CHATURBHUJ-2 -3. Investigation Begins

“I had considered that day to be very lucky for me. Just hours before my robbery attempt in Perimalji’s house, I had managed to rob a wealthy person of a golden ring which I was sure would fetch me a fortune should I sell it. This “success” filled in me the greed to have more and thus well into the night I yet again roamed about in that area looking for a soft target. I came across a house and found that one of the windows was slightly opened! I waited there for a few moments to see if someone came to close it. No one did. This gave me an impression that either there was no one in the house or it was a safety lapse on the part of the occupants to leave it open. I decided to move cautiously and foremost took a round of the house. I found that the room at the other end was illuminated which made me believe that someone was there in the house which meant that my second presumption had to be true. I returned to the open window which was not from a great height from the ground and decided to make my next move.” Sakaram paused here and then had a reminiscence of his past, “Sire, before becoming a thief I was a carpenter. Once just to satiate my creative instincts I had designed a detachable ladder of wood. Each set of ladders was four inches long. The unique feature was that the vertical bars which held the horizontal columns had a hole at the top into which another set of ladders could be affixed. In this fashion, you could make a flexible set of small or big ladder as per the need. I had made atleast twenty of them which were now coming very handy. I used to carry at least five of them with me in a gunny bag which I used for climbing towards open windows for committing theft.” Continuing with his narration of the events which occurred on the day of the murder, Sakaram continued, “I had gained great dexterity in attaching and detaching the ladder with practice such that I could complete this exercise in great speed. I removed the set of ladders from the bag, affixed three of them, tied the bag to my waist, masked my face, climbed the ladder quickly and slowly flung the window open. I got inside, took the ladder in, dismantled them, untied the gunny bag from my waist and put the ladders in them.  I felt as if even nature was by my side that night! As the window opened, the gentle rays of the full moon illuminated the dark room. In the natural light I could see a cupboard at the end of the room. I opened it and managed to steal some silver coins and a golden chain with a sparkling ‘OM’ embedded in its penchant. My joy knew no bounds! I put these in the gunny bag and then decided to leave. I lost the inclination to steal any further for I had enough that day. I decided to jump out, for the window was not placed at a great height from the ground. It was when I was doing this that my luck ran out!” Thereafter, his narration matched with what Chaturbhuj already knew from his spies.

Chaturbhuj came near Sakaram and looked straight into his eyes. “If you have missed out any detail to hide your complexity in the murder, believe me, you are only tightening the noose around your neck!”

Sakaram did not respond but stood looking at Chaturbhuj with folded palms. The minister glanced at the King indicating that it was time to move out of the cell.

As they returned to the palace, Chaturbhuj spoke his mind, “When a person concocts a story and is made to repeat it, many a times he tends to present different versions of it which was not the case here.”

“In other words, this meeting only strengthened your notion about the murderer being someone else!” Sukhdeva intoned.

Chaturbhuj nodded affirmatively with a faint grin and queried, “Sakaram was referring to another theft he committed that day! Any details about that, Maharaj?”

“Sakaram claims that the person whose ring he had stolen had tied a white cloth around his face. Thus, who he was still remains a mystery!”

Chaturbhuj looked at the King puzzled.

“After much thought, I feel that he could have covered his face to avoid the cool breeze from blowing in his face when the chariot sped off! After all, these are wintery days and that theft happened in the evening when it gets very chilly!” the King reasoned.

“Good thinking, Maharaj! This could well be the reason!” Chaturbhuj acknowledged.

He, thereby, spelt out his next course of action to Sukhdeva, “I want to foremost visit Perimalji’s place of residence. Since it appears that a physical altercation had taken place between Perimalji and the murderer there could be some item of the latter, like a small jewelry, that may have fallen off during the fight which has skipped everyone’s attention. Also, I want to take Sakaram’s detachable ladder with me to that place.”

“Alright! When my men conducted a search in his house for a similar reason, they managed to locate the house key from the locker. I have taken custody of it. Perimal has no descendants and he was living all alone in that house. Thus, till I decide as to what should be done with the house, the key would remain with me.” He paused and said, “I shall hand it over to you!”

Soon, Chaturbhuj was handed a green cloth into which the house key was wrapped and a gunny bag that contained the ladder. He tried attaching and detaching the ladders and appeared quite impressed at what Sakaram had managed to do. He also took along an empty yellow bag with him and a white shawl as a safety measure, should the weather get very cold in the evening. He was then all set to go! He mounted a chariot which the King had specifically arranged for him which then raced off to its destination.

After a long ride, the chariot entered a lane where there was a cluster of well-built houses and bungalows having low-slanting roofs with verandahs. Chaturbhuj knew that they had nearly reached their destination. Soon, the chariot stopped near a house whose structure resembled to that of a bungalow with its gabled roof and a porch that extended into a garden having a narrow path in the middle that could be taken to reach the entrance.

Asking the charioteer to wait for him, Chaturbhuj alighted from the chariot taking the green and yellow cloth with him but leaving behind the gunny bag that contained the ladder. He took the narrow path to reach the entrance. He, then removed a large wooden key from the green cloth and inserted it in the key hole of the door and moved it towards the right. This unlocked a horizontal bolt which was slid inside the key post. Chaturbhuj gently lifted the bolt up and rested it vertically on a hook in the wooden door. However, as it was jammed, the minister had to make some efforts before he could push the door open and enter in.