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F.I.R - contd

by Geetashree Chatterjee
(North West Delhi)

It took almost half an hour to reach to the place where purportedly the heinous act had taken place.

KB said, "Incredible! You said you ran this whole distance..."

"I was a good runner in school." Was the quiet reply.

"You said you were witness to a gruesome murder. But it was dark when you fell on the body."

"All murders are gruesome, aren't they?" Was the succinct retort

"And how do you know it's murder?"

"You'll see for yourself!"

Through a rickety gate they entered the premise. It was really dark. A short path led to the house.

In its hey days, the house must have boasted of a lawn. But now it was a mess of thorny brambles, thick bushes, untended grass beds. This place could well be a residence of deadly beasts, thought KB. Who would require a human hand to wreak havoc?

The doors stood ajar. The panes dangling on hinges. A winding staircase led upstairs. KB put on the torch he was carrying. He somehow felt the torch light in his mobile would be insufficient. And he was right.

"Was it upstairs?"

"Yes" She replied softly. Very softly.

KB took the stairs two at a time.

On the landing he moved the light of the torch from one end to the other. There was one room at the far end. The door was open.

He entered and stopped short.

A faint light was glowing in the room.

A light with metal shade hanging

by a wire like the ones he had seen in the Police Force's Recreation Club. Underneath such lights they had once played Carrom and Cards. But that was long...long time back.

He looked over his shoulder and asked "You said it was dark....Where's the body?"

The woman was standing on the threshold.

She just raised her long arm and pointed towards the other end of the room.

There was a bed in the middle of the room.

"As per your statement when you fell on the body you hit the wall. But now you are pointing to other end of the room..."

KB said circling the bed.

There was no reply.

He looked back. The woman was not there.

KB frowned. He was immediately on the alert. His hands closed in on the pistol by his belt.

He had now reached the other end of the room.

Yes, there was a body lying stiff on the floor. A woman in white. Her salt and pepper hair was spread like a halo around her head.

Her attire was torn - a sliced sleeve....a torn salwar...a bloody leg...a blue gash on the arm...she was staring at the ceiling.

KB stooped down to feel the pulse. It was then that he saw her eyes - one blue and one brown.

Just like the woman's who had ran through the night to lodge an F.I.R at Palampur Police Chowki in the dead of the night......

KB felt something wet drizzling down between his thighs.

And then everything went dark.

***

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