The previous evening when Shashidhar was still being interrogated in the police station of his neighbourhood
"Did I hear it properly?" Vishal fumed, on the verge of exploding into a rage, his gaze intimidating Raghavan. "Are you really trying to cover up the case?"
"Not really," Raghavan tried to reason with him. "We have to show the public that we are doing our best. If they think that even after a day of the girl's death we couldn't trace at least an accomplice, they will tear us apart. Public unrest is never good for the system and for public itself. We have had so many protests on the streets till now, even before this incident occurred. So many damages that getting another massive public outrage on the streets now will be too much to handle for the government."
Vishal erupted, "What actually would be too much to handle is the incompetency and insincerity of the system when so many people have protested so violently so many times. It's like none of their voices matter, even if they pelt the system with stones or burn the roads leading to the system, the people sitting higher up and controlling the system will never even think of answering honestly or working the right way. If things don't change, sir, the protests will never stop. You want the public unrest to subside? Then work honestly and be answerable as you should be, instead of taking wrong shortcuts like this."
The air in Raghavan's office room seemed to get heavier on its own with the heat of argument between the two headstrong people as two other constables looked on in confusion at the course of their action.
After an uncomfortable pause, Raghavan spoke decisively, "Look, Vishal, we are not going to give up on the case. We are only giving a feed to the public, a temporary respite to cool down the agitated mob. Once the situation is under control, we will investigate it correctly."
Vishal sighed in frustration and said, "There are two things you spelled wrongly. Calling the righteous people who are simply asking for justice as 'mob'; and calling a pretentious investigation as 'correct'. I don't think I can agree with any of your decisions. I am going to meet Sandeep sir and get to the bottom of this; either you report the investigation details honestly to the public and own up to our failure or I will go public myself with the actual details. My news agency would be delighted to get an exclusive straight from the horse's mouth. If you remember correctly, our agreement was for me supporting you and giving positive news to the media in exchange for afair investigation. If you go back on what you promised me, I will go back on mine."
Of everything that Vishal threatened, Raghavan felt a tug in his heart at the usage of the words 'our failure'. He realized Vishal wasn't blaming everything on the Police; he was blaming himself more than anyone else.
He knew trying to convince Vishal out of his fixation for truth would be futile. Raghavan himself was helpless given that the order from his superiors to close the case with a substitute suspect couldn't be refuted with his own power.
As Vishal stormed out of the office, he could only think of the crooked ways in which powerful people controlled the innocent ones. Due to someone's incompetency, a woman's death was being ignored in the most blatant way.
He knew he needed to have something to hold his ground against the power that was stomping over him. He took his phone out as he walked to the nearest bus stop and sent a message to one of his colleagues at the news agency who was the secret keeper of the investigation records Vishal maintained.
Sandeep was not in his office, away on some official duty. Vishal waited, his news agency colleague on standby. An hour later, at around seven in the night, Sandeep walked in, preoccupied with his work pressure. He spotted a serenely observing Vishal and had a premonition of something big to happen. He gestured Vishal to follow him into his room and asked the constables following him to wait outside.
"So, I heard we are going to take a decision on Mitra's case," Vishal remarked calmly as he closed the door behind him.
Sandeep stopped in his tracks as he was about to take his seat. He looked at Vishal with a poker face and asked, "What do you expect us to do?"
"Be more professional?" Vishal suggested the obvious with a stern voice. "We are not paying taxes so you could give us the wrong information and let criminals go around freely. You think the murderer is going to stop with Mitra? What if keeps releasing videos of other women being murdered?"
"You think we are not trying to catch him?" There was a tinge of anger in Sandeep's rising tone. He pushed the landline phone on his desk towards Vishal and said, "Call the Inspector here and ask him if we have been investigating only the suspects you know."
Vishal's expression of surprise spoke out his ignorance. Sandeep studied him and said, "I have been putting people, both official and civilian informants to investigate every criminal gang, trying to get every tiny bit of information that can help us find the criminal. We are looking at every criminal in jail who was involved in women trafficking, ransom kidnapping, any crime involving women. I am trying everything I can to catch that dirtbag. But it is not something that should be advertised to the public. The protests that are happening cannot fast forward the process of finding details or lead us to the criminal. It will only hamper the process. If the police resources are busy restraining the angry protestors, who will comb the whole city and the suburbs to look out for Mitra? What if the criminal takes advantage of the chaotic situation?"
Vishal looked down, deep in thought, as he pondered over the factuality of Sandeep's analysis. Still, something didn't add up.
"What about after giving wrong information to the public?" he asked slowly. "I have seen cases where the truth was avoided and buried and can imagine what you are planning to do: passing off a nameless person's body as Mitra, convincing or threatening her parents and people close to the case like me to publicly admit that the body you find is Mitra's, indicting an old, unrelated criminal as the perpetrator of this crime or as a prime suspect and then decreasing the coverage of the case so people will think the criminal is caught and slowly forget about it."
He studied the unchanging expression of challenge on Sandeep's face and said, "I have seen things like this happening so frequently that I know the drill. But, what about the consequence I mentioned? What if he comes back with another video after you have committed to the public that you have caught the prime suspect? Will you cover that up as well? Pass it off as a copycat crime?"