It was a drowsy day.
Not in the literal sense, but in the metaphorical sense. The huge pile of files
in front of him made Bharathan sleepy. This was not the sort of work that he
expected when he took charge as sub-inspector of the (police) station in Pudhuchatiram.
Even though Pudhuchatiram was not the primary city of the district, it had all
the modern features of the other cities of that era. The year was 1982. The old
fan above him was making more noise today. He sincerely wished one day it would
run really fast.
Bharathan expected more
of a Sherlock homes type of a work experience when he graduated the police training
academy with a gold medal. He refused to bribe the posting department to post
him in Chennai. Hence this Pudhuchatiram. If not the suspense of a murder, at
least he expected robberies, break in, felony. But he is yet to register even a
pick pocket case. It’s been almost a year. Bharathan sighed. He thought about
all the training at the academy - excitement in the police training; the
joggings, the workouts, taking aim with a pistol while running (like a chase),
collection and documentation of evidence, his thesis on finger printing in the
forensic science subject. Here at the station (field) its been paper work,
paper work, paper work. He was slightly scared of forgetting all these in due
time. Lazily he went back to work. The phone rang.
Fifteen minutes later
he was travelling in Jeep to office of Selvadurai&Co, Namakkal. The record
room of the office suddenly caught fire. Some short circuit nonsense. There was
no casualty. But the records were burnt. He was still wondering what he is
going to do there. These stupid formalities. A case had to be registered; a FIR
(first information report) had to be written, adding to the already pending
paper work. Shit. Anyway this is a chance for a drive like this in the newly
constructed highway NH 7. The jeep travelled in the highway for 25 minutes and
entered the next city of Namakkal.
Bharathan could see the
smoke only when the jeep turned into the street where the office was located.
The street was so congested. One fire engine was parked near the office and the
second was honking at a distance, trying to penetrate the crowd and reach the
building. ‘Stupid people’ he thought. He asked the driver to park the jeep and
pulled out the loud speaker and shouted at the crowd to make way for the fire
engines. The fire engine came near the building and started their work. For the
next hour it was order with chaos – Man vs Fire. Man had to win in this case.
The other constables
cleared the crowd after the fire was brought under control. Bharathan took out
his notepad, wrote today’s date preceded by the pilliyar suzhi and wrote 1 and
looked up to the leader of the fire persons and asked,” Any idea how?”
The fire person answered,
“Not much but I suspect short circuit. No casualty. All the records in the
record room is fully damaged. The electrical mains are in the record room only.
No noticeable damage in the other room.”
“The other room? Is
there only one more room?” asked Bharathan.
“Yes sir. This is a
small office. They only take care of the paperwork related to vouchers and
other clerical matters.” Replied the fire man.
Bharathan made a note
to check the with the office clerk and continued with the other routine
questions with the fireman. When finished, he moved into the office. It was a
medium sized hall. There was five pair of table and a chair. Each had a small
board reading out the designation of the respective persons seated on it. The
clerk was near the record room door, followed by the accountant then the
Manager, the head clerk and finally the typist near the main door. There was a
window near to the record room door. It was semi closed. The record room was
partially visible via the window. Only that table had a desk top computer on
it. The record room was at the far end of the hall. It was surprising the main
office was not damaged at all. He went near the door of the record room and
touched it and quickly removed his hand. It was still hot. The constable near
him giggled. He sat on the table near the door and asked the giggled constable
to fetch the office cleaner lady who saw the fire first. Who else to dig out
the gossips of the office. Bharathan was wondering the purpose of this inquiry.
Just write a report and go home. Out of curiosity, he wanted to see the electrical
mains. Anyway he had to wait for the heat in the record room to subside to
inspect the room. That might take 20 more minutes. This conversation might be
good to kill time.
The sweeper lady said
the usual greetings (vanakam) to Bharathan. He nodded and asked, “Did you see
the fire before others?”
The lady replied, “Yes
sir. I was rearranging the files near the window when I smelled smoke and
turned and saw some flames coming from the Bhoot room. Then I shouted. The
window should not have been closed.”
“The Bhoot room? Why is
it called the Bhoot room” asked Bharathan.
“Yes sir. This office
was an apartment type of house and the wife of the house owner committed
suicide in that room. Her ghost was seen in that room some times. I did not
believe it till I saw it myself last week.” Said the maid.
“What? When did you see
it? How was it?” asked Bharathan.
