Page 120 - Musings 2020

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Where is Hari?

Venkat Sai Ram Mukkamala 2017A7PS0133P

“I swear, I just went to check on her yesterday evening and nothing else, she really loved me,
why would I kill him….,” Venkat’s voice broke into sobs as the words got stuck in his
parched throat. His actions formed a contrast to his imposing figure, he was dressed in a crisp
white shirt that was now crumpled in places, with his tie hanging loosely around his neck. A
family of 12 stood huddled together that tense summer evening suspiciously eyeing one
another. The killer was among them. That was certain.

Gangamma was 70 odd years old but was quite fit for her age when she lost her husband a
year ago, her health did deteriorate, but she had fully recovered from the trauma and was
coping up well with her life. She lived with her four sons, their wives, and kids in the huge
mansion, built in the elite area of the city. Gangamma had the mansion and the huge treasure
her old man had left, all in her name only until yesterday when she was alive. Gangamma
was brutally murdered in her sleep and now the property was on its voyage once again to
reach its most eligible heir.

From the sharply arched windows of the mansion, Detective Raghav’s shrewd eyes with his
trademark slanted eyebrows looked out onto the busy commercial street oblivious to the
chitter-chatter of everyone around him, wondering where Hari was. Raghav was in his early
forties, shortly built, and occasionally sprouted a small beard, usually when he was immersed
in a case, which made him look a tad younger. If the cook’s word had to be taken into
consideration, then Hari was the one who was seen last with Gangamma and the primary
suspect for this murder.

Hari was the eldest son with all the necessary qualifications to continue the family line along
with a son to carry forward the name. But the son was yet to come of age as he was born late
to Hari and his wife after several visits to multiple clinics in the city. Raghav learned that
Gangamma quite often had made one thing evident to everyone in the family, the wealth
would be passed on only to sons who had boys, as she was of the opinion that girls would
marry one day and the money would land in the hands of someone outside the family.
Gangamma loved everyone equally, she adored her grandkids, but she was very particular
about the family treasure which made Vasu, the third son of Gangamma, the immediate heir
apparent as the second son Ravi had two daughters.

Raghav had put a stay on Gangamma’s will until the identity of the murderer was revealed.
He could sense the restlessness of the family members, each one trying to trick or trap the
other into revealing some information that would make them vulnerable in front of Raghav.
As this was the case of sudden death, the pathologist was instructed to conduct a forensic
internal and external autopsy, but all this while, Raghav kept thinking, where is Hari?

Birds chirped welcoming yet another bright summer morning and it was still quite early when
Raghav got out of his car in front of the mansion with the autopsy report in hand. The results
had completely baffled him. Either the killer was extremely smart or something very common
had happened that night which may have resulted in the involvement of two potential killers.

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