A MURDER AND A MYSTERY

CHAPTER 13: BORIVALI

The suburb of Borivali falls on the Western line. The western line abuts one side of the Arabian Sea; the harbor line abuts the other side and there is the central line running in between. Mumbai being an island city depends on its length rather than breadth; the three railway routes stretch like three fingers of a hand to cover the city and the suburbs. What is Bombay, or 'town' as people call it, is actually the area beginning from Southern tip of the island and running up to Mahim on the Western line and Sion on the Central line. What follows then are the suburbs of Mumbai. You can tell the suburbs from the city from the sight of autorickshaws that ply only in the suburbs. Borivali is a fairly large suburb of Mumbai and once upon a time was considered end of the Western suburban railway line.

Williams decided that he would visit Manohar's house in Borivali. Something told him that there could be some leads hidden there, if the house was still in tact. With the help of his friend and colleague, they reached the cluster of houses in the bowels of the suburb. A typical slum; in Mumbai, a majority of the population lived in slums like this. Homes here are well equipped though small in size.

Manohar lived with four others in a rented shanty. Two of his friends were there when Williams and his colleague reached the place. They could not understand why anyone would want to conduct a search of Manohar's belongings. The man was dead and gone and was not involved in any criminal act at least as far as they knew. Manohar's belongings were sparse and were contained in two medium sized trunks with locks on them. The policemen broke open the locks and examined the contents.

One of the boxes was full of clothes which he wore. The other box contained odd items including a bunch of keys. There was nothing more that would be of interest to the police. Williams asked some questions about the nature of work Manohar did. The two confirmed that he used to work as helper in shops and sometimes in guest houses and hotels. They also told him that Manohar's younger brother also stayed here with them, but had gone out for some work. Manohar's family lived in Bihar and had not come even for his cremation. To their knowledge he was not married.

Williams wanted to stay back and wait for Manohar's brother; maybe he could shed more light on Manohar. In particular, he was interested in knowing about the boy's stint at the Bandra guest house. Williams also made a mental note to visit Sebastian. As William's anticipated, the moment news about Shipra was made public, Sebastian would be detained for interrogation. In all probability, he may be made scapegoat in this case. As far as Williams knew, Sebastian had little support from people. No one would care or bother that he was the murderer. It would suit everyone.

It was late in the evening when Manohar's brother returned. He was surprised to see that a police officer had visited his house and had broken open the locks to his dead brother's possessions. He demanded an explanation. Williams told him about Manohar's employment in the guest house; the boy looked alarmed; Williams said there was some complaint about some valuables missing from the guest house and the police were talking to everyone who had any association with guest house. The boy told Williams that he knew nothing about what Manohar did or where he worked.

" Look kid; I have information that you went to the guest house to meet your brother. Around the same time, this loss took place. Now that your brother is dead, I am afraid we will have to take you to the police station for questioning."

" Oh No! I have done nothing wrong; and I do not know what Manohar did at the guesthouse. I had gone to meet him at the guest house a couple of times. He had invited me there to have lunch or dinner as he was very friendly with the caretaker there."

"Look, you will not come into any trouble, I assure you that. But you have to tell me the truth. Manohar was involved in something bad, and maybe that led to his accident. I want to find out the truth about what happened to him and why. You will have to help me. Tell me whatever you know about what happened at the guest house."

"Sir, it was all Manohar's fault. The caretaker of the guest house was having problems with one of the guests there. I do not know what the problem was but it involved some girl who was hurt badly. Manohar rang me up and asked me to come over in the night. He wanted me to bring a bunch of keys that he had kept in his box. I told him that his boxes were locked and he said that the keys to the boxes were kept hidden under a brick in the house. I opened the box and took the keys to him. He then asked me to go home and told me not to talk about the keys or my visit to anyone. He returned a few days later and told me he had earned enough money to survive for at least two years. He gave me one hundred thousand rupees and asked me to safeguard it for him. Then this accident happened and now he is dead. That is all. I still have the money with me."