In the voice of a detective

It was the month of February, I was asked by friend
to spend holidays with him and his family in Dehradun,
it was a lovely hilly area in Doon Valley which was
located in Himalayan range. My friend was a professor
of Indian forest Research Institute, Dehradun was also
famous for Rajaji National Park, it was a perfect wild
life and bird watching destination with more than five
hundred elephants, twelve tigers, two hundred and fifty
panthers, four hundred and fifty bird species and with
some prey base including spotted deer, sambhar, wild
boar, barking deer, gorals, two kinds of bears Himalayan
black and sloth. Rajaji National Park was bisected by
the river Ganges.
I thought it would be a great moment for me to
spend some moment with peace in Dehradun as
I was very much tired with continuous crime investigation
and wanted to refresh my body and mind with
the fresh air of Dehradun, my friend had a happy
family with his wife and son, his son Adi was preparing
for Indian Forest Service examination, he was of 21 years
old- he was fond of painting and collecting different
antiques too. Recently he had brought an old but
strong wood made a big canvas stand, my friend’s
wife was a service holder under Indian Forest Depart-
ment and very recently they had shifted to a new
Government Quarter, Adi had selected a mid-way
covered place between the hall room and his bed
room , it was a three way blocked passage with a
small window facing the Suswa river and the space
seemed to be the fittest near him to place the woo-
deen stand artistically. I too became fond of both
the sceneries of surroundings and the artistic attitude
of Adi. But I was not so lucky to spend the holidays
without handling any criminal investigation.
The problem started when Adi discovered a surprising
incident related the drawings drawn on the canvas,
every night, it was his regular practice to sketch some-
thing on the canvas of his own idea but one morning,
he shouted in a wonderful voice, “Ah! What is this?”
We came forward to have a look on the canvas, he
Showed us a sketch which was not done by him,
We were puzzled too, my friend scolded his son in
A mild voice, “It is obviously your work, it is not
Possible for any other in our home to draw anything
Like this and it is also impractical to think of any out-
Sider to enter here in order to make a sketch on your
Canvas.”
But Adi denied and with some curiosity I took a look
Over the sketch, two human figures were drawn on
It, one was uniformed and had a gun with his hand,
another was in a casual dress, he too put his
fingers on the trigger of a gun owed with him
separately, the figures were looking clear but
their faces were not distinct in the picture. What-
ever I could judge from the picture, the dressed man's
sketch would be of a forest ranger and another would
be any common man . But the meaning was not clear
to any of us. Adi’s mother doubted whether Adi himself
had drawn the sketch in a sleeping – unconsciousness!
But Adi had no such psychological ailment so far, how-
ever, primarily we all ignored the matter but the situation
turned into a serious mystic pattern when the drawn sketch
happened in reality, two days after the sketch was noticed,
a real encounter took place in the Rajaji National Park, some
unidentified gunman had attacked a forest ranger and shot
him to death. My friend almost lost his control over his
mind and could not control his tears, he told me in his broken
voice, “I can not imagine that my son can do this!”
I became very much surprised with his attitude, “Why are
you suspecting your own son?” I asked him.
“You don’t know that some years before he had committed
an offence , he had beaten a teacher of his school with some
other school children because this teacher wrongly punished
him and for this attitude, he was remained in Juvenile home
for some time,” my friend said in a voice full of grief.
But I found no match with Adi’s concern relating
this incident, if he had any wrong tendency within
his mind then he never dared to highlight the matter
of the sketch. I, along with some civil constructors,
judged every roof, walls and floor area
of the quarter whether there might be any loose slab
and any out comer could make his entry easily into
the passage where the canvas stand was kept but
we found no loose slab, I was deeply thinking about
the whole incident sitting on the outer place attached
to my friend’s quarter, suddenly a servant employed in
my friend’s quarter came running towards me, he was
looking very much afraid, it was evening time and this
man went out for the market near by but returned with
a fearful voice, “Yeti! I have seen a yeti in that way,” he
pointed his finger towards the Terai area(marshy grassland
of a forest). I too followed him upto that land mark where
he had seen the creature, the road towrds the market had
another narrow turn towards the jungle of the National
Park, some forest rangers were present there as they were
on their duty, I asked them whether they had seen any
“Yeti” like creature, they were not clear about viewing “Yeti”
at that moment but they revealed one truth that “Yeti” like
creature was seen earlier too and when ever it was seen,
some dangers were happened to forest guards or forest ani-
mals. This time I did not remain quiet, along with
some guards, I started to search the area with a hope,
whether any such creature might be seen and after some
long search, we traced out a stranger, I observed him in
twilight, he was looking as a middle-aged person with a
heavy coat covered his hands and neck fully, a traditional
hat covered his head and forehead, a thick spectacle
covered his eyes, he was looking funny rather than being
mysterious. The forest guards were well familiar with
this person, they introduced me with him, he was a
botanist, I purposely stretched my hand towards him
in order to shake my hand with him,”Nice to meet you!”
