Valley of Death Read online

  On turning back, Uday found that the constables had run away on seeing those ghosts. He also noticed something disturbing about the beggar-woman that had led him there. She did not appear weak and fearful but was full of confidence and a three-inch wedge had started to show between her neck and also of her three children. Unknown to the Inspector, they too had been picked up, imprisoned and sacrificed by bloodthirsty Warlock, on four successive Amavasya. As Uday stood paralyzed and at his wit's end, the head of the beggar and her children rose in the air and then began to circle his head! All four heads were laughing; their spine-chilling laughter sounded like the crackling bones of a skeleton. The ghosts around the rock had joined them in the laughter and Uday began to feel dizzy.

  A normal man would have definitely lost consciousness, a scared one would have died of shock and terror; it was definitely a tribute to Uday’s courage that he had managed to stay conscious. As if in a dream, half-walking, and half-falling, he ran away from there. He had lost his sense of direction and was running blindly, desirous of getting as far away as possible from the headless and limbless ghosts of that haunted estate. He stumbled in his haste upon a rock and fell down, his head hit the ground and despite his best efforts, he passed out.

  The water sprinkled on his face brought him back to consciousness. He saw his three constables looking down at him with concerned faces; they helped him get up on his feet. His head was spinning and he felt dizziness and disorientation. “What...What happened?”

  “We got scared and ran away from there Sa’ab. But our duty towards you brought us back; we found you lying here by yourself,” explained one of the constables.

  “How long was I unconscious?”

  “Not more than ten-fifteen minutes Sa’ab.”

  “The fence is not very far from here; can you walk till there Sa’ab?” Asked another constable.

  Uday nodded his head and followed the constables to the gate of the estate. He was still finding it difficult to believe or rationalize and explain what he had witnessed. He would never have believed it, no matter who had narrated it to him; but having gone through that horrid experience himself, he could not dismiss it as an illusion. He had to admit what he had seen was real, no matter how fantastic it was!

  He also decided against reporting the incident to his superiors; he knew that no one would believe him. And if the Press found about it, he would doubtlessly be labelledcrank and would become the laughing stock of the world. After they had reached the gate of the estate, they climbed up the chain link fence and getting into their Qualis sped away from that wretched place that resembled a grave-yard and not the dwellings of a normal man.

  The blackmagic, occult and tantrik activities of Rudolf had rendered his desolate estate incapable of supporting the normal life of ordinary folk. It was cursed forever to be associated with depression, despair, suffering, and death. It was like a black hole, in which not even a ray of light, of happiness or hope, could survive. It could only sustain negative thoughts, emotions, and acts; for all times. That girl Payal was more fortunate than she or anyone else realized, to have come out of that place alive. Despite the arrest and incarceration of its master Rudolf a.k.a. Warlock, the evil continued to live on in that god-forsaken butcher-house.

  CHAPTER 11: THE SPRING

  It was a warm and sunny day in April that Abhay Batra was driving his air-conditioned ‘Mahindra Scorpio’ station wagon on the congested roads of Dilshad Garden locality in Trans Yamuna area, near the inter-state border between the capital city of Delhi and its satellite town of Ghaziabad. Payal, his wife had almost completely recovered physically from the murderous attack on her nearly three months earlier. It had helped that she had suffered no grievous injuries and the vital organs of her body had been intact. After her condition had stabilized, she had been discharged from the hospital, though the wounds on her face and hands had needed regular dressing for quite some time.

  Her new face was full of scars, where the broken pieces of glass-mirror had cut it, a ghastly reminder of her unwitting association with Rudolf. It would have been hard for an unknown person; who had not seen her former face, to imagine that she once had such a beautiful face which aspire her justifiably to become an actress. But much more worrisome than even those facial scars were the scars on her psyche. The murderous assault on her and the subsequent harrowing experience of having been missed by death by a mere whisker was burdensome in itself. But the blow of her having lost her only child, that too killed by the hands of her own husband had been too hard for even a person of her mental strength to handle and overcome.

  Despite their best efforts, neither she, nor her husband had been able to overcome the loss of their daughter, or the erosion of trust and love in their relationship, which they could earlier take for granted. Her emotional husband Abhay had been the hardest hit, with guilt and shame. Though he had looked after, nursed her like an angel; he had not been able to face her and a chill - though unintentional - had entered their relationship. It was the first time after the gruesome incident that they had come out together of their house, that too because of the greatinsistence of Colonel Narang; a personality, which they both greatly respected, and who had asked them to come over to his flat that Sunday afternoon.

