khanna promised
50 lakhs for kidnapping this industrialist’s wife. It had to be a foolproof plan and even if the police was to get wind of it, I had to manage my part. He did not want to be in the picture. Something was quite unusual in this case. Mr Khanna did not want me to negotiate the ransom. My job was to kidnap her, keep her in a safe place and send her back when he gave the signal. The only other things he wanted me to do was to collect postal delivery from a letter box two-three times and deliver the bag to him un-opened. After five days he asked me to drop the woman back near her home. On the following day we collected our money. I did not have any subsequent contact with Mr Khanna.