The Unusual Suspect Part 4

Sarthak wanted to find out more about Akshay..he wanted to find the ''Real'' murderer..poor Raghav was just a tool..and he knew it had to be someone close to Akshay..someone who knew everything about him..

'I am Sarthak Upadhyay..i wish to meet Akshay's father..' The servant let him in.. Sarthak knew Akshay's house was the best place to find out the truth.. Intuition and intelligence go hand in hand in case of a detective..

'Sir will meet you very soon..please make yourself comfortable..' the servant said.

'No problem at all..I'll just take a look around..' said Sarthak. Inquisitiveness..one of the basic characteristics required to qualify as a detective.

Akshay's house was huge..it was beautiful..and smelt of richness..it had a huge study..and innumerable rooms..Inevitably..Sarthak was attracted to the study..countless books and magazines were arranged in sections in alphabetical order..the section which caught Sarthak's attention was H-P..he saw 3-4 books about hypnosis..Sarthak smiled..he knew he was getting closer..as soon as he reached out to take a closer look at the books..Akshay's father came in the study..he was an old man who looked weak..and the pain of his son's death was very much evident on this face.

'Hi..I'm Sunderlal Vohra..Akshay's father..You must be Sarthak..please have a seat...would you like some scotch?'

'On the rocks..' Sarthak could never say no to scotch..

'I saw some books on Hypnosis in the shelf..you seem to be quite interested in that subject?'

'Not me..it's my wife who reads all this..but why are you asking this? inquired Akshay's father..

'I am doing a research on Hypnosis for a project..but couldn't find much information..may i ask Akshay's mother if i could borrow these books?' Sarthak was a good liar.

'Actually she's not Akshay's mother..she's his stepmother.nonetheless she loved him like her own son...she must be in Akshay's room..she misses him a lot...its the third door to the right..'

As Sarthak was leaving the study..he saw some papers from a diagnosis clinic..'Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma' was written in bold red letters..the patients name was Sunderlal Vohra..Sarthak knew that was a type of cancer..the report was 6 months old...he caught all this information from just a glance...it all seemed to be making perfect sense..he was now excited to meet Mrs Vohra.

Sarthak knocked at the door..a voice from inside asked Sarthak to come in..Mrs Vohra was sitting on a chair reading a magazine...she was attractive...and much younger than Akshay's father..

'Who are you? and what brings you here?!' asked Mrs Vohra..

'I'm Detective Sarthak Upadhyay...Raghav's brother has hired me to work on the case of Akshay's murder.'

Mrs Vohra got a little uncomfortable..

'You mean to say you are hired by the murderer's brother to solve the murder case?! What is there to solve?! Isn't it clear that Raghav killed Akshay?! I always knew Raghav was jealous of him..but anyways why are you troubling us? We are in a lot of pain anyways..please leave us alone..'

'You may think of it as inappropriate..but before coming here..i had gone to your room..to do a little check up..it's mighty unfortunate that you left your mobile phone there..you'd got a call from a guy called Abhishek....he was saying something about having to pay the hypnosis expert..and was asking you to meet him soon..that is all i could get out of him before he realized that it wasn't you on the line..Honestly..it's more than I required..and don't worry..i didn't forget to record that little monologue of Abhishek..what do you have to say now Mrs Vohra?!'

Mrs Vohra was shell shocked..she'd never expected this to happen..she didn't utter a word..

I'm sure you must be excited to know about how i cracked this one..The reports clearly stated that Raghav was in partial consciousness when he shot Akshay..the only possible explanation to that was hypnosis..I knew it had to be someone very close to Akshay as the person knew that he was at Theobroma that night..so i came to your house to investigate things further..the hypnosis books in the study..and the diagnosis report confirmed by doubt..since Mr Vohra has a serious type of cancer..you knew he's not going to live too long..and what i can deduce from all this is that Mr Vohra had already made his will in which Akshay was to inherit the majority of the property..and you didn't approve of this..so with your 'partner' Abhishek..you thought of removing the thorn out of the rose..but since you didn't want to hurt yourself while removing it..you used poor Raghav as a tool..'

