Sahana E07

Episode - 7

The pamphlet read: Don’t probe in more. Your friends will perish.

“What the hell is this? Where did you get it?” Raghav asked.

“I got it this morning when we started from Anandhi’s place. This is why I didn’t reveal the plan. I don’t want anyone to be in danger.” I said.

“That’s fine. But what are we to do now?” Raghav asked.

“We have to think.” I said.

“It’s all about tying the loose ends.” Raghav said.

“Okay first let’s go home.” I said.

Raghav and I went home. We were too tired to think of anything. We dozed off. One hour later, someone ringed the bell. I was half asleep when I opened the door, there was no one at the door.

‘Am I dreaming or something? Someone ringed the bell right?’ I asked myself.

Just as I was about to close the door, a paper floated slowly in the air. My heart fastened and I was shocked. The paper came and fell on my feet. I took the paper with maximum hesitation. There was something written in an illegible handwriting. I could just make out one thing, it was a clue.

“YADA RAGA”

‘It was a clue all right. For what? From whom? Who rang the bell? Who wrote this clue?’ I thought. These questions began to haunt me.

I woke up Raghav and showed it to him. He was awe struck. He couldn’t believe it. It was 10.30pm when the bell rang again. This time, both of us were afraid to go near the door. We gathered courage to open the door. This time it was Shiva. We gave a big sigh of relief.

“What happened? Why are you guys looking so tensed?” Shiva asked.

“First come in. We’ll explain.” Raghav said.

Shiva came in and we explained everything, the pamphlet at Anandhi’s place and the paper which flew now. Shiva was listening carefully to everything.

“What happened?” I asked Shiva.

“No da. This is getting fishy every second. We are surely being watched but by whom? Why?” Shiva asked.

“That’s the million dollar question. Hey by the way where is Moulee?” Raghav asked.

“I am not sure. Wait I will call him.” Shiva said.

He called Moulee and said “He’s cutting the call.”

“Try again.” Raghav said.

Shiva tried again and said, ”He switched it off.”

“What the hell? He’s acting very strange nowadays. Don’t know what’s got into him?” Raghav asked.

“He must be in some problem da. He’ll tell us. Leave him. Now let’s hit the bed and we’ll see what we should do tomorrow.” I said.

We all went to bed. ‘YADA RAGA. What’s that?’ I wondered.

The next day morning, Raghav woke me up and said, “Dai machi, fast da. Get up, you really need to have a look at this.”

I woke up and wondered ‘What this time?’ I saw the newspaper he gave me and it read,

“Business Tycoon Sathish Kumar dead. Wife also killed.”

“What’s happening here?” I asked.

“Everything is going crazy da.” Raghav said and woke up Shiva also.

Shiva read the news and asked, “What if we are also in danger as the pamphlet showed?”

“There’s no doubt Shiva, unless we crack this soon even our photos will be in the paper soon.” Raghav said.

“Oh my god! So what do we do?” Shiva asked.

“Give me that newspaper.” I asked Shiva. I read the newspaper carefully.

It read as follows: Business Tycoon Sathish Kumar is dead. Yesterday after the court declared his daughter’s case as an accident, Mr.Sathish suffered from a big heart attack and died. His wife committed suicide soon after he died. Police are waiting for the post mortem report from Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Hospital (SRMC), Chennai.

The case was put forward suspecting an accident of Mr.Sathish’s daughter Sahana. The case was prosecuted by the great criminal lawyer Bharadwaj Sunder and the claim was supported by Anantha Narayanan. The case was finally won by Bharadwaj Sunder.

I kept the newspaper in the side and took the pamphlet and the paper which flew side by side. I merely remembered what all happened over the past couple of days.

“Raghav, why should two great lawyers argue for a case which is so simple?” I asked.

“You’re right.” Raghav said.

“No maybe, it could have been because Sahana is rich.” Shiva said.

“Fine, quite agreeable. But still a criminal lawyer and a women’s right lawyer fighting for an accident case is something very strange.” Raghav said.

“Hmmm... true. Fine what shall we do now?” Shiva asked.

“Yes, I have an idea.” I said.

“What?” Raghav and Shiva asked.

“Shiva you come with me to SRMC Hospital. Raghav you go to Bharadwaj’s office and tell Janani that you want to finish the documentation of the remaining files too. Just search whether you find any files related to Sahana or Vijay or Mr.Sathish. Okay?” I asked.

“Okay buddy. I will get it done. What’s your plan?” Raghav asked.

“Shiva and I need to go and investigate about the post mortem thing.” I said.

“But how?”  Shiva asked.

“Every problem has a solution.” I said and took my cell phone and dialled a number.

“Hi da baha. How are you?” I asked.

(Bharani on the other side.)

“Hey wait da. Guys are here will put it on speaker.” I said.

