Poly cursed himself for being in Police Force. What a damn job. When the entire world celebrates festivals, enjoys National holidays… he and his colleagues were always on duty. Sick. Why did he ever apply for this job?
Today was 31st of December 2010’… one of those days, when he regretted joining this godforsaken profession even more.
New Year eve generally was always a hectic day for Police administration. There are issues like preventing drunken driving at night, helping people in distress etc. But Police force had lately become more vigilant on such days, mostly because such landmark days were ideal for terrorists to strike (and send reminders of their “well being”)! Huh.
So then…here he was, sitting in his Police Vehicle looking at movement of traffic on roads. When was the last time he was at home during any of the festivals… or even on a New Year eve? His wife was sure to create ruckus even this time around... as always. Poor lady… she married the wrong man… or a man in wrong profession at least.
The irritable walkie-talkie crackled… Now, this was another Godforsaken instrument that he wished had never been invented. What a pain?
The usual irritable voice from the other end said… “***** area patrol Team… shootout reported in your area… proceed to Restaurant *****… quickly. Report back on reaching… Contact Restaurant Manager, Manu. ***** area patrol Team… shootout reported in your area…”
Damn – this is his area. He picked up the walkie-talkie and asked “…This is Poly from Patrol team 29… anyone reported dead? Is the shooting still on?”…
“No Poly… shooting has stopped. Manager Manu is scared… but no shooting currently on. Four people reported dead/injured. Ambulance is on its way…”
Poly and his team immediately rushed to the crime scene and cordoned off the area. He immediately assessed the situation and asked for Manu.
Manu looked visibly shaken by the events. He went on to tell him how three people were having an animated argument when the fourth man (sitting on the table near theirs) got himself involved and shot the three of them. “…Before he could kill the third person he was shot at too by that one … (pointing his finger towards one of the dead body in a black coat)… with that pistol near him. All four of them were dead before anyone could do anything. I then called Police helpline and informed them about the incident… This took place some 1 hour before…”
Poly looked at his watch. It showed 9 PM of 31st Dec 2010. So the incident took place at around 8 PM. Hmmm…
He bent down and looked at the four dead bodies when suddenly his subordinate said – “Oh Gosh – this man in black coat is Judge Nyaya, a renowned fuckin' Judge. The second in Bandhgala coat, is definitely Raj Mantri, a fuckin' Member of Parliament from our state and the third chap seems to be Babu Adhikari – Secretary of some fuckin’ Ministry. I have seen them on fuckin' Television. But am not sure about the fuckin' fourth man… who could he fuckin' be?”…”Manu said Nyaya fuckin’ killed our fuckin’ “mystery man”? Wonder why? What has this fuckin’ world come to? Fuckin’ pistols/revolvers are carried like fuckin’ handkerchiefs! We joined fuckin’ police force to lay our hands on those fancy fuckin’ pistols we saw in movies… These days any fuckin’ person carries one…”
“Go on and get the statements of other staff will you?” Poly said. He was used to his Subordinate’s sarcastic ranting. He was a damn good officer and a long time partner.
Anyways… Poly thought… A shootout of high profile people… by an unidentified person…! What else can be worse? Media is sure to have a field day. Huh. It was time to get started though.
Poly checked all the pockets of the Fourth man and got a few documents. His Driving license showed his name to be Aamji Aadam. Other documents suggested that he was working in a Private firm. Curiously, he had a small tape-recorder (with recording facility) in his pocket. The recorder had a small tape in it. Interesting…
Poly put all the material evidences, including both the pistols, in a bag and did a final search of the place. He asked for a private room to go through the evidences and was immediately led to Manu’s office at the rear end of the Restaurant. He knew it will take a couple of hours for the forensic team to finish their job and he had a few pieces of evidence that he needed to quickly evaluate. Experience told him that most of the crimes became “mysteries” in the lack of evaluation done right at the spot of the crime and that, answers to any mystery lay in the crime scene in 95% of the cases. Polly always wanted to be the first to be on the crime scene and almost always was the last to leave.