“It was on Wednesday of
last week. The office was empty as it was a holiday. But I had to come to clean
the office. Murthy sir (the accountant) had the office key and came to open the
office for me. There was no current on that day and the office was semi dark.
As I was sweeping something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. The
window of the record room was open and it was dark. The files or the things in
the room were not visible except for it. The bhoot. It went across the window.
I was scared and ran out of the room and told Murthy sir. He is a soft fellow.
Got a bit scared and went in. I stayed out. Then I heard noise of him crashing
into a chair and coming out. He said that even he saw the ghost and closed the
window and came out quickly. From then on the room was not opened at all. And
today the ghost showed its anger for closing the window.” Replied the lady.
Bharathan smiled and
asked her to leave. The constable said that even the people outside are talking
of the ghost. Bharathan stared back at him and stood up and asked the
constable, “Tell me about the persons working in the office?”
The constable was taken
aback and replied, “I don’t know sir. “
“Then go and find out.
Come with full details about their back ground.” Bharathan barked at the
constable. The constable left with a grumpy face.
Bharathan opened the
record room and entered. The smell of ash was strong. The room was wet with the
water. He looked around room. Racks full of ashes. A black library. He turned
his gaze. The electrical main board was on the right side wall. He went near it
to examine it. The wooden box was burnt and black. Bharathan burrows narrowed.
Something was amiss. There was no sign or trace of any bursting or an
explosion. If there was a short circuit the components in the meter would have
blown, the fuses would have popped out (Basic electronics during his college
graduation days came in handy). But the fuses were intact here. There was no
short circuit. His senses came alive with a weird smile. Took out his notebook
and noted down the observation regarding the electrical box in the notebook. He
turned around to look the other racks and noticed the constable standing near
the door. “What?” asked Bharathan.
“Sir this is the paper
work division of Selvadurai&Co, which exports garments. They take care of
the organizing of the trade details, the employee details and client
communications. There is only five staff in the office. The manager Mr.
Purushotam working in the office for 15 years. The head clerk name is Mr.
Vignesh and is in this office for 8 years. The clerk name is Mr. Aditya and is
working for 5 years. The accountant name is Mr. Ramanujan and is in the office
for 7 years. The typist name is Geeta and she joined the office a year ago.” The
constable spitted out.
“Hmm. Get me the
manager” said Bharathan.
The constable left. Bharathan
turned toward the rack. The top shelf of the rack was about his height. He
sneezed and stared at the rack with confusion. The ashes flew when he sneezed.
Not all of them. That caught his attention. It was a black powder. It was
sticking onto a burnt card board. Bharathan bent and picked up the card board
and when he flipped it over he heard.
“Sir, the manger is
here”, said the constable. There was another man standing beside him. 5.5 ft
Early 50s.
After the formal
greetings Bharathan started his questions.
Bharathan: “At what
time was the fire seen?”
Manager: “Around 11:30
am”
Bharathan: “What are
the things that are in the record room?”
Manager: “Copies of
office communication letters to other clients, intra office communication
papers, employee records of this office, copies of memos and other vouchers.
The employee records of factory are kept temporarily till book keeping of the
particular file is done and is transferred to the factory. All the employee
details were to be digitized. That is why the typist was replaced with a
computer data entry operator.”
Bharathan:”All the
records have been burned out. What kind of a problem is this for the company?”
Manager: “Initially I
thought there was no issue. But the accountant pointed me that it is kind of a
problem. Since all the employee records of this office are burnt there is no
way to determine the pension slab for them when they retire. The pension scheme
for this office is slightly different. There are various slabs depending upon
the years of experience, the number of memos, performance statistics etc. With
the other records destroyed there may be confusion. There is even a chance that
all the employees here excluding me could end up with the same slab. The accountant
is working on it.”
Bharathan: “Hmm. When
was the room last used?”
Manager: “Tuesday of
last week. The head clerk wanted to move the latest employee record file to the
record room after completing it. So the office boy moved it to the room. Most
of the employees are scared to go there because of the ghost story. But I don’t
buy it.”
Bharathan thought for a
while and said, “What can you tell me about those employees here? Their
character.”
Manager was puzzled.
Yet he continued, “All are good persons. What kind of information are you
looking for.”
Bharathan thought for
some time and said, “Never mind. What are their educational qualifications?”
Manager: “I am not sure
of that. The head Clarke might know.”