He hesitated but stretched his right hand most unwillingly,
though the day light was not enough to see his exposed
hand but I realized that his fingers could not be aristic
enough to sketch any human figure so accurately, I was
fond of the books of Kiro and Benham which I studied
very well to feel the touch of artistic and criminal hands,
but intentionally I expanded my first finger of right hand
to let it enter inside the cloth covering his wrist and felt
the sense of presence of some exceptionally large hair on
his arm. I came to know more about him that very often
he was seen here with the special permission of local govern-
ment in order to complete his research on various shrubs
and he used to take shelter in an out house under forest
department. I asked some faithful guards to keep
watch on him. I tried to find out the equation of
the auspicious sketch which directed the murder of
a forest ranger with the mystery of “Yeti”. I never
suspected Adi who did a sudden offence in his teen
age, I asked him about this personally and he confessed
that it was the outcome of his sudden agony which
directed him to do the mistake. Still I asked my friend
and his wife whether their son was suffering from
parasomnia but no such psychological disorder was
observed within Adi. It was not possible to enter into
their house without their knowledge, the door keys
used to be operated by any of the family members
and even servants were interrogated but no clue was
found as an evidence .
Tension was mounted again when another auspicious
sketch was seen drawn surprisingly on Adi’s canvas
and this time too Adi discovered it first, I carefully
observed the sketch, I minutely noticed the figure
drawn on the canvas,”Oh my God!” my tongue pron-
nounced the words automatically, “What’s the matter?”
my friend asked me with curiosity, I identified the man
whose sketch was very much prominent to me, it
was of no other except that botanist whom I met very
recent, I did not waste any moment, ran towards the
rest house where he took shelter, some forest guards
and police constables also accompanied me, we searched
him every where but found him nowhere, I enquired
more about him to archive some information from the
local people, I came to know one important point and
that was he was last seen on yesterday evening, he
came out of his cottage(rest-house) and walked towards
the main road aside the National Park. This road was
bisected by two different paths, one went straight towards
the high-way and another went for main market. I rushed
towards both the road, sent some policemen to trace him
out from every halt on the bypass, I personally searched
him in every stall or shop, moreover, forest guards was
looking for him inside the National Park where he used
to be often seen in search for special leaves or trees
but all our efforts were proving vain. At last, his body
was found on the bank of Suswa river, it was life-less,
police handed his dead body to the forensic department
and with lot of distress keeping in my mind, I returned
back to my friend’s quarter. Adi too was looking very
much hopeless, probably, he too had heard the informati-
on about the botanist, he was in agony, looking at the
sketch drawn on his canvas, he stood up and kept his
hand on the net of the opened window, he was trying
to control his feelings and all of a sudden he dragged
the net very roughly, I thought, it was not his
intention but the net came out from the frame
of the window and fell on the floor near the foot
of Adi, we all became surprised, “What is this?”
Everybody was seeming as they were very much
excited with the sudden fall of the net, I moved
forward to hold it up , it was not torn nor broken
but I found some clips fallen on ground, the two
upper corners were partially torn from outside and
some body had done it so minutely that nobody
could doubt about its clipping on its edges so
that the offender could come inside the passagee
easily by removing the clips and after getting out-
side, he used to tighten the clips again.
“It is my fault, I generally let the window open
at my bed time,” Adi said in grief.
Next day, police informed me about the forensic
report of the dead botanist, I personally went to
the forensic lab to meet the forensic doctor, he
expressed me everything, the botanist died because
of poison which was injected on his back side,
I showed little bit doubt whether he had injected
himself or somebody had done so but the fact
the forensic expert revealed, I really remained shock-
ed with it! The fact was, it was not only one time
but he was injected many times on such a back
point that it was not easy to do it by self effort
and the most stunning fact was, every time some
biological solution was injected within his body
except the last one as the last injected solution
was poisonous which led him to death. After my
request, the forensic department examined every
possibility of any chemical decomposition except
poisonous solutions inside his body cells and a micro-
biologist explained me elaborately that some solutions
were intelligently injected inside his body within some
intervals so that for a particular time period there was
a possibility of changing his body shape into a physique
of an ape! But I had lots of questions awaiting for a
proper answer, who had done it inside the botanist’s
body, what was his intention, if he had done it then
why the botanist did not object him when he was alive
so far as it was done since many days, months or it
might be of many years and my last question arose
in my mind was if the culprit had done this with the
botanist, then what was its relation with Adi’s canvas?
