Secrets Hidden In Time (Time #1)

78 | Siege In Fog : The Troubled Child & A Hawk On The Lookout

"Yes, sir." Hiten nodded. "We had no idea that she was an IAS officer. She came in a personal black Mahindra Scorpio instead of a government-allocated vehicle. She even introduced herself without her rank or anything. In fact, as ID proof, she showed us her Aadhaar card instead of her services ID card. Plus, the Esselford area doesn't exactly come under her jurisdiction as an SDM, so we have never seen her before. It was only when I saw the news this morning that I realized who she was, so I rushed here."

"I don't want to hear all that crap. Come to the main matter of concern." Mahadevan's temper was on the rise again. "What was her FIR about?"

"Sir, she came there to file an FIR under IPC section 506 against three individuals, namely Jayachandran Bohra, Vikram Seth, and Avaran Zachariah Philip. She said that all three of these people are posing as potential threats against her life. And in case anything life-threatening happens to her in the coming one to two weeks, including kidnapping, murder, or death, these three are the people who would be responsible for it." He explained, "She wanted us to file the FIR under section 307 as well, but because she didn't have any substantial evidence, we filed her FIR only under section 506."

A sigh of silence enveloped the conference chamber as Mahadevan charged towards Raghav, who was going through the FIR. "He is right." The DCP announced. "She did file an FIR."

"Initially I doubted it all, but now that I think of it, Mahadevan was right. She planned this entire course of events much ahead of time." He added, clicking his tongue. "What a strategic mind I must say!" He chuckled. "Because at this point, even I am not able to predict what she actually wants us to do and where we are all heading towards. Not even her actions from here on, now that she is missing."

Not paying attention to what the DCP was saying, the Dogra Patriarch took a step towards the inspector, who seemed a little relaxed after letting out all the information. "She filed complaints against three people, and all these three people happened to be influential figures by chance." He paused. "So, did you or anyone from your station call the higher-ups to inform them about her complaint? You know someone who happens to be the lapdog of any of these three men?"

Hiten Pahwa gulped for the nth time. "No, sir. None of us did. No one in our station has any affiliation with Jayachandran Bohra, Vikram Seth, or Avaran Zachariah Philip, either. I swear."

"Are you sure?" Mahadevan's arms went behind his back, his digits intertwining firmly.

"Yes, sir." Hiten nodded promptly.

"Alright, inspector." Raghav began, "You can go now. Thank you for the information, but don't divulge anything about this FIR and the three men involved in it to anyone else until we contact you again. Not even the media."

"Yes, sir." Hiten adhered, saluted them, and turned around to walk out of the conference chamber.

Once the man in khaki was out of their sight completely, Praapti closed the door and said, "Sir, there is more actually." Her gaze was darting back and forth between the DGP, the Dogra Patriarch, and the commander.

"What now?" The frown on Aravind's visage deepened further.

"Sir, just now we received a call from some orphanage called 'The Holy Children's Home' based in Poovaranthode, Kerala." She elaborated. "The caller was a woman. She introduced herself as Sister Beatrice George, the administrator of that orphanage. She said that she has something to say about Hinduja ma'am, and that Archbishop Avaran."

"Huh?"

Each one of them felt shocks at different degrees.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Raghav held his forehead. "How does a woman from Kerala know about Rao and Avaran?!"