“Arre babu, no one
is missing, ok? Why are you cracking
your head over a non- existent case?” Kalra threw up his hands resignedly and
visibly upset with Sanjog pestering him. “There will be no investigation in this
matter, do you get me Sanju? The police have said there is no reason for a
suspicion. On your insistence, I have
spent close to two precious days
looking for non existent clues in a non existent case. And now I refuse to
take any more of this crap.”
“Boss, trust me, I have a gut feeling…”
“Your ‘gut’? My
foot!” Kalra cut him short. He seemed to be on the verge of bursting out into
one of his famous ‘volcanic’ moods.
“I will not have my star reporter waste any more of my time
talking about this nonsense. There is plenty of actual…” pausing at the word for dramitised effect and making a
little quote-unquote action with his fingers in the air, he continued, “news to cover. Collect your tickets for Mumbai from
Sheetal, you will be leaving tomorrow to cover the economic forum meet for the
next few days. And make sure you get sound bites from every one who is
co-chairing this forum. Can you please excuse me now?”
With droopy shoulders and heavy feet, Sanjog dragged himself
away from his boss’ cubicle. Kalra was indeed ‘the impregnable Kalra’. No one could argue with him, much less win
an argument with him. How would he convince his boss that he was onto something
big, something fishy?
*************
Baba Gurudebji’s charitable home on the outskirts of
Panchkula was home to many homeless people. His childhood sweetheart, Sonia was
a volunteer at the home and over lunch one day, she had confided how people
were constantly disappearing from the shelter.
“Maybe they are moving to a better place”, he had teased.
“What rubbish! You know, this place is more a home than any
charitable trust ever could be.”
She was convinced that all the people who had left Baba
Gurudebji’s charitable home were actually missing. There was a mystery
somewhere. She had hoped, Sanjog could investigate being associated with the
city’s leading newspaper.
“Why don’t you tell the police?”
“”People have been leaving voluntarily; some claimed by a
lost relative, some getting a job offer somewhere…”
“So, what’s so suspicious?”
“Don’t you see? All this is happening suddenly. I have been
working here for the past five years; nothing as dramatic as ever happened.”
“Then, you have all the more reason to go to the police.”
“The trust doesn’t want to. I have spoken to them. They say,
they do not want unnecessary attention! Besides, these people have decided to
leave on their own so we cannot do anything.”
“Which trust doesn’t
want attention? That sounds suspicious to me too! So you think they are hiding
something?”
“Exactly.”
“But why bother?”
“I am not here for fun. I have been serving these guys for
five years. Suddenly, if people just start disappearing, it leaves me
flustered. Do I make sense?”
************
As Sanjog boarded the hopper flight to Mumbai, he wondered
what he would tell Sonia. He had tried his best, talking to the inmates and the
trustees. The inmates seemed happy their friends had found new direction in
life. No one suspected anything fishy.
The trustees had the signed documents in their files proving that the
‘missing’ people were not actually missing but had left for the better. Some of
them had been claimed by their long lost relatives, they had documented the
letters of appreciation from the grateful kin, some had got job offers, and
everything looked in order.
He had convinced Kalra to use his contacts in the police for
a deeper probe. Kalra was hesitant at first, but persistence finally paid. He
managed to get the police on the job but they had drawn a blank too. Little
wonder that Kalra who could tell you precisely how much a minute of his was
worth, was fuming at the two wasted days that yielded nothing.
Sanjog now tried to concentrate on the job at hand, the
economic forum meet, the chief ministers and their entourage, the CEO’s and
MD’s of big companies, virtually the who’s who of the economic world. His
colleagues Ravi Shankar Pasricha and Tarun Bhatia would be joining him shortly.
He wondered whether he should discuss the case with them but eventually decided
against it. Both were confidants of Kalra, and he didn’t want to draw daggers
with his boss atleast during this time of the year. This year’s appraisal was
crucial for a much needed salary hike. No, he could not afford to mess with it.
He would have to find another way to help out Sonia.