'That was very impressive Detective..' said Mrs Vohra.. as she frantically took out a cheque book..and signed a blank cheque...she took the car keys out of her purse..

'Fill in the desired amount..and I'm sure you must have noticed the black Porsche in the garage...it's brand new and it's yours..'

'Hello?! Sanyukta?Sarthak here... I was wondering if I could take you for a drive tonight..it'll be a good stress-buster for you don't you think?! and besides I want you to be the first person to go on a drive with me in my new Porsche'

I guess Inspector Mishra was right..Like father..like son.

The Unusual Suspect Part 3

'I'm not at all interested in having a personal rendezvous with you sir..just wanted to let you know that Raghav's brother,Naman has given me the responsibility to solve this case..I'm sure it's not as easy as it looks..we could crack it a lot faster if we work on it together.' Sarthak was never too intimidated by the dynamic personality of Inspector Mishra...

It didn't take too much for the inspector to lose his temper..

What?!Are you challenging my intelligence?!..You don't think i can solve this on my own? I told you i don't need your help..you are just a wannabe detective..Don't meddle in my affairs or you'll be in big trouble my friend...so don't expect any sort of co-operation from me or my force..'

Sarthak left without saying another word..Mishra was still the same egoistic cop with a superiority complex..guess somethings don't change.. Sarthak didn't lose hope..he couldn't afford to..this was his first major case..also..Naman and he worked in the bank together for a few years and were good friends..Naman never trusted the Police and he was very well acquainted with Sarthak's wits and detection skills..he'd called Sarthak home to request him to take up this case..and agreed to pay whatever he wanted..though Sarthak refused to take any money. He was just excited about finally getting an opportunity to prove his worth..as Naman was telling him about what had happened exactly..a beautiful..innocent girl entered the room to serve Sarthak some tea and biscuits..he couldn't take his eyes off her..the beautiful girl was Sanyukta,Naman and Raghav's sister...Sarthak had seen her for the first time and was astonished by her charm and innocence..Even though Sanyukta was shy..one could make out that she was somewhat attracted to Sarthak too..

'Please save Raghav..I'm sure he's innocent..he could never do a thing like this..' Sanyukta said.

Sarthak held her hands and told her.. 'Don't worry Sanyukta..trust me.

Sarthak never felt this way before...he never believed in love at first sight..but this time he had to.

Sarthak was searching for a trail..he finally decided to begin the investigation by asking some questions regarding Raghav's mental state to Raghav's doctor.. When Sarthak was in the inspectors office..he'd seen the doctor's card on the table..and had noted down the doc's name and his office address in his mind in no time..

'Hi Doctor..I am Sarthak Upadhyay,a private detective..working on Raghav Dixit's case..and I need your help.'

'Wait a minute..are you Vasudeva Upadhyay's son?!'

'Yes!'

'He is a dear friend of mine! I am sorry about whatever happened...but its so great to see you taking his place! You are like a son to me Sarthak..tell me..how can I help you..'

Sarthak was glad to know that at least someone was willing to co-operate with him..

'I did some research on Raghav..went to his school and his college..asked his friends and teachers about his behavior and general mannerisms..somehow i cannot believe he killed his best friend..something's fishy isn't it? What do the reports say doc?! inquired Sarthak.

'Well you are right..this case isn't as easy as it looks..the reports say that Raghav was not in complete consciousness while committing the crime..and surprisingly..no kind of alcohol or drug or any other kind of intoxicant for that matter has been found in his body...I'm perplexed.'

'Hmmm..is it possible that Raghav was under hypnotism..i mean that is the only possible answer to his mental and physical state..isn't it Doc?!'

'YES!! That's it..Hypnotism..it has to be hypnotism..why didn't I think of that?!!You are a genius Sarthak...so now arises the all important question...

Who hypnotized Raghav?!'

'Now that we've found the all important question Doc, finding the answer to that shouldn't be too difficult..'