Chapter 23 Flipping Pages

“Debjit Sir, this was written in the dairy of Avinash and nobody knows what happened after that.” A policeman holding the diary said

“You searched his house thoroughly? Any other clue we could get about this case?”Inspector Debjit asked.

“Sir, I checked his house, but couldn’t find anything important than this diary.” he answered.

“Sir, you were a part of his life, right? As he has also written about you in his dairy,” the junior policeman asked.

“Yes, he was my friend. I am in shock as well. He went through so much.” Debjit’s voice rebounded.

“See the life is turning a deep square, it is Avinash’s fortune that his case got handed over to me, and now the real story will unfold.” Debjit showed determination in his voice.

“I can’t imagine it too, Sir.”

“Advait, you didn’t find any other thing which can help us unlock the first mystery of the car?” He questioned

Advait looked around the whole house of Avinash. His eyes went to the dustbin lying near the central cupboard. He looked in it more closely and found the remains of a burnt paper. “I found something Sir” he called out to Debjit.

“What tell me?” Debjit came running.

“I found some remains of a burnt paper.” He carefully took out all the remains. He separated it from the other waste products and showed it to Debjit.

“But Sir, it’s totally burnt, we won’t be able to read any of it.” Advait hissed.

Debjit took out a magnifying glass from his pocket. One by one, he checked the burnt remains. It looked like a personal letter written to Avinash but he couldn’t get the words. Everything on the paper was black except one word which could be read. ‘Sorry’ it spelled out.

“ That’s the only word that can be read. The rest of the remains are useless,” Advait lamented.

“Yes, but we can’t conclude anything from here. No worries, put all these in the evidence file.” Debjit ordered

“Sure.”

“Sir, can I ask you something?” Advait suddenly whipped out a thought.

“Yes”

“Avinash Sampath, what do you think, is he going on the right path? Do you find him guilty or not?” Advait asked

“He was a good person but destiny had other plans for him. He has killed Pratham Verma’s parents and has kidnapped Pratham. Five months have been passed but no information has surfaced about him. Where is he now? No one knows.”Debjit wondered about Avinash’s story.

“Fair enough,” Advait quipped.

“Where is Utkarsh’s family now? Any update on them?” Debjit asked him.

“Sir, I contacted the local police in Canada. They investigated the matter and got to know that they all have shifted somewhere else. Moreover, we tried to track and contact Ishita also, but to no success. God knows where they all are,” he replied.

“I got to find some clues to take this investigation ahead,” Debjit got anxious.

“Sir, how about we go to News channel and ask from Avinash’s colleague there? I think it will take things ahead.”

“Good idea.”

They sealed Avinash’s house and drove to the 24x7 News channel office. From the office building entrance to the channel office, they inquired about him. First, they approached the security guard, then the adjoining offices in the building. They asked everyone about everything but got very little information which was of no use to them. When they reached the office reception, they asked to meet Avinash’s teammates - most particularly Dilshan. The receptionist showed them the way to their cabins. Vikas, Dilshan, and Mohit all worked at their respective cabins but Advait put them all together in one room to shell out the information from them.

“Hello everyone, my name is Debjit Acharya, inspector Mumbai police, and he is my colleague Advait,” Debjit introduced themselves.

“I am not here to arrest you guys. So, don’t panic. I only need a little information about him. I think you all can help me out.”

The three of them were trembling but after Debjit’s words, they felt relaxed.

“Sure Sir. We will help you out,” Vikas said.

“Did any one of you meet Avinash after the death of his sister?”

“Yes Sir, he came to the office only once after that,” Mohit responded first.

“Okay, what did he say? How was he acting?”

“He was broken, Sir, totally shattered. Almost living a half life, you can say. He was quiet and only repeated two lines: nothing is left in my life. I lost my sister whom I loved the most. I am going far from this cruel world and I will never return.” Dilshan told them.

“Okay, any other thing he mentioned?”

“No Sir, I still remember. He came and only said this much. We supported him, we wanted to help him. He didn’t reply and went back home. After that he vanished like a ghost, Sir. It’s been so many months; we haven’t seen him.” Mohit conveyed

“Okay, thank you so much guys for the cooperation. Keep my card, anything you remember, or any other important thing comes to your mind. Call me,” Debjit said.

“Okay, sure.”

They were about to leave the room when Advait asked them one more question.

“Do you have any idea about Utkarsh’s family or even Ishita?”

“All we know is that Utkarsh went to Canada with his wife and Ishita gave her resignation two days after the death of Aparna. We never saw her either,” Vikas said.

“Okay, no issues. Thank you guys,” Advait greeted them, and all three left the room and went to their respective cabins. Debjit and Advait were ready to leave the news channel. On the way to the exit, they saw an unusual scene. Around twenty people had converged around the television, watching the breakings news. The visuals on the television weren’t visible from the place where they were standing, so they both surpassed the mob and saw the story.

‘A bomb has exploded in the Lokshakti Party’s head office. According to reports, everyone inside is presumed dead. It is a massive explosion that happened on the ground floor, and it has taken the whole building down. There was a conference meeting going on at the ground floor where all the leaders were gathered. No one survived the explosion,’ the news reader sighed, leaving both of them shocked.

...

It was an enormous explosion. The orange flame was punching the way from the central complex, engulfing the small towers along with. It shattered all the windows. Smoke and fire rushed out. Thousands of glass pieces were scattered around with blood on them, and the rescue team was looking for survivors among the debris. So much damage was done, it was hard to believe. It was a bloodbath, dead bodies lying mercilessly. Alarms were shrilling, and it was difficult to soak in the destruction done. Advait wasn’t feeling this all happening, and he vomited to the next place. Debjit investigated from the concerned officer there, the reason behind the blast.

“Its human bomb,” the officer exclaimed. Debjit asked more but didn’t get any response. He was preoccupied with the search action and recited many calls from the ministry and concerned departments. The officer asked them to leave and wanted him to concentrate on the search for survivors. Debjit and Advait couldn’t gasp more information, and they had to leave the place. One thing concerned their mind, and one name was flashing again and again. And the word was Avinash Sampath. Both had a firm belief that Avinash was behind all of this.