Adi had the same curiosity as he asked me,”Why the
culprit is using my canvas?”
“We should go to the antique shop from where you
have brought the wooden stand for placing your canvas
upon it,” I asked Adi and we walked towards the main
market where the antique shop was situated.
As we entered into the shop the shop keeper was looking
nervous when Adi introduced me with the owner by saying
that I was a detective C.I.D. I checked every corner of the
shop and found no such evidence which might be useful
for my inquiry. We came out from the shop, a teen aged
boy was watching us, Adi recognized him as he helped
him to lift the wooden canvas stand to reach it to Adi’s
house, this boy helped us a lot in our inquiry, I asked
him in the absence of the owner, “Can you remember
anybody was watching Adi(pointed towards Adi I asked)
at the time of his buying the wooden canvas-stand?”
The boy was very much prompt to reply,” Yes! Some
body was watching him and as I took the stand to
his home, after my returning back to the shop, he
asked me the location where I had placed the stand
and I told him the address.”
“Can you tell me the stranger’s name and address?” I
Again asked him.
“I don’t know him properly, not even his name but
Mostly he stays here, in the shop,” the boy was very
Much clear in his reply.
“In this shop! How it is possible!” Both Adi and I became
Surprised.
“There was an internal store room in the back-side
of the shop, this man often takes shelter there,”
the boy answered in a low voice as he used to
work in the shop as a helper, obviously he was
scared of losing his job if the owner came to know
that he had disclosed all the facts but I assured him
that we would keep his name secret but afterwords,
I remained quiet for a while as I checked the every
corner of the shop and found out no trace of another
door-way paved towards any inner room. The boy again
revealed another secret and that was, that door was
apparently blocked by a huge painting hanging on its
back wall and above it, it was written”Not for sale”
as nobody could touch and move it except the owner
of the shop.
And now, suspension was mounting on the shop keeper,
I wanted to handle the shop keeper very carefully so
that he could not predict about my interrogation before
my arrival near him, I already informed police and before
police made their entry into the shop, I persuaded the
shop owner to show me the way of the inner store room
but found no one present there . The conditions of the room
clearly showed that somebody had used this room very recent
and the things belonged to that stranger was scattered in
such a way that he left the room in hurry, probably, he
assumed that we might come there in search of him.
I cautiously examined his all belongings, I also called
some forensic scientists and we discovered some
solution inside some tubes, some books containing
biological transfection formula, some syringe and
a wild smell from inside the room, the man had
used this room as a small experimental laboratory.
“Who is this person? Why he has chosen my
canvas to expose his crime?” Adi questioned me,
police was also looking for my answer, before my
conclusion of the mystery, I asked some questions
to the shop keeper,” For how many days you
and your partner are doing the biological research
on animals ? You are capturing them and experimenting
on them most unlawfully.”
“Believe me, it is true that I am involved in capturing
the wild animals and exporting them else-where and
it is an offense but I am not involved in experimenting
on them- it is the work of that scientist who asked me
to let him share my store room on rental basis and
I was agreed because he gave me a lot of amount,
gradually, he came to know about my illegal practice
concerning the wild animals and he also wanted to
get involved in it, but it was too late to undrstand him,
he wanted to capture them in order to make experiment
on them which was not permitted by Government
because this might cause a harmful disorder into
their bodies, moreover, he wanted to experiment
through some biological interchange with human
bodies , he wanted to verify some chemical interfection
on both human and wild animals’ bodies by inter-
changing the cell plantation into their bodies. I
denied to work with him but it was too late to
understand him, he already started to threaten me
to expose my illegal wild animal export practice,”
this man confessed the truth.
“It was the poor fortune of the botanist who was
provocated by the scientist who made him agreed
to let experiments on his body by transplanting a
wild bear’s biological cells into his body, the botanist
thought that this experiment would make him famous
in world along with the scientist , he did not know
that the scientist’s experiment was banned and as I
already started to follow him which insisted the scientist
to take his life,” I revealed my judgement into the probe.
“But he is missing since this morning,” the shopkeeper
Informed.
I searched every article, paper, experimenting tubes
and even his used clothes remaining there, suddenly
my eyes fell on some torn pieces of a paper, I picked
them up- they were the pieces of some sheet
where some words were written in an artistic
diagram,”Hope, this too might be stuck upon
Adi’s canvas but he became cautious when
we discovered the clipping mystery of the wind-
ow net of the passage where Adi’s canvas stand
was placed, most probably, from then he had
kept his eyes open upon us and as we have forwarded
our investigation right now here, he has fled as
soon as possible though he was not ready for
this situation so immediately, therefore, he has
left some clues here,” I picked the torn pieces of the
poster which was most probably ready to get attached
on Adi’s canvas but did not become successful as my
friend locked the window as soon as possible with a grille.
