The Nidhi Kapoor Story Read online

  Prakash rarely waited for answers. His orders often came in guise of requests, and requests in guise of questions. This sounded like a question and Tambe immediately knew that Prakash was asking Rujuta to come along, weather she liked it or not.

  Tambe however had thought that Prakash would send Rujuta back. But by asking her to come along, Prakash made it clear that he wanted her by his side. Maybe he wanted to test her. Tambe wanted to protest but before he could speak, Rujuta replied, “Yes, I think I am better now. I’d come along. I want to come along. I need to catch whoever did this. Fucking butcher needs to get fucking punished.”

  This was the first time Rujuta had shown any kind of emotion. So far, in her two weeks with Prakash and Tambe, she had come across as a fragile, pretty young thing. Both Prakash and Tambe were surprised at this change in demeanor.

  Prakash merely nodded and walked hurriedly towards the hall with Tambe and Rujuta in tow.

  4. Day 1, Afternoon. Ronak.

  “So who do you think wants to kill you?” Prakash asked, again, to no one in particular. He always let his questions hang in mid-air like that. One of his theories was to ask questions to no one and then wait for the audience to answer. More often than not, whoever responded first, in all likelihood happened to know more than what they said.

  The scene in Nidhi’s bedroom was morbid. She sat curled up like a fetus on the sill of a giant French window. The sill had a small platform that was padded with rich cushions and bolsters. It looked like Nidhi’s comfort place. Nidhi was holding onto her knees in front of her chest and was rocking back and forth slowly. The walls of the room were colored pastel blue, the color of summer. If this was not for real, it could pass off as a scene from one of her numerous rom-com movies.

  She was wearing a peach tank top made of linen and white shorts that snug her body tightly. Despite her distraught shape, a generous amount of her flawless skin was on display. Even though Prakash was known for his indifference towards the members of fairer gender, Nidhi’s well-sculpted structure did not escape his attention. Prakash concluded that Nidhi must be the kind to go to the gym religiously. Prakash also noticed that the windows behind Nidhi overlooked the garden and the swimming pool. He also saw the tall Ashoka trees in the distance and noticed that he could not see anything outside the periphery of the house. And vice versa.

  Tambe looked mesmerized by the real life beauty of Nidhi Kapoor. This was the first time he was in the same room as the superstar. He had enough fodder to last multiple sessions of gossip with his friends and family. Everyone wanted to hear about Nidhi. She had that effect on people.

  Other people in the room were in various states of anxiousness. Leaning against the headrest of the bed was yet another strikingly good-looking young woman. She was wearing a pair of skin-tight denims and a bright t-shirt. Her arms were folded in front of her chest. Prakash guessed that she must be Payal, Nidhi’s elder sister. Naveen Verma was sitting next to Payal on a chair. He still bore a look of hostility in his eyes and body language. He was talking softly to Payal and Prakash couldn’t hear their conversation. Two old servants, apparently a couple, were standing along the walls with their heads bent low. The woman appeared to be about sixty and was looking at Nidhi, while the man, appearing to be the same age, stood close to Verma.

  Unlike the rest of the lavishly furnished house, Nidhi’s room was rather modest. Everything reeked of style and money but at the same time, was muted and lacked any overt or vulgar display of wealth. Apart from rich embroidered curtains, thick rugs and cushions of all shapes and sizes, very few items of vanity were at show. The bedroom did not have a single picture of Nidhi, Nishant or Neelima apart from a huge poster of Nishant Kapoors’ superhit, Lahu Ka Rang.

  He noticed that the room did not have a single book. However, it did have a large television, a Sony Bravia, and a few DVDs stacked neatly in the cabinet, just the way books and vinyl records were stacked in the office. He noticed a tripod and a big Nikon DSLR resting on it. There was some sort of a walk-in closet on the far side of the room. Prakash couldn’t see it from where he was standing, but could make out that it was a dressing room, closet, bath and storage, all rolled into one.

