The Passing of a Legend (Part II)

Here’s the story, The Passing of a Legend (Part II). I penned this story a few years back after a famous actor was found dead in a Middle Eastern resort.

The Passing of a Legend (Part II)

As decided, the 3 girls left for Goa on a flight 2 days later. They were following all the information being given on the TV channels regarding the sad news. When the flight was in the air and the sign of wearing seatbelts was switched off by the cabin crew, a man came toward the girls.

Radha saw him and exclaimed excitedly, “Anna? What are you doing here?”

The man in front of the girls was Radha’s elder brother, Inspector Kartik Srinivasan. With him was Senior Inspector Keshav Pradhan. They were in plain clothes. Radha looked away from Keshav because she was still angry with him for playing a prank with her. Kartik looked at his sister smiling and said, “Surprise! We are here for the same purpose as you. Mr. Iyer told us to join you.”

Radha introduced her brother to Katherine and Kartik introduced his colleague to Katherine. Kartik did not say anything further and both the police officers sat on the empty seats across the aisle.

The girls began talking in low voices about the case. At that time, Asha said, “We will have to wait till we land to talk to Kartik Anna and Keshav for more information.”

At Dabolim Airport, they all deboarded the flight. The fivesome made it to Stevenson Beach Resort in Polem, soon and booked 2 rooms for themselves. Then, the men came to the girls’ room to discuss the further course of action in the case. There was one chair already present in the girls’ room. So, they carried the chair from their room with them. The men sat on the chairs and the girls on the bed.

Radha began, “Let’s list the known facts about the case. First, Actor Prakriti is found dead in the bathroom of one of the rooms at this resort. Prakriti is or was a South Indian actor, working in Bollywood movies. Second, she seems to have drowned in the bathtub filled with water.”

Asha took up from there, “Third, there was a small but significant gash on the back of her head. Fourth, traces of alcohol were found in her blood. Fact remains that Prakriti did not drink hard liquor. Fifth, she was a very healthy person. These last 2 facts do not add up, with the rest. Do we know anything else?”

Katherine spoke up, “Prakriti was at the peak of her career. There were rumors of her marriage with someone from the industry, some years ago. We don’t know who. The dead body’s photograph given to the reporters looked different from Prakriti. That made me suspicious.”

Keshav joined the discussion. He said, “I know who she was married to.”

Everybody turned to look at him. He continued, “He is a movie producer named Manav Singh Rajput. They were divorced, recently.”

“How did you know?” Radha asked Keshav Pradhan.

“I have been doing some background research on this case from the time reports of her death began to be circulated around. I knew Radha would be assigned the case and Mr. Iyer would ask us to investigate it with her. Mr. Iyer has also told us to investigate the case incognito and not to go to the local police.”

“Why did our editor tell us to investigate the case incognito? And how did we journalists not know about the marriage and divorce?” Radha wanted to know.

“Mr. Iyer has his own reasons. The matters of Prakriti’s marriage and divorce were hushed up,” Keshav replied.

“So, what else do we know?” Asha asked.

Kartik replied, “At the moment, the local police have sealed the entire floor where the death took place.”

“So now, it is the time to find out more,” Asha voiced everybody’s thoughts.

To be continued…