I tried to read out the letters which were artistically written
in a form of a design, I adjoined the torn parts and
pointed out the letters, they were written as- S.R.B-
I along with other policemen tried to solve the meaning
Of the words but our first attempt failed to make out
The proper meaning, even Adi too involved himself to find
Out the meaning. At last I asked for a technical artist whom
I asked for drawing a sketch of the whole area including the
surroundings of Dehradun, I thought a lot, I thought about the
letters, whether they meant for his(the corrupted scientist’s)
another offence or it stood for any destination! I consulted
with some geographic map experts, they pointed out for
some location and that was, S for Song , R for River and
B for boat and I did not waste any time, I along with some
Police reached the destination and looked into every boat
tied with a rope on river side but he escaped from there.
“Mostly, he has changed his plan”, one associate police
officer told me that, ‘’ Is he trying to divert our minds
and plans?” Adi asked me.
I remained silent for some moment, I was unable to
reply Adi in a proper way, police already sealed all
the outer and inner way borders of Dehradun, so
it was not possible for him to escape from this
area so easily, police had a sketch of the scientist’s
appearance as they already gained an approx idea
regarding his look from the view of the shop keeper.
For some time I remained again in deep thought
and more meanings of the abbreviation came out
from my thought, first I thought it might be “Straight
Road Bypass”, then I thought, police was already
Present there to guard the area, meanwhile more
Forensic reports were yet to come and they were
About the fluid sample found in the tubes from the
Store room. Within few hours, the report came and
The fluid examination report showed the bio-chemical
Solution derived from bird species, my friend-
Adi’s father was also present there, I asked him
to find out the proper connection between the
abbreviation,”S.R.B” with the local birds in Rajaji
National Park as he was the professor of the institute
of forest management, he perfectly guessed,” S for Sissu
forest, R for Reservation and B for Black Chinned Babbler
named bird-species.”
We all reached the Sissu forest area and after a long
hectic search, we discovered a cottage- from the out-side,
it was looking as a rejected rest house but the scientist
was taking rest there. With our arrival, he presented
himself in such a way that he was prepared for our
action! He spoke out in a dramatic voice,” I know,
you will arrest me, I have heard your voice when
you first arrived in the shop but I needed some time
more to complete my project work and therefore, I
immediately escaped from that place and reached here,
now, you can arrest me but you can not refrain me
to expand my research work in the whole world as
I already have fixed the formula of some biological transfection
In some digital files and sent them all over world digitally.”
“But what ever you have done, is not permissible according
to our law, you have killed many forest guards, the botanist
too became the victim for fulfilling your aspiration and even
you have unlawfully kidnapped many wild species for your
observation and experiments! Your digital site and files
will be under other recognized scientists’ observations,
if they find any better utility for the species within your
research, then they obviously will look forward for it, other-
wise all files will be erased and we will trace them out
very soon, and now, an imprisonment in jail is awaiting
for you,” I told in a hard voice.
Within few moments after my speech, the scientist fell
down on the floor from his chair and lost his sense.
the forensic doctor checked his body and announced
his death, “ Before your arrival, he has taken arsenic
by self, it is a planned suicide case ,” he declared.
I solved the case but Adi had some doubts within
his mind, he ultimately asked me,” At one moment,
we have no clear foundation to chase the scientist
but all of a sudden, you went to the antique shop
along with me which positively turned the case in
our favour, which clue enabled your mind to restart
the investigation from the antique shop?”
“I know, you are intelligent enough to ask me the
question, whenever, I find no specific clue, then I
try to refresh my considerations from the beginning,
the mystery was started from your canvas, the scientist
eventually noticed you from the very first day when
you have brought the wooden stand from the shop,
he enquired about your place from the shop owners’
teen aged helper, then he gathered more information
regarding you along-with your family, your past juvenile
history made his master mind more active, he was keeping
watch on your house since few days and then he made
a plan to divert every body’s attention towards you by
attaching some sketches on your canvas so that every
body’s focus might be centralized on you and he could
do all the offences safely, earlier too, he did the same
offence here but he had little bit fear in his mind of
being arrested by the forest guards, so this time, he
implemented this plan intelligently. But I never doubted
you because I know, you are a student of forest service
commission and you are not immature to follow such
corrupted mission,” I stopped after my explanation.
Adi was looking very happy as well as his parents were
and I returned back to my home after spending a hectic
but thrilling moments in Dehradun.