Poly knew he had the knack of solving complex criminal cases and he was almost an expert in this field and was, hence, much in demand to crack such cases. But this seemed a peculiar case – where the victim and the aggressor were both dead. This did not look like a terrorist attack. So he probably had no one to chase and catch. It was only the motive that he had to pin down. He hoped to get the grip of this quickly and perhaps… just perhaps rush back home in time.
First thing he did on settling down in the room was to call the Police Control Room and inform them about the situation and asking them to assign the case in his name. That done, he called his subordinate and assigned him the responsibility of informing deceased families. He dreaded that part. He just could not bring himself to inform the families of dead people. He was perhaps not that strong after all.
Preliminaries done – he went about looking at all the papers, documents, items that were recovered from the four dead men. As his subordinate had indicated correctly – the three men were Nyaya, Raj and Adhikari. The fourth one was Aamji… Poly had to figure out what led to Aamji shooting off such distinguished men. He looked at the tape recorder and thought that the cassette in it would have some songs. He anyways pressed rewind button to check it.
His Subordinate rushed into the room and said, “The fuckin' vultures are already here Sir. You want to fuckin' take them?”…”Nah – you handle them… you know I hate them. Tell them not to cross the line in their reporting or else I will personally rip apart their asses”. Bloody Media circus… they want to do all the investigative work but not take responsibility of any wrong interpretation of events/evidences. They are equally callous about character assassination of stakeholders involved… including the police personnel involved in a case and “perceived” accused people. Aarushi Murder case is a very good recent example. Huh. Good riddance of society.
Once alone, Poly played the mini tape recorder recovered from Aamji… and he was shocked out of his wits…
“…but this has been a great Year Sir. I don’t know what you are talking about? Small skirmishes do keep happening in a democracy and we should not be swayed by these - as the achievements of this year have been far higher”. This was presumably Adhikari… a typical Bureaucrat trying hard to convince thought Poly. Looks like Aamji recorded part of conversation going on between the three distinguished people…Hmmm…
“You say ‘Small’ skirmishes my friend? Small… Haan? Country has been looted of multiple Billions of Rupees and you say “small”…? Hundreds of millions reported looted by the Olympic Committee and their stakeholders… and you dare call it “Sssss…mall”? Billions of rupees looted by our beloved friend’s community of Legislatures in various Land scams, and you prefer to call it “small”? How about even bigger Stock Market scams this year… SEBI has been trying to do cleanup for the whole year and still struggling… Small?! And then the “Prima donna” of the lot… the 2G Scam. Wow… now that’s what should be termed SMALL...” O..o… a good upper cut… This one seemed like Honorable Nyaya… spoken like a consummate Judiciary man. Apparently, Nyaya was not too impressed with whatever Adhikari was trying to convince him of, in the discussion.
The third person on the tape… surely Raj… seemed to plead – “But Sir, how can you blame us Legislatures’ for all the scams…? I mean – there is no proof till now. You know this is a typical Political conspiracy by our opposition colleagues… I strongly protest…I…”
“Ah… keep that protesting for your Parliament sessions. I am least interested in your histrionics. We all know you all are good at that… and may I add…nothing else.” Oops… Raj is royally snubbed thought Poly. Must have been worth looking at his face
Nyaya continued from where he left… “So Adhikari, where was I… Yeah… “Small Skirmishes”. Am not finished yet here. Let me quote a few more “admirable” cases that came to light in this wonderful year. We always thought it was those common “Neta types” who were generally corrupt. But seems like the virus has spread to higher levels this year i.e. all the way up to Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers! For isn’t it true that some of them were found to be involved in impropriety cases in regards to the Indian Premier League, Some involved in corruption cases, Maharashtra Chief Minister involved in Aadarsh Land scam, another Chief Minister involved in Andhra Pradesh Land scam – another in Karnataka Land scam. Hoof… There are so many that one tends to tire listing them. We certainly have made progress in this field this year – raising the bar of corruption. Huh. They just don’t fear the law of the land – do they? Is that what you call “Small Skirmishes” my friend?” A clearly sarcastic Nyaya was getting on the nerves of his surprise audience
“But Sir – all of these cases that you have listed are being investigated and for all practical purposes there is no evidence of these scams having links to our “community” or Raj’s “community” as you refer to them. They can at best be termed as allegations at the moment” O yeah?