  Prakash’s question still hung heavy in the air. He waited for Nidhi to answer but she continued to rock back and forth slowly on her hips. Payal was as noncommittal. Verma spoke first, “This is not the right time to ask her such questions. Can’t you see she is troubled? If she was home last night, God knows what would have happened. You must leave us alone now. I’d have a word with Commissioner Joshi.”

  Prakash shot an angry glance at Verma. Even though Prakash was a small man, his cold stare could easily send shivers down the spine of even hardened criminals. Verma, however, did not flinch. He instead got up from the chair he was sitting on, stepped between Prakash and Nidhi and folded his arms across his chest. Prakash was bemused and exasperated. He wondered if Verma was either genuinely overprotective of Nidhi or was trying desperately to show off his loyalty.

  “I am merely trying to help your family here. I don’t really care about these mutts but the way they were killed is serious,” Prakash said. “I am sure you are used to getting death threats often, but do any of you realize that this time it is for real?”

  Prakash turned around. “Tambe, give me that letter.”

  He literally snatched the paper from Tambe and placed it on the empty chair that was previously occupied by Verma.

  “This letter was left in the typewriter in the room downstairs. If after reading this you change your mind, you may come to see me.”

  At the mention of the typewriter, Nidhi turned slowly to look at Prakash. Prakash noticed the movement and for an instant, he and Nidhi looked into each other’s eyes. She did not betray any emotion and before Prakash could note anything out of place, she broke the visual handshake to glance around the room. She was searching for the letter that Prakash was talking about. She found it resting on the chair in a transparent evidence bag. She looked at the letter and stared briefly at Prakash and then at her sister, Payal. Finally she rested her eyes on the letter again.

  Prakash noticed Nidhi staring at the letter. He turned around and left the room. Tambe followed him with a nonchalant walk. Rujuta was too dumbfounded to make anything of this. She was standing close to the door and after Prakash and Tambe walked past her, she felt weighed down by responsibility and did not know how to react or make a retreat.

  ∗∗∗

  Rujuta climbed down the stairs two at a time and ran after Prakash and Tambe. She caught up with them when they had reached the lawn and were almost out of the main entrance of Ronak. “What is this? You’d simply walk away? You’re not being responsible Prakash,” Rujuta said.

  Prakash looked at her, started to say something, and stopped abruptly. Tambe and Rujuta turned around to see what had caught Prakash’s attention. They were stunned to find Nidhi Kapoor running towards them. Nidhi had suddenly transformed into this bobbling mass of energy from a shock-stricken young dame.

  “Wait, wait,” she was panting. She was almost out of breath. “Wait a minute please. I want to speak to you about this.”

  She was holding the letter in her left hand and was waving it frantically in the air. Tailing Nidhi were Verma and Payal.

  Prakash was curt, “What about it? Your uncle seems to know better than us and believes that he does not need our help. We are anyway short-staffed and…”

  “I apologize for him, please,” Nidhi interrupted Prakash in mid-speech. She looked him in the eyes and continued, “I am not worried about the letter. I have been getting such letters and threats since I was a kid. I saw my father get these by the tons all the time. But it’s not about me. It’s about Caesar, Cho and Cookie. They are very important to Payal and I. I really want to know who killed them and why. Please help me.”

  Nidhi had come really close to Prakash without anyone realizing it. She was holding onto Prakash’s forearm. Prakash looked down at his arm. Nidhi notic
ed and let go of his arm with an awkward gesture.

  “OK fine, I need to ask you a few things. Plus, you will have to lodge an official police complaint about your pets and this letter. Can we sit somewhere quiet?” Prakash asked.

  Nidhi nodded like an obedient school kid and led them to her bedroom once again. Prakash insisted that she be alone this time. Rujuta observed that Nidhi was composed throughout the interview and volunteered information at a few places even though she was not asked. She also noticed a controlled use of words and emotions. Maybe being an actress helped in real life after all.

  After Prakash was done with Nidhi, he spoke to Payal and the two servants. He did not interrogate Verma though. Rujuta took copious notes during all interviews. Tambe, meanwhile, was working with the rest of the police team that had arrived to take stock of the crime scene.