(Bharani on the other side.)

“Yes, da tell now.” I said.

“Now only you remembered me ah?” Bharani asked.

“No da macha, I was busy with some work.” I said.

“Hey baha, hi da.” Raghav exclaimed and so did Shiva.

“Hi, hi... Sollunga da vetti pasangala.” Bharani said.

(MEANING – Tell me you jobless fellows.)

“I want to speak to Preethi. I want her number now.” I said.

Raghav and Shiva now understood the plan and shook their heads as a sign of understanding.

“Actually, we both fought da. We haven’t spoke to each other for a couple of days now.” Bharani said.

“That’s okay da. I want to speak to her badly. This is regarding a case.” I said.

“Case? What case?” Bharani asked.

“Machi, things can be explained later in detail. We have no time. Message her number. Okay bye.” I said and ended the call.

“Guys, as you all know Preethi – Baha’s girlfriend, is a doctor in SRMC. She’s been practising for the past six months. So she can help us in seeing doctors and enquiring about this. So that’s how we proceed. Now Raghav, you start.” I said.

“Okay da. Take care. Bye.” Raghav said and started.

In another 2 minutes I got Preethi’s number. It’s been months since neither I nor our gang talked to her. She became angry and never even gave her new number to us. Though we become doctors, engineers, etc at times our anger and childishness never fades.

Shiva and I started to SRMC. I was driving the vehicle. I asked Shiva to call Preethi. He called and spoke for about 2-3 minutes.

“What did she tell?” I asked.

“After picking up the phone as usual ‘Oh u remember me?’ and so on. I said that we are coming to her hospital and asked her to make herself free. I didn’t tell her any details and asked her to wait in the cafeteria.” Shiva said.

“That’s fine da.” I said.

“Machi I think we need to be careful da.” He said.

“Yes da.” I said and thought about ‘YADA RAGA’

It took us about half hour to reach SRMC. We went straight to the cafeteria. Preethi was waiting for us. She was wearing a white coat. She was tensed and she seemed to have lost weight. She was very pale.

“Hi Preethi.” I said.

“Hi pre.” Shiva said.

“Hi guys, thanks for sparing some time besides your busy appointments.” She said.

“Hey preethi, listen I am sorry that we weren’t in contact with you. Though we are not in contact you know that we guys are always there for you.” I said.

“Yes, I know. But...”She said.

“That’s good.” Shiva interrupted.

“We are on to something really serious. We need your help.” I said.

“Tell me, I will see what I can do.” She said.

It took Shiva ten minutes to narrate everything right from top to bottom. Preethi was dumfounded.

“Hello, Preethi?” I asked.

“I think you guys are risking a lot in this. Why don’t you inform the Police?” She asked.

“Preethi it’s not possible. We don’t have any evidence. You think police or court will believe Ouija boards?” Shiva asked.

“Hmmm. That’s a point.” She said.

“Now, you have to guide us to the doctor who is doing the post mortem of Mr.Sathish.” I said.

“Well, that’s not a problem. I know her very well. She’s very close with me.” She said.

“Okay cool. What’s her name?” I asked.

“Her name is Dr.Anusha. She is a plastic surgery specialist and a great expert general surgeon too. Only one problem guys. You can’t interact with her.” She said.

“Why?” Shiva asked.

“She doesn’t encourage interaction with people other than her patients.” Preethi said.

“Okay fine. Just try probing how they died. When can you talk to her?” I asked Preethi.

“I can talk to her now. You wait in the parking lot I will talk to her and meet you guys.” She said.

“How long will it take?” Shiva asked.

“Maximum two hours.” She said.

“Fair enough.” I said.

“Fair? That’s totally unfair. What will we do in the parking lot for two hours?” Shiva asked.

“Fry nuts with Lavanya.” Preethi said with a giggle.

“Sounds like a good idea.” Shiva said with a naughty smile.

“Okay Preethi, be careful. See you soon.” I said.

“Fine. Bye guys.” She said and walked away.

Shiva straight away called Lavanya. We were walking towards the parking lot, when a small boy came running behind me. He pulled my jean and I turned back.

“Hey cute guy, what’s up?” I said.

“One Lady told to give this to you.” He said and handed over a tissue paper to me.

I took the tissue paper and saw it. I became suspicious instead of becoming afraid.

‘I have seen this handwriting somewhere.’ I thought.

“Who gave it da?” I asked the small boy.

He turned back and pointed his finger but there was no one. The small boy ran away. I ran to the point where the small boy pointed but I couldn’t find anyone suspicious.

The tissue read, ‘Please stop everything. You’re in danger. Be careful.’

‘It was a warning. Someone is trying to help me from danger. But who?’ I thought.

I got a call from Raghav.

