Ithadu (Part-3)

Special entry
........... - Ramu
Vamsi - Thoni
Anjaneya Prasad (CBI) - Ravi

Story

Prasad did not waste time. From the commissioner's office, he went straight to the scene of crime along with his assistants Thoni and Ramu. It was a station which is the immediate next one to where Puri, Malli and Nandu boarded.

Prasad stood watching the tracks

Thoni - "Sir, it was seven years ago. What are you watching for ?"
Ramu - "Shut up Thoni. Sir is looking for some clues. How dare you question him ? Show some loyalty man"
Prasad - "Close your mouth Ramu. It's the way you develop. Asking questions" turning to Thoni's side - "Do you know how Malli died ?"
Thoni - "Ofcourse. Nandu killed him"
Ravi - "Do you think so ?"
Thoni - "Yeah. That's what the head lines in the newspapers said seven years ago"
Ravi turning to both Thoni and Ramu - "First rule of CBI. Don't believe media"

"I was like one of you, seven years ago. Working under Ramana sir, who is a retired CBI officer now. The case was handed to the CBI then, as police gave ambiguous reports to the higher officials. So, a green signal was given to the CBI, and the case was handed to Ramana sir. The police were reluctant to hand over the dead body of Malli. But we applied for special permission and got it. We then gave the body for post mortem. In the post mortem, it was found that he was killed with a Sword, plunged through his lungs"

Ramu - "What's the big deal ? Nandu killed Malli with a sword"

Prasad - "Here comes the big deal. In the police report, they stated that they found a knife there, with Nandu's finger prints on it and then, a case was filed on Nandu"

Thoni - "Oh my God. Then, Nandu did not kill Malli. But, why did not you people?"
Prasad - "report to the authorities. We tried. Then they asked - who killed Malli"
Thoni - "Some one else in the compartment, may be"
Prasad - "The compartment is a special one and it was not reserved to any one at that time"
Thoni - "But sir, in the chaos created at the station, some one might have stepped into the train along with Nandu and Puri"
Prasad - "In the next station, the compartment was empty, except for Nandu's body. We have information that three of them boarded at the prior station and they were Nandu, Puri and Malli"
Ramu - "May be Nandu tried to elope with Puri. Malli tried to get them back to home and so Nandu killed Malli"
Prasad - "It's not possible. I have enquired about Nandu and Malli from their school friends. Nandu is more of a fearful person compared to Malli. If some one tried to convince to go back home, it should be Nandu"

The three were silent for some time. Then Prasad

"It was unbelievable. An entire police batallion was stationed in the station and the three of them escaped. People in the station reported that Nandu boarded a running train"

Ramu, jiggling - "I too have boarded twice or thrice"
Thoni - "Ramu, did you read the files thoroughly. Nandu boarded a train moving at 100 km/hr"
Prasad exclaimed- "If we would have sent Nandu to olympics, he would have bought a gold to India"

Seven years ago

[Inside the train, Nandu, Malli and Puri talking after Nandu boarded]

Nandu – “Tell me onething. Does your father know that you are going with Malli ?”
Puri – “No. He knows only that I am going with someone”
Nandu – “hmm..”
Malli - "Oh, you thinking that the commissioner will come after you, thinking you have eloped with Puri. Ha ha"
Puri turning to Malli - "Well. If I have encountered Nandu earlier than you, may be I would have eloped with him"
Blinking one of her eyes to Nandu - "Kill Malli. I can elope with you right away"
Nandu laughed. Puri and Malli too..
Then..

Ithadu (Part-2)

Special-entry:

Anjaneya Prasad (CBI) - Ravi

Story:

Nandu - "This train leaves in one more minute, board it"
Malli - "you ?"
Nandu - "I will have to make a call"
Puri - "We can do it later. Don't you understand, the station is surrounded by police"
Nandu gave a serious glance at Malli. Malli gave a nod as if he understood something.

Malli - "Puri, let's go"
Malli and Puri boarded the train. The wheels of the train started screeching the tracks. Nandu was still standing there, not moving an inch.
Puri standing on the ledge of the compartment, gave a shout - "Nanduuu, come"

The shout did not startle Nandu, but the police recognised her. The police started running behind the train. Malli pulled Puri back into the train. The police started making whistles with the hope that some will pull the chain and some one did. But then, an announcement

"There is a bomb in the station. It will explode in the next five minutes"

The train is still inside the station. Chaos spread all over. Scared of death, the passengers moved like apes. The police couldn't run in the midst of that maniacness. The train driver, listening to the announcement, started racing the train again, even though it is necessary as per protocols to know why the chain was pulled before starting the train again. Lives are at stake here. If the train moves away from the station, he would have saved all the people in the train.

Standing on the ledge, Malli looked outside as the train started moving. In the midst of that chaos, where people are unaware of the direction, there is one person who is moving as if he knows where to go. Not moving, running. To everyone who saw him inside the station, he appeared blurred. Malli recognised, it was Nandu.

The train left the station, completely by now and Nandu was still running behind it. Nandu's speed got increased, and slowly one after the other, he started crossing the compartments. Malli extended his hand, when Nandu was crossing the compartment behind, and then pulled him inside. The compartment was mostly empty. So, the three of them sat together and after Nandu has eaten enough air, they started talking

Nandu - "Tell me onething. Does your father know that you are going with Malli ?"
Puri - "No. He knows only that I am going with someone"
Nandu - "hmm.."

Seven years later..

Commissioner office, commissioner-smoking a cigar. A CBI officer walks in.

Prasad - "Hello, I am Anjaneya Prasad. CBI"
Commissioner - "Hello, have a seat"

Prasad after settling in,

Prasad - "Reason for calling me ?"
Commissioner - "I heard a lot about you. You solved a lot of complex cases. Recently I heard that you solved the murder case of Shiva Reddy"
Prasad - "I asked the reason for calling me"
Commissioner - "Ok, I will come to the point. Seven years ago, my daughter eloped with someone. I did all I can with in my power to catch him. But our police department couldn't locate him"
Prasad - "Look, I don't deal with cases of this type"
Commissioner - "Listen completely. The guy who eloped with my daughter, did a phonecall to the announcement room of the station for spreading chaos. We traced the call later, and found that it came from a juice point inside the station. As per the description of the owner, a sketch is drawn. Here's the sketch"
Prasad - "Oh my God, this.."
Commissioner - "Yes, he is Nandu. I hope you remember the case that was flashed seven years ago. Two close friends, Nandu and Malli; took the permission of their parents, to go for a movie and left home. But none of them returned. While Malli was found dead on the train that moved away from the station at the time of chaos, Nandu disappeared. So, we can consider that Nandu killed Malli. This was the photograph of Nandu, taken from his home which appeared in the tabloids seven years ago. So Nandu is the guy, who eloped with my daughter. From the past seven years, I have been searching for him and my daughter. But I couldn't find them. The police department as a whole couldn't. Now tell me, will you handle the case ?"
Prasad - "Ok, I will"
Commissioner - "These are the case files. Please keep informing me any lead that you get in this point"
Prasad - "Sure sir"