  Finally, Prakash was done with Nidhi and Verma. “I’d be leaving now. My team is here to gather evidence and would leave in a bit. I would need those CCTV tapes as and when you can get them. Please send them over. Do let me know in case you need some extended cover for your security. I’d also advice you and your family to restrict movement for a few days, if possible.”

  With that, Prakash and Rujuta walked out. “What do you make of these interviews?” Rujuta asked as they left the house.

  Prakash summarized the interview for Rujuta and Tambe. “Everyone seemed to be cooperating. Whoever did it is very meticulous and has a very good reason for taking such a risk. It’s not easy to break into the house with all this security and electronic surveillance. I think Nidhi was lucky that she was not at home. But something tells me that the intent was not to harm her. The poor animals, however, were probably at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  He paused to catch his breath. “It looks like a job of an insider. But cleaving these animals like this, you need to be a strong man. The only person that I can suspect right now is Naveen Verma, but he looks like those typical rich snobs and I don’t think he is capable of hurting anyone. I think he is rather meek and he hides behind his loud mouth. If he wasn’t related to Nidhi, he couldn’t be anything more than a mere liftman in a high-rise. So I think I can rule him out, but I have been wrong in the past.”

  “What about the servants?”

  “The servants have been with Kapoor’s since before Nidhi or Payal were here. I can’t see a reason why would they kill the pets like that. What do you guys think?”

  Rujuta realized that Prakash was thinking out loud rather than answering her question. This was the first time she was seeing Prakash in action and vice-versa. She said, “I thought as much. I have made a few notes. But before I talk about those, I need to think some more.”

  Tambe merely shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

  Prakash abruptly changed the topic. “Fair enough. You want to be dropped home?”

  Rujuta nodded. “But what was in that letter that made Nidhi come running to you like that?”

  “Here, read it. Give it to Tambe once you are done.”

  Dear Nidhi,

  I have been trying to speak with you for so long. But you are always busy. I try really hard to not disturb you. I know you have far more important things to worry about. But it’s unfair Nidhi. Can’t you take out just a little time for me?

  You know, normally I can live with separation, but today it got the better of me and I had to meet you. I knew you would be in your study. Didn’t you say so in your interviews? That every evening, after work, you spend time unwinding to old music in your study?

  I came here and well well well, I was surprised to see all those books. I did not know you liked reading. You have never mentioned that. You are good at keeping secrets. No? It was such a good surprise. I love reading myself. Maybe when we are finally together, we could take a few books with us for the holidays. Who is your favorite author? Mine is Alexandre Dumas. Have you read Count of Monte Cristo?

  You know just when I sat down to wait for you, your dogs came running in and started growling at me. But I knew about them and I had come prepared. I had some meat laced with sleeping pills. When I saw them sleeping, I thought, why not just remove them from the scene altogether? I don’t like pets anyway. They are unnecessary nuisance if you ask me. You know, when I was young, my father had a dog. And he loved it more than he loved me. And you know what I did to it? I just buried it in the yard. Alive. I just taped its mouth and buried him alive. I did not want my father to ignore me. I wanted all his time just for me. Same way Nidhi, I want to be the only object of your affection.

  Imagine. You and I. No pets. Nothing. No one else.

  I started with the cute pug. Cho. Right? I held the pug in my arms and twisted its neck like a coil, like those old wristwatches that you have to wound regularly. I wound it till the neck snapped with that sweet sound. The sound a bone makes when it breaks. It’s the most comforting sound ever Nidhi.

  The bulldog was next. I liked it more than the pug. I wanted to let it live. But the damn thing tried to bite me. Even though it was drugged! How dare it? I got so angry, so so angry that I took a pencil and stabbed it in its belly. Then I stabbed it again. And again. And again. Till the pencil broke. And then I took another pencil and plunged it in its face.

  The cat was surprisingly easy. I did not know that cats don’t really bleed as much as dogs.

  Once the pets were gone, I sat and waited for you. I waited till dawn. I would’ve stayed longer but I can’t be missing from my room for too long. They’d find out.