Raj jumped in again - “Yeah right… there is no proof… This is opposition propaganda. I protest…”
“Oh C’mon Raj, don’t do that. You all anyways sound funny when you take to that line of defense. The whole country is sick and tired of your phony protests and weak defenses. Though you don’t seem educated enough to know, but Abraham Lincoln once said… You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Get the meaning? How long will continue to con and deceive the country? Protesting…What are you protesting against? For devils’ sake, don’t give me that shod of how these allegations have not been proven. After all, if you are in-charge of your Ministry – a common man or a third person from outside cannot loot the Ministry and be a beneficiary of the loot. Don’t pretend to be that innocent. And the fact is – the loot has happened – and who but you and your community to have benefitted from it? I mean, you seriously take the billions of people in this country as idiots or what?”
“And Raj, before you start protesting again about opposition propaganda etc, I must quota a very popular Tamil Proverb… Does it make any difference whether we are ruled by Rama or by Ravana? So when I refer to your community – I mean you and your “esteemed” colleagues in the Government and in Opposition parties. The entire bunch resembles Ravana though they are elected to play a role of Rama. Look at your breed… everyone seems to be competing against each other in the size of scams that one can conjure up. So much so that smaller scams like stamp paper scams of a few millions seem to be irrelevant now. Bofors scam is now a laughing stock. People have started wondering why even bother about such silly amounts of money paid as kickback! Huh. Look for yourself; if CWG scam was of a few hundred Crores, 2G Spectrum scam looks to be worth thousands of Crores… Who knows how many more is hidden in the closet in form of bigger scams… Agriculture Ministry? Railways? Or Aviation? How about scam in PDS (Public Distribution System)? No one is daring to look at NREGA system. Trust me – from what I gather – these last two would be far bigger scams than any reported till date. 2010 has been a big eye opener for the country – and I am warning you – its just tip of the iceberg”
The old man seemed to have warmed up really nicely and firing on all cylinders, Poly thought. Adhikari interrupted – “But Sir, you, of all people, should know that one is “Not Guilty” till proven otherwise. Isn’t that the premise of all the cases fought in our courts? Or has Judiciary also started getting “motivated” by Media? With all due apologies – you do seem to be more inclined to views on media than actual evidences made available in courts.”
Poly had a smile on his face – Adhikari clearly stepped over the line hear… A terse Nyaya’s voice said “You must in fact thank the courts Adhikari. We do the dirty work that primarily falls under your purview. Courts are famously handicapped with what is presented in front of them my friend. But then not everything requires courts interpretation. Does it? Everyone can see what’s right and what’s not. It is no rocket science really. After all not every thing is “grey” as you would want everyone to imagine. To take some examples again, haven’t you, for years, promised our citizens a secured country to live in – but even the last few years have proven time and again that you and your methods have been found wanting – and desperately so. Very clearly you are not able to crush Naxalites. They are running their parallel government in many places within our country and the government seems ridiculously helpless. How about ULFA and Naga problems? No control over these too! You are not able to stop bomb blasts – with Bangalore and Pune being the last ones to suffer, Kashmir problems come faster than your winks. Then there have been innumerable number of Train accidents which have cost the state more lives and even more money than other tragic incidents – but all you have done is to continue to “promise” compensations to all dead… I am sure you would want to contest everything in court – but you don’t need certificate of guilty from a court when you have blood of our dead people on your face Adhikari. No corrective modernization steps seem to have been taken, to make our forces well quipped, to equip our intelligence with latest tools, to help modernize Railway systems... Nothing seems to be visibly happening”
“And Raj, don’t think this is only for Adhikari… his community is made up of “appointed” people… where as you all are elected representatives of our people. Your head should hang in shame for all the wrongs in the country. Huh. I mean, how can you have corporate Brokers influence the policy making on behalf of people? You think Corporate Brokers will think about Public benefits and welfare? How silly can you all get? You make the country believe that ONLY “a” particular party can run a particular ministry… Ministries are no more run by people who have the knowledge and ability to run that function – it is about which party wants which candidate to run it. And hence we have incompetents like Mamata, Raja, Azhagiri, Virbhadra, etc rule the roost with no apparent knowledge of the given area of responsibility, and even more sadly, no sense of dignity in public life. Gone are the days when competence in a given field would get the top post… when Honor was worth dying for. These days’ specific ministries seem to be negotiated instruments for gaining support of a political party and running Government smoothly. May God save this country”