“Hi da. What happened?” I asked.

“Machi where are you? It’s getting bigger.” He said.

“I am in SRMC. What happened?” I asked.

“Machi, I checked his files over the last five years. Bharadwaj and Anantha Narayanan were partners before which Bharadwaj started practising separately. They have seen more than five hundred cases together.” He said.

“Oh that’s a shock indeed. What about Vijay? Any info on him?” I asked.

“Yes, Vijay is a client of Bharadwaj. I found it in the hard way. His full name was B.Vijay Krishnan and he owns majority of the mills in Orissa.” He said.

‘ORISSA came in the Ouija board.’ It struck me.

“ Okay fine. Raghav even I have some things to confess, you come to SRMC.” I said.

“Okay da, I will be there soon. Bye.” He said.

In a hour Preethi called,

“Hey Preethi..” I said.

“Hey listen, don’t wait in the parking lot. Wait at KFC. Okay?” She asked.

“Okay fine.” I said and the call ended.

I called Shiva and we both started to KFC which is almost a kilometre from SRMC.

We were waiting at the first floor corner seat and messaged the same to her. She came in a hurry.

“Hey what happened?? Are you alright?” Shiva asked.

“Yes, I am almost fine.” She said.

“Please sit down Preethi. What happened?” I asked

“Have some water.” Shiva said and offered her a glass of water.

“Thanks da.” She said and drank the water.

“Guys, I couldn’t any information from her. When I was with her in the cafeteria, she asked me to keep her phone, while she went to collect the juice from the counter. At that time, I received a call from an unknown number.” She paused for breath and we were expecting something.

“I attended the call by mistake. A voice on the other side said ‘Change the post mortem report as we said and collect the cash tomorrow night at the place we told.’ I cut the call. After Anu came there I told her that I attended the call by mistake and that I cut it.” She again paused.

We didn’t react.

“Then I went to the mortuary and bribed the man there and asked for information about the corpse of Mr. & Mrs. Sathish. He said that he didn’t know. He was looking greedy. So I gave him 5000 bucks which I had for donation and then he told that Mrs.Sathish’s body was brought a week ago and Mr.Sathish’s body was brought yesterday.” Preethi said.

We were startled.

“But how is that possible? It was written in the paper that Mrs.Sathish died yesterday only.” Shiva asked.

“Yes, even I asked that but he showed the register and I couldn’t believe my eyes.” Preethi said.

“Thanks Preethi, you better keep going. It’s getting bigger and crazier. Shiva you drop her at home.” I said.

“Okay da. How will you go?” Shiva asked.

“I will go with Raghav. Once you drop her come home.” I said.

“Okay da. Take care.” Shiva said.

“Sure u too. Message once you reach Preethi and be careful.” I said.

“Okay da. Bye.” She said and they both left.

I called Raghav and asked him to pick me up at KFC. He came in fifteen minutes and he picked me up. On the way, I explained everything that happened.

“We need to act fast da.” Raghav said.

I was thinking, ‘Ananth and Bharad were partners, Vijay was Bharad’s client. Then why did Bharad fight against Vijay in the case? Who’s giving me all these warnings? What’s YADA RAGA? Who asked Anu to change the post mortem reports? Where is she going to get the cash? Who are all in this? How come Mrs.Sathish’s body have arrived before a week when the newspaper said she died yesterday?’

I reached home and switched on my computer. I asked Raghav to search for ‘YADA RAGA’ in google. It turned no results. Shiva entered the place and I received a sms from Preethi.

“Try ‘Orissa Yada Raga’ da machi.” I said.

“What’s happening guys?” Shiva asked.

“We are searching for the phrase YADA RAGA da machi.” I said.

“Okay fine.” He said.

It returned results for Orissa. He clicked the Wikipedia link. He was scrolling up and down and he called me suddenly, “Machi, look at this.”

“yes da, what?” I asked.

“Rayagada is a district in Orissa da.” He said.

“Okay so?” I asked.

“Machi observe carefully, RA YA GA DA. Scramble it, it becomes YA DA RA GA.” Raghav exclaimed.

“It’s a scrambled clue da.” Shiva said with an excitement.

Just then I realised what he was saying. “Machan, you’re a genius.” I shouted.

“So there’s some connection with SAHANA and RAYAGADA.” Raghav said.

“Yes, if we go there we can surely crack everything.” I said.

“Machi, you remember SAHANA telling that she was raped in Orissa.” Shiva asked.

“yes, I remember.” I said.

“So maybe SAHANA is trying to help us with what she knows?” Shiva asked.

“That is a very strong possibility.” Raghav said. “Right machi” He asked me.

“Yes. Guys we need to go to RAYAGADA asap. That too before tomorrow night.” I said strongly.

What happens next?? Wait and Watch :-)