  OK, I have to go now. I will come back and meet you again. Soon. You and I are meant to be together Nidhi. This world can’t keep me away from you any more.

  There are so many things that I need to tell you Nidhi, so so many. Soon I guess. Till the time we meet, you please take care. And wait for me.

  The typewritten note had no sign, no name at the bottom. There were no other marks on the paper. The letter would be sent for forensic examination eventually.

  After she read the letter, Rujuta was sick to the gut again. It had elaborated on how the killer had gone about doing this job. She did not know what to do. She had a million questions. Her head was beginning to throb. She looked up at Prakash, but he had left by then. She looked around and found Tambe grinning at her. “Madam, Saab got a call from the commissioner’s office and had to leave. He has asked me to drop you home. Shall we go?”

  Rujuta nodded.“Something is not quite right here,” she murmured.

  Tambe just nodded. It was beyond his pay grade to think. He was a mere constable. His duties started and ended with assisting the ACP. It definitely did not include thinking. Pravin Tambe was very proud and content about his position in the hierarchy at the police station, and had no plans to disturb the equanimity.

  Rujuta was riding shotgun again and the police jeep was zipping through the uncharacteristically empty Mumbai roads. Most Sundays it was like that. Unless it was important, people tended to stay indoors on Sundays and recuperate from the miseries that Mumbai inflicted on them in the other six days of the week.

  The wind through the open jeep was making Rujuta’s long tresses caress her face, obscuring her vision. She used her fingers mindlessly to remove hair from her face and was soon lost in thought.

  For Tambe, this simple act of Rujuta’s hands running though her hair was the prettiest sight ever. To him, Rujuta looked like a princess. He slurred under his breath, “Prakash Saab, you don’t know what you are missing. Hope God gives you wisdom and opens your eyes to Rujuta Ma’am.”

  5. Day 1, Evening. Ronak.

  After the incident, Nidhi and Naveen decided to get Nishant back at Ronak as a precaution. A driver had been dispatched to get him back. He was expected to be back by late night.

  Nishant Kapoor had been sent to Moksha after he almost killed himself by binging on a cocktail of drugs, sleeping pills and alcohol. It took expensive doctors long, uneasy months to confirm that he would indeed survive. However, because of the fall, he injured his spine and was para
lyzed from the waist down. And as a result of the drug overdose, he had started to hallucinate. Although they were reluctant at first, Nidhi, Payal and Verma decided to send Nishant away to the private medical facility tucked away in the hills of Panchgani, renowned for treating mental ailments.

  Malti and Shankar, the domestic helps of the Kapoors, were busy preparing the guest room for Nishant’s homecoming after almost seven years. His erstwhile bedroom was now occupied by Nidhi. The other room where he spent a lot of time was now Nidhi’s office, where the pets were discovered.

  “Saheb would be really angry to know that Nidhi baby is using his bedroom. He was always very possessive,” Malti said to Shankar while draping the room with Nishant’s favorite red curtains. The couple had worked for Nishant for almost thirty years and yet they could not decide if they were happy or sad to see him back at Ronak. They had bumped into Nishant at Marine Drive one evening; and when Nishant learnt that they had just come from Aurangabad, homeless and jobless, he immediately offered them work. It was unheard of filmwallahs to accost commoners and help them with their troubles like that. When Nishant hired them, he himself did not have a steady stream of work. But even then, he was confident of his success and he had told Malti and Shankar that one day he’d be a superstar and then they could go back to their village and announce that they worked for the great Nishant Kapoor. When he finally got Ronak, he asked Shankar and Malti to move in with him. Since then, they had been living at Ronak.

  Although Malti and Shankar were gainfully employed at the Kapoor household, they weren’t really happy with Nishant when he was around. Nishant was known for his frequent mood swings, short temper and ill-mannered behavior. He had been often unnecessarily harsh and rude to them in the past. After he was sent away to Moksha, things became peaceful and amicable and they were not sure if they wanted Nishant to bring their lives to a sad juncture again.