Woah – This man was on rampage… Adhikari seemed to be shaken – but argued… “Sir, again with due respect, for a large and diverse country like ours, India has had its problems… there is no denying that fact. Things could have been managed and controlled better. However, we have had some huge achievements this year too… lets not forget those” Adhikari seemed to take a long breath and continued, “We finally came out of recessionary period without too much of damage, we have even further strengthened our internal security forces for fight against Naxals, Signed agreements to build Nuclear Reactors which will reduce energy dependence of the nation, we have strengthened our defense with successful Dhanush and Prithvi II missile tests, made Education a Fundamental Right in constitution, we got elected as Non-permanent Member of Security Council again, successfully conducted Commonwealth Games and despite numerous issues and problems, we have had some wonderful results in sports arena, Inflation has been brought in check, we have had some phenomenal business growth in Corporate sector this year, Our financials are sound, Exports have increased, Stock Market is at an all time high, Investments are growing by leaps and bounds, Infrastructure improvements are unparalleled in comparison to any previous year, we have moved strongly against corruption and corrupt people, Ministers and MPs perceivably guilty of wrongdoing or corruption have been phased out or removed…”
“Yeah right… absolutely right. We have done very well this year… I protest… Ahem… I reiterate what Adhikari said…I…” Here goes Raj again…
Nyaya interrupted “Now Now, both of you - don’t take credit for removing Ministers/MPs on charge of corruption. The Government you are defending vociferously was forced to take those corrective steps only after Media and Judiciary pressures my friend. Don’t overemphasize your achievements. The memories that will remain with everyone will be of Scams, Corruption and high retail prices of critical consumable items. That a “successful” Commonwealth Games was conducted… has long been forgotten. Seems like a dream now. Even there – if not for some glowing performances by our sportsmen/women – the games would have been a big dud. As for Stock markets, they are at best a “dim indicator” of healthy financials. We all know how “foolishly Sensitive” they are – so don’t harp on it. Look at the prices of basic consumables like Fruits, vegetables, Rice, Cereals, pulses, milk etc. Look where the charges and cost of electricity, water, Petrol/Diesel, Steel/Cement etc going. They are all north bound. And what inflation are you talking about? Don’t quote inflation figures as these we all know are not the right indicators of retail prices of consumables… i.e. items that affect our daily lives. What achievement are we talking about here?” There goes another punch…
Looks like Raj had had enough… He went for the kill in his typical Neta way… “Here again Nyaya, I have been patiently hearing you. Now its time you listen up. I don’t like that tone of accusation directed against me or Adhikari. I protest… and before you shut me down – I have to say – it is pretty high of you and your community – if I may say so – to pin all ills of society at our doors. Must say, you and your community have not been above suspicion this year. Have you? For isn’t it true that ex-Chief Justice of India (CJI) did not act to safeguard his fellow Judge of High Court of Chennai? Is it not true that the same CJI is accused of helping his relatives with favors, benefitting them in financial terms? That “The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010” bill has sent shivers in your community? How about appointment of “incompetent” Judges like that of Justice Dinakaran – the Chief Justice of Karnataka (and now Sikkim)? I mean – your community knew that he was highly corrupt Judge – but rather than taking action against a fellow Judge the CJI posted him to another state. Wow. No action initiated. No one in “your community” seemed to notice that Bar Associations of both Karnataka earlier, and later Sikkim, have refused to work with/under this man. But a “very clean” Judicial system has found it fit to continue with him at important decision making positions… Some honest “community” that! A perfect example of a transparent and honorable community you represent Sir? Won’t you say? Look who is talking about Honor and Responsibility? Wow. We all know how wonderful lawyers of this country are – we have all been exposed to their likes sometime or the other. The less said about Judges of lower court – the better. We all know how easy it is to get favorable verdicts in lower courts – all thanks to your community judges being “more than available” to provide supportive judgments. Honorable? Huh”
“So then, don’t you harp about common man’s interest and take high moralistic grounds… there is hardly any group more corrupt than the Judiciary. We have seen glimpses of it being exposed in public domain this year and in time to come – it will get bigger. You all don’t want to come under the RTI act. The biggest tool of accountability available with a common man… But no more, my Friend, no more… Accountability bill is here and you will now see Common Man ripping you apart. The same Common man you seem to be defending for sometime now… Bloody hell…” Ho…Ho…Take that for a punch!
