THE BROWNING MURDERS

Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

THE CRIME:

22nd December, 1969.

Rabindra Sarovar Area.

The freezing dawn was yet to melt into a warm morning. The chilly winter breeze was waiting to receive the first golden rays of the morning sun. Sleepy-eyed chai-wallahs were slowly opening their stalls. Sweepers were torpidly scrubbing and sweeping the roads before the deluge of morning walkers and health freaks arrived there.

Raju Chacha, an old chaiwallah, opened his tea-stall and displayed the glass jars containing different types of biscuits and cookies. He then lit his noisy kero-gas stove and heated water in a huge aluminium kettle. He poured milk, sugar, powdered cardamom and tea leaves into the boiling water and stirred it with a spoon. Then he covered the lid and lowered the flame. While making tea he warmed his cold, wrinkled hands in the heat of the fire. Today the temperature seemed to be unusually low.

"Ram Ram Chacha," greeted Ramesh, a young Constable posted at Lake Thana. He was a regular customer at Raju Chacha's tea stall, especially on the mornings after his night shifts. He smiled at the old man and sat down on the narrow bench meant for the customers.

"Ram Ram beta," replied Raju Chacha. *"Sirf chai hi doon, ya saath mein kuchh biscuit viscuit bhi chahiye?"

*(Only tea, or would you like to have some biscuits too?)

*"Subah subah to sirf ek cup chai hi thik rahegi, Chacha," replied Ramesh.

*(A cup of tea will be all right in the morning)

*"Lagta hai iss saal thanda kuchh zyada hi padi hai," observed Raju Chacha as he handed over a glass of steaming hot tea to Ramesh.

*(It seems that the cold is a bit too much this year)

*"Sahi bola Chacha," replied Ramesh and sipped his tea.

*(You are right)

*"Suna hai ki tumhari shaadi tair ho chuki hain? Par tum ne to hume kuchh bataya hi nehi. Kab ho rahi hain shaadi? Ladki kahaan ki hain?" Raju chacha seemed very curious to know about Ramesh's wedding.

*(I heard that your wedding has been fixed. But you did not say anything about it. When is the wedding? Where does the bride live?)

But Ramesh's attention was fixed elsewhere. His sharp eyes had caught sight of a man hurriedly walking towards the lake. Normally he would have shrugged him off as one of the early morning walkers, but the heavy bags the man carried in his hands aroused his suspicion. Overcome with curiosity he left his unfinished glass of tea, hurriedly paid Raju Chacha and silently followed the man from some distance.

The man walked fast and soon reached Dhakuria lake. He continued walking till he arrived at a desolate part of the lake. Then he slowed down his pace of walking and very casually swept a quick glance around him. He did not notice Ramesh who, hiding behind a bush, was keeping a careful watch on the man. Satisfied that no one was watching him, he raised his hands to throw the bags into the water.

"Hey you! Stop there!" yelled Ramesh, failing to contain himself any longer. He came out from his hiding place and hastened towards the man.

"What are you doing? Didn't you see the notice? You cannot throw garbage into the water."

The man was shocked to realise that he was not alone. The sight of a uniformed policeman running towards him made him lose his nerve. He dropped the bags on the road and took to his heels.

Ramesh immediately sensed that something was wrong. He blew his whistle to call his companions. Two other Constables appeared almost immediately. The three of them chased the man and soon caught him. They forced him to return to the spot where he had dropped his suspicious bags.

A small crowd of morning walkers had already gathered round the bags, eyeing them with suspicion. Ramesh asked his companions to hold the man while he opened the bags.

From each bag he extracted two newspaper wrapped packets. Dried blood marks were clearly visible on them. Ramesh made a small slit in one of the packets and peeped inside. Then he let out a yelp of terror. For, protruding from the slitted end, were two human fingers!

Ramesh tried to control his nerves and opened both the packets with shaking fingers. They contained two severed human arms which were chopped into pieces. All the onlookers, from the crowd to the Constables, were shaken by the gruesome deed.

Ramesh immediately sent one of his companions to the Lake police station. Soon he returned with an Inspector and a Sub Inspector. After primary investigation they arrested the man on homicide and other allied charges. The police descended divers to search the lake. Before the day was over they fished out the remaining body parts of the murdered woman.

It was past midnight. The arrested man was sitting on a chair in the interrogation room of Lal Bazaar police station. The man was at his wit's end after the marathon interrogation. The questioning had started two days back and still showed no signs of coming to an end. The interrogating officers changed at regular intervals, but the interrogated person remained the same.

The young man, who introduced himself as Roshanlal, had managed to keep his nerve while facing the difficult questioning on the first day. He denied having any knowledge about the contents of the bags he was carrying. He claimed that he had found them lying on the footpath and mistook them for someone's lost property. Hence he picked them up and was on his way to surrender them at Lake Police Station when the Constables suddenly started pursuing him. He definitely had no intention of throwing the bags into the lake. The Constables were lying about that to get additional credit.

The investigating officers said nothing to counter him. They allowed him to say whatever he wanted to in self defense. But once his statement was over, they began to point out the innumerable loopholes, lies and contradictions in his narrative and asked for explanations. Slowly the man's tenacity wore out and the constant questioning turned him into a nervous wreck. In spite of the chill in the air, tiny specs of perspiration appeared on his forehead. Finally his dogged perseverance gave way and he broke down.

"Yes, I admit that I killed her. Believe me, I did not want to do it. But there was no option left for me. I did not want Karuna's death to get exposed to the police. I did not want my life to get ruined. So I had to kill her...I just had to kill her!"

The investigating officer picked up a glass of water from the table and offered it to the man.

"Here, have some water. Now take your time and tell me from the beginning."

The confession began.