Two Mysterious Cadavers

Translation

Two Mysterious Cadavers

Chapter -1, Kartavya by Ishvar Prajapati

Translated into English by Pallavi Gupta 

        It was 23rd November of 2021. Two mysterious dead bodies of a woman and a child were found on the banks of a lake on the outskirts of a marginal village in Aravalli district. The villagers were shocked by the unprecedented incident in the village. They informed the police about the incident. The district police rushed to the spot immediately. There was commotion in the entire district. News in regards with the same made headlines in local newspapers the next day.

        The dead woman found was in her 40s and the child was about 12. They didn't belong to any nearby village. Their faces were unfamiliar and seemed to belong to some other area. So, how did these two corpses come here? The case started being widely discussed in the entire district. A dreadful atmosphere prevailed in the village. Superintendent of Police, Aravalli Sanjay Kharat was a promising officer. Having realised the severity of this double murder case, he immediately put wheels in motion to solve it. It was a challenging case for the district police as well. The district police started the investigation.

         Initial speculation suggested that they both were strangled to death and the bodies had been dumped in the hinterland to destroy the evidences.

        It was getting troublesome for the police to solve the case with no leads. Modasa LCB visited the incident site. No evidence was found at the scene, but a search of the surrounding area revealed a bag full of clothes nearby. The bag contained clothes of a woman and a child. Among the clothes, there was a new blouse with a name of a village along with 'Kaminiben' written on it. It was clear from the clothes that this bag belonged to the deceased. That was all the clue the police got. It was not easy to track down the killer based on just the name on the blouse, but the police handled the task patiently and tactfully.

              Based on the names written on the blouse, the police started to search for that particular village. Finally, they found it. It was a small village in Tapi district at Southern Gujarat. The police made their way there. Talking to the villagers they came to know it was Vinod’s family. The woman's name was Kamini and the child's name was Aakash. Vinod was deeply staggered when the police broke the news about his wife and child's bloodshed.

           The murder puzzle was getting more complicated. There was no rift between Vinod and his wife, but technical surveillance and confidants got information that his wife, Kamini was having an affair with a person named Mukesh from a village near Junagadh. Kamini had left for Junagadh with her 12-year-old son forever to live with her lover, Mukesh. She had also taken away a sum of Rs. 3,00,000/- from her husband's savings with her. She had left her happy family to start a new life of her dreams with her lover Mukesh. None had the idea about her leaving home. To know what had happened, it was necessary to contact Mukesh.

           This led to Junagadh. The Aravalli police set all the balls rolling to nab Mukesh. An information was received about Mukesh staying in Rajkot. The police reached there. Mukesh was on the verge of escaping from Rajkot to somewhere else. But due to the prudence of the police, he was arrested from Rajkot bus stand. The police brought him to Modasa and started interrogation. He confessed murdering Kamini and her son Akash during the interrogation.

           It was discovered through the interrogation that during those days a dam’s constructional work was going on near Junagadh. Meanwhile, Kamini had come to live with her husband at the damsite. They lived there for 18 months. Mukesh was over 45 years of age, and was still unmarried. He used to operate a three-wheeler taxi there. She used to frequently ride his taxi. That’s when Kamini and Mukesh fell in love with each other and started their love affair. They were meeting constantly for almost a year and had crossed all the limits.

           After completion of work at the damsite, she returned to her native village at South Gujarat with her family. However, Mukesh and Kamini had continued to remain in contact with each other through phone and chatted for hours. She used to call him frequently to meet. They both were enjoying intimacy. That continued about a year. Later on, she had started to dream of living with Mukesh forever.

           She began to plead him to live together with her son, but he never wanted to because she was just an instrument to satisfy his physical and sexual needs. Gradually, he started to feel about her and his son like a bone struck in his throat.

          He wanted to get rid of her, but she was not ready to leave him at any cost. He was very traumatized by her stubbornness of staying together that he wanted to eliminate Kamini and Aakash and clear his way forever. Finally, Mukesh along with his friend Raju conspired to eliminate Kamini and her son. Raju supported him throughout the whole plan. The conspiracy was devised with such an intelligence that nobody could ever suspect it to be an assassination. Kamini left home with Akash along with three lac rupees from her husband’s savings. As per telephonic conversation Mukesh and his friend Raju were waiting for them at Surat bus-station. She reached Surat with her son.

         Mukesh, Kamini, Aakash and Raju reached Dakor by bus from Surat instead of going to Junagadh with expectations of starting a new life. Kamini had a question in her mind that why Mukesh instead of going to Junagadh brought them there. Mukesh explained to them that some relatives of his friend, Raju dwelled in the fields over there. He added that they would stay in the fields along with them, so no one could ever find them. On hearing that she became very happy and excited. After arriving there, she started walking hurriedly.

          After consuming a lot of alcohol, both the friends started advanced towards the outskirts of the village. Seeing the desolate place, the devil in Mukesh aroused. He had brought a rope along with him. According to the plan both of the friends strangled Kamini and her son with the rope cold bloodedly. Kamini and Aakash shrieked, convulsed and finally both stopped breathing.

        In that deserted and remote area, there was no one to hear the shrieks of the mother and her child. Kamini, who had left her family and home for her lover, was at last deceived by the same lover. Mukesh and Raju after killing both of them threw their corpses in the bushes. Mukesh took away the three lac rupees she had brought with her and threw away the cloth bag there. No matter how clever a killer may be, they always leave evidences behind. The cloth bag thrown away by Mukesh turned out to be an essential lead to throw both the killers behind the bars.

        Both the culprits were arrested and locked up. Three lac rupees stolen from her bag was recovered too. The police showed their excellency in solving the complicated case in a short period of time. Police Inspector C. P. Vaghela, Lady PSI M. D. Gadhvi and their team performed their best to solve the case. The District Police Chief attributed the success to the team.

        Sanjay Kharat says, “The definition of love has changed in today’s era. Physical attraction is named as love and when it wears off, the relationship concludes with a tragic end like that of Kamini. Anyone who has lost his way in life needs to take lesson from her life.”

       Mukesh and Raju are languishing in jail.

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©️Translated Gujarati to English by Pallavi Gupta