Suddenly Poly heard a fourth voice – looked like Aamji’s. He seemed to have been drunk. “Shut up… Shut up all of you… you all idiots of society – shut the hell up. Who do you think you all are? Look at yourselves, look at yourselves you bloody fools. Have been hearing you for a long time now. Enough. Shut up now. None of you deserve to be talking for us, we… the silly/foolish/harmless Mango men. None of you… you heard me… none of you…”
There was a noise of someone tumbling down. Seemed like Aamji stumbled
“Calm Down my Friend – calm down. Why don’t you sit down...” Adhikari’s voice seemed to be on edge. What was happening?
“Don’t you touch me assole’. Don’t you dare touch me. You have touched and destroyed our lives enough… I have been hearing you all for a bloody long time. All you three have done is blame each other in our name… we, the common people. You have no moral right anymore… hearing me (?) – you have NO morrral rrright to be talking on our behalf… So shut the hell up… shut the hell…”
“Don’t do anything foolish you silly man. Get your drunken arse out of here. Sick. Adhikari see this man off, will you?” Nyaya said in stern voice
“O…O… Your Lordship… Hmmm… perhaps you don’t realize the grrrrr..avity of the problem you fuckin’ Lordship… Look at this. See this? Do you see this? This is one instrument that ends all evil… trust me…”
“A Gun… a gun… Holy-shit – a goddamn gun… listen you… whoever you are… you are being extremely illogical here. Don’t you point that at us? Keep it away… Am telling you” Juddu shouted
“Oh… Yourrrr Lordship is scarrrred… Isn’t that strange Adhikari? I never thought powerful people would be scared so easily. And you Mr. Raj – you seem to be awfully quiet. You scared too? Hmmm…It does feel scary… right? Men of your profession generally point it towards hapless people like us, the Common Man – but you never knew the scary feeling till now. Did you? Oh… I am loving this… For all the bad times that you three and the institutions that you represent have given us – I like the look of dread on your faces”
“Na Na Adhikari… Keep sitting... don’t hasten this by acting smart… I am a certified shooter – I can fire accurately… but I don’t want to do it before I wish to. Just sit.” Aamji said
“You see…problem with all you powerful institutions is – the day power is used against you – you have your tails between your legs. C’mon, we have stood up to you for so many years with courage… but you just don’t seem to have the bbbballs… hey… show me some balls! You people are really spineless - aren't you? Individually - and even more collectively. I mean, woh sala Pakistan… yahan Bomb laga ke chala jataa hai… hum jaise pata nahi kitne log mar jatey hain… par tum saley discuss hi kartey rehtey ho… "ab kya karein… kya karein…" (Pakistan plants bombs in our country, people like us die and you keep discussing on and on about next course of action). Bloody Eunuchs… Huh”
“Thanks to corrupt/inept/selfish politicians like Raj – the likes of Yourrrrr Lordship in Judiciary are virtually running the Government... ensure policies are implemented, ensure investigation is ordered, ensure farmers get their dues, ensure homeless get shelter, ensure government functions normally etc. I mean, can’t you see Raj? Are you bbbbloody blind? Thanks to your inaction on almost all fronts - judiciary has interfered on almost all matters of Legislative governance/responsibilities...whether it be about when the old Buses would be phased out, or when Investigation on scams etc should be ordered… or to inspect CBI reports on daily basis on various investigations, or to interfere in governance of projects like CWG and other infrastructure projects etc. If they interfere in almost all of the responsibilities that the Legislative, as per oath, should be handling... what do you expect will happen next? Will the likes of Yourrr Lorrrdship remain aloof to the smell of that power in their hands? Why the heck is anyone surprised then, when these Nyayas’ end up getting corrupted. They are also reflection of our society after all… aren’t they? Look at what is happening to our Defense forces... sali ab sena bhi corruption mei doob gayi hai (Even Defense Forces have jumped on the corruption bandwagon). Is this also not a reflection of the society of whom you all claim to be Thekedaar (Masters)?”
