S-I Ghokale began to record statements from the guests Mr and Mrs Pai and their friend, Pratik; Aditi’s friend and room mate, Jyothi Ingle.
Meanwhile, Apte walked around the guest house, looking into the bedroom from the adjacent window and the empty grounds behind the house that had knee-height grass. Ghokale was keen to close the case and go home but Apte wanted to look at the case at his own pace.
I was in the midst of a presentation for my clients, when I got a call from Apte, asking me if I could spare an hour for a few questions. He said he wanted to close the report as an accident. So, he wanted to ask a few questions in that regard.
It had nearly been two weeks since the incident at the guesthouse. By then I had convinced Minal that it had been an accident. Apte met me in my apartment late in the evening while on his way home. I answered most of his questions about my relationship with Aditi and about Caesar, who by now had been put to sleep after a week of observation.
He finished his questions and began to go towards the door, when he paused and asked me if there was anyone else in the compound apart from the guests we had interviewed. My heart skipped a beat but managed to keep my composure and replied in the negative.
As I closed the door behind him, several thoughts ran in my mind: Had he detected that something was amiss? I knew that the police always had keen sense of observation. Did he see something wrong?
Apte went home but as he slept he knew that the last question had ruffled me. He needed to look at the statements and the other evidence collected again.
The next day Apte was at the station looking at the statements of all the witnesses on that day. Something caught his eye. Pratik had stated that the stairway gate had been locked from inside when he tried to go to the washroom located in the first floor. This seemed strange to him since most guests had said the gates were open after the incident was reported. And I no one had mentioned the gates were locked.
Unlike other guests who had taken whisky, Pratik had taken a few glasses of beer. As he walked towards the flight of stairs he found the gates locked. Later, he began looking at the other evidence at the sight.
Something else was amiss - the dog chain. On closer examination, the chain hadn’t snapped as claimed but had been cut cleanly. He remembered having seen footprints outside the window adjacent to the living room.
Apte’s experience told him that there were too many things that didn’t seem to be in place. According to the recorded statements, a call on the guesthouse landline had been the reason for Aditi to proceed towards the living room in the adjacent guesthouse.
He began looking at the call records and found that during the 20 minutes before the incident there had been only one call from a mobile phone. Inquiry revealed strangely that the phone call had been made from a mobile number. Apte began to think.
The next day, the FIR the section under which the case had been booked Section 304-A (not amounting to culpable homicide) was now Section 302 of IPC (murder).
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