Bharathan: “Could you
please fetch him? Also could you call the office boy to come here?”
The manager left the
room. Bharathan turned towards the black power. Touched it with the tip of his
finger and smelled it. He flipped the card board on which the power was found.
He observed it carefully and made a note in his notepad. Things became clear
for him now. He went to the main office and waited for the head clerk and the
office boy. The office boy arrived first. Perfect Bharathan thought.
Bharathan: “Last week
you placed a file in the record room. Where did you keep it?”
Office Boy: “On the
first shelf sir.” He pointed to the shelf that was in the record room that was visible
through the nearby window.” The window that supposedly angered the ghost.
Bharathan continued, “Who
gave file to you to keep in the record room?”
Office Boy: “The head
clerk sir.”
Bharathan: “Anything
unusual about the file?”
Office Boy: “The file
could not be tied properly. As if there was something in it.”
Bharathan: “Ok. You may
now leave.” And he left.
The head clerk,
Mr.Vignesh, entered. Greetings for formalities. Bharathan continued.
Bharathan: “How long
are you working in this company?”
Head Clerk: “8 years.”
Bharathan: “The office
boy says that you gave the employee file to keep in the record room.”
Head Clerk: “Yes. I
did. The file came in on 2 weeks back. It was in Aditya’s (clerk) table. I had
to push him to finish it.”
Bharathan: “Did you
review it?”
Head Clerk: “No. We do
not usually review non financial file works.”
Bharathan: “One silly
question. What is your educational qualification?”
Head Clerk: “Bachelors
in Arts with History as the main course.”
Bharathan: “One more
question. What is the qualification of clerk, Mr. Aditya?”
Head Clerk: “He
finished Masters in Chemistry with Inorganic chemistry as a major.”
Bharathan smiled quietly
and said, “Thanks for your time. Could you ask Aditya to come here?”
Aditya entered along
with the manager. The usual greetings.
Bharathan said with
some firmness, “Mr. Adtiya did you think all other people around you are fools?”
Aditya was startled. Bharathan
continued, “The head clerk saw it. He told everything. As you expected he did
not suspect that action to the fire. But again to the original question. Do you
think Police are stupid?”
Aditya: “What do you
mean? I did not do anything.”
Bharathan: “Denial will
get you nowhere. Are you saying it or do you want me to spit it? Punk” His
voice was getting stern.
Aditya trembled, “ I
..I did not do anything.”
Bharathan continued, “Hmm
ok you want to go down swinging. Alright. Here is the evidence.” Bharathan
pulled a paper from the table he was sitting and showed it to Aditya and said, “Shakti
chemicals receipt of buying …”
“White phosphorous.”
Aditya finished Bharathan’s sentence. He hung his head and could talk no more.
The manager was puzzled
and asked, “What is all this?”
Bharathan replied, “Mr.
Purushotam, the fire in the record room is not an accident due to short
circuit. It was a planned incident. There is a chemical called White
Phosporous. When it is contacted with air it burns up. Our Aditya used this phosphorous
to create this fire in the record room. White phosphorous is stable at very low
temperatures. He must have soaked it in water and kept in the employee file and
sent it to head clerk who in turn gave it to the office boy to keep it in the
record room. Or rather ’The bhoot room’. Also when white phosphorous is moist
it will glow with a greenish color. The sweeping lady saw the glow and mistook
it for ghost. The accountant was sacred and closed the window. Slowly the
moisture in the white phosphorous evaporated away and today it became dry and
exposed to air and caught fire creating a chain fire. I believe that the
employee file was this.” Bharathan showed the cardboard that contains the dark
powder.
Aditya nodded slowly.
Bharathan continued, “Well
Mr.Aditya I am a chemistry major too. Now why did you do it? I am guessing it
has something to do with either the pension or the memos.”
Aditya replied, “Both. All
of us will retire at the same time. I will get the least pension slab among all
of them, even though all has the same years of experience, due to my memos and
poor work. Not many people know about the memos as I worked in the factory for
many years and had a troubled career. Out of sympathy I was posted here. I
thought I could wipe all of that and retire with a good pension slab with this.
I was planning to carry out this in some holiday. But they were digitizing
every data and hence I had to hurry. I swear I do not want to hurt anybody.”
Bharathan smiled and
said, “I accept that. Now will you please come with me?”
Bharathan was not sure
under what section to book him. The drive to the station via NH7 is there to decide.
This is definitely going into his case files.
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