The story begins at this page Atonement .
Kabir Singh was promoted to detective due to his excellent capability to think like a criminal. He had a masters degree in Criminal Psychology when he joined the police force. His father, who was also a decorated police officer, was gunned down at a robbery gone wrong which is why he joined the force to make sure that no one else met that fate. He hated all criminals no matter what the gravity or the reason of the crime was but ironically he had the ability to connect with the criminal mind. This family slaughter was not some meaningless killing. It was a hate crime towards the nature of the business of the deceased.
As a routine investigation Kabir gathered intel about the family’s usual behaviour by talking to their neighbours and their regular customers. There was nothing out of the ordinary and no haters either. Everyone was happy with their service and they never troubled anyone. They did not owe anyone money. So the usual reasons were out of the picture. There was this one customer that had a serious disagreement with the butcher. He had been protesting to close down his shop everyday. He was with PETA and was hell bent on stopping all the butcher’s animal cruelty.
Could the killer be him? He certainly had the hatred and motive according to the neighbours. Kabir was at the crime scene only when out of nowhere a group of protesters with Animal Preservation slogans in their hands started marching outside the butcher shop. He went out to talk to their leaders. He was sure their leader was the customer who had the disagreement. Nischayy Ahuja was leading the protests and the detective was right. He then detained him as he had made some death threats too and when the detective mentioned the butcher’s murder, he smiled and said, “He got what he deserved.”
In the interrogation room of the Crime Branch HQ, Detective Kabir started questioning Nischayy who was now the prime suspect of the murder of the Mirajuddin family. Nischayy said, “Sir, I am innocent.”
“That’s like the motto of every guilty person who has set foot in this room. Just answer my questions.”
“Okay sir.”
“Where were you last night around 2:00 PM?”
“I was at my girlfriend’s place. You can check with her!”
Nischayy slided his phone across the table and he had already dialed his girlfriend’s number. Kabir asked him to talk to her and put the call on loudspeaker.
“Hey babes…?” said Nischayy when she answered.
“How is the protest going? Did he die of guilt yet?” she said.
“Babe… I am at the crime branch headquarters. Mirajuddin was murdered last night. Could you tell this kind detective that I was with you last night?”
“Oh… oh… okay… Kind sir, Nischayy is innocent. He was with me the whole night. You can check the cctv footage of my building to confirm if you like.”
“See!! Thank you love… I’ll talk to you later.”
Lost the Prime Suspect
He disconnected the call and Kabir called out to a sub inspector and asked him to fetch him the footage of the building Nischayy’s girlfriend lives in. After around half an hour the inspector walked in with a laptop and showed Kabir that they weren’t lying. Nischayy came into the building at around 6 PM and he exited the building around 9 AM in the morning. For now Kabir had nothing to hold Nischayy so he had to let him go but he ordered him not to leave the city. He still suspected him but he needed evidence. One thing was for certain. Someone who was capable of this kind of killing definitely hated the butcher family with all his or her might and also had an intense love for animals.
Stay tuned for more crisp…