There was an eerie silence… No one seemed to be breathing… when suddenly Aamji spoke again…“With power comes responsibility Sir… I was told this by my Father when I was a kid. But powerful people, like you three, feel with Power comes money… and with more money comes the power to buy even more power… a fuckin vicious cycle. Huh”
Aamji was shouting again now… “Yahan sali jaan jaa rahi hai… Sabji khareedo to paseene aa jayein… Daal to khana hi chodh diya hai… (Here we are, struggling to fulfill daily needs), but you… you don’t even bother… You are in your own bloody world with your own small battles to fight. Nuclear Reactor, Stock market, Telecom Policy, Export/Import, Inflation, Future Market and what not. Will all this provide food at affordable prices to millions of people in this country who today doesn't know how will they buy vegetables, rice, pulses etc available at such exorbitant prices? What is the point of providing 3G/2G on phones – when the damn stomach of the country is empty? What is the point of high performing stock markets, greater FII/FDI in the country – when you cannot ensure basic amenities like water, electricity and two healthy meals for majority of people? What the hell?"
"For common people like us – it is a struggle to have a decent life on an ongoing basis. But you… you are still discussing... plotting… churning out one scam after another… blaming one another… Hoof. I am really fed up of all this…”
“I am sorry but you have collectively failed us… and for that... for that... you don't deserve to live. I am not ready to pay taxes and see them wasted by you on your own selfish needs or see them land in your Accounts in Tax havens abroad. No Sir. Am sorry for being foolish till date - but I am not so sorry for what I am about to do” Aamji said in emotionally choked voice
“No don’t don’t… Put that down Raj… put… Wham… Wham… Boom………Wham…”
The tape went silent…
Poly felt a drop of sweat trickling down his spine. He kept looking at the tape… it remained silent…
And suddenly Poly heard a loud roar which startled him… “Happy New Year”… Hoooooooo Haaaaaaaa… “Happy New Year”… That must be the television in the other room.
Poly was shaken by what he had heard on tape. He had no words. With considerable effort, he finally got up… pocketed the tape and walked into the room where the shooting had taken place… he sat near Aamji’s body and looked at his face… He seemed to be so much at peace with himself. How?
Suddenly there were crackers going off outside. He looked up once again at the television. It flashed…
“Happy New Year”
“Breaking News: Sensational Shootout at *****”
“Breaking News: Pillars of Democracy Flattened”…
How appropriate he thought… Legislature, Executive & Judiciary… The Pillars…Hmmm
Poly remembered what Mahatma Gandhi had once said about Democracy, “Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today”. How true in current times. Perhaps this incident would mark the “end of the beginning”. For was it not Winston Churchill who wrote during World War II (in 1942), when Allied forces (US/UK and others) beat Axis Forces (Germany/Japan) in Second Battle of El Alamein, “Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”.
It is time people of this country brought curtains down on the corruption drama… in fact (as his Subordinate would say) "it is long fuckin' overdue".
Its Montoo..
31st Dec 2010 – 24th Jan 2011’
ps: A German writer once wrote: "In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