  After they entered the flat and Colonel Narang’s room, Abhay saw the latest issue of India Today magazine lying on the sofa; he put it on the table before him and sat down. On its cover was the photograph of Rudolf with head trounced, looking menacingly at the camera and underneath the caption in bold letters: The faceof evil: India’s most prolific serial killer. Abhay had read the article inside earlier and had also been interviewed for the same, along with his wife, Colonel Narang, Inspector Uday Thakur, Leena Malhotra, Vincent Costello, and Bharoo Shah Bengali.

  The disclosure by the ghost of Harry, speaking through the medium of tantrik Bharoo had revealed the true extent of Rudolf’s nefarious activities – though it was nowhere acknowledged in the article for obvious reasons. The greedy tantrik, when contacted by the journalist of the magazine with reference from Colonel Narang had agreed to tell all he knew about Rudolf and to obtain additional information from Harry – for remuneration.

  Along with the information provided by Colonel Narang, Leena, and Payal, it had formed the basis of the article that had exposed Rudolf before the entire world. The latter’s estranged former chief of staff had been his longtime confidante and had detailed his evil and occult-related activities including human-sacrifice every Amavasya to increase his black magic powers. That explained the title chosen for that article; though the writer had prudently articulated that the bodies of his victims had been long since disposed of and hence Rudolf couldn’t be charged with multiple counts of murder.

  Respecting the wishes of Colonel Narang, Vincent, Leena, and Payal; they had not been mentioned as the sources of information; while Bharoo Shah Bengali had been given prominence and his photograph published, as per his desire. Perhaps he wanted to savour his moment in the sun or hoped to cash in on the publicity to rise in his profession and win over rich clients.

  Doctor Roger Wilson’s interview was published separately in a box; he had expressed his doubts regarding Rudolf’s sanity; he was of the opinion that the latter was probably mentally unfit to stand trial for his crimes. And that he ought to be sent to a lunatic asylum until his condition improved; but if Rudolf’s present condition was any indicator, then his recovery was greatly in doubt.

  After Abhay and Payal had sat down and the greetings were over, the Colonel said, “Wonderful things, these Computers, and Internet; lying here on my bed, I can read the latest issues of ‘The New York Times’, ‘USA Today’ and visit websites on every conceivable subject on this planet. And of course play chess, my favourite past time. What’s the matter? Why do you both look so unhappy my children? Your bad dreams are over, that evil Warlock has been busted for good this time. He is not coming back to haunt you ever again.”

  “There are still many questions which ar
e left unanswered, Sir,” said Abhay, after he sat on the old sofa with Payal. “For instance, how did you get him arrested?”

  “I had anticipated that Rudolf will create trouble for you both and the rest of the people who had opposed him. However, I regret that I was not able to see his game in time, to be able to effectively prevent him. If either one of you had taken the trouble of informing me on the phone, then I could have prevented a lot of sinister and tragic things from happening to you. And because of P.I. Bhatnagar had withdrawn from the case after Rudolf had threatened her child; I was left virtually blind to Warlock’s actions. It was only after you, Abhay told me on the phone from the trauma centre, did I realize how serious the matter had become and how the events had taken such an ugly turn. The very first thing I did was to warn tantrik Bharoo Shah Bengali and Private detective Bhatnagar.”

  “But Rudolf was arrested after he had managed to stab Ms. Bhatnagar, if she had been forewarned, then she should have been able to prevent –” Abhay tried to say.

  “I’ll come to that later,” said the old man interrupting Abhay. “As I was saying, I then contacted my former boss, a retired Brigadier from the Army and who in turn called his former neighbour’s son, a minister in the Union cabinet. Immediately an urgent message was sent to the Commissioner of Police (C.P.) through the office of Union Home Minister himself; which swung Police into action. Inspector Uday Thakur of the Crime branch too proved very helpful; and the fact that he had a personal grudge against Rudolf also, worked in our favour. But regretfully we could not prevent the death of Twinkle, the spastic boy, who assisted tantrik Bharoo. He was brutally murdered by Rudolf on the same night when he had assaulted Payal.”

  “But why wasn’t Rudolf arrested from his house?” Abhay asked.

  “Because he was not available there, or any other place; cops went looking for him in his estate, institute and Connaught Place office. I advised Inspector Thakur to mount round the clock surveillance at the room of Bharoo shah, the house of Sadhna Bhatnagar, your house and here at my flat, any of which place could have been visited by Rudolf, who was on a rampage. Police also tried to trace him through his mobile phone, but being extremely cunning he had chosen not to use his cell or answer any calls and as a result, his whereabouts remained unknown,” narrated Colonel Narang.

  “He won’t get away scot-free this time as well, will he?” asked Payal

  “No possibility of that my child. His fingers prints have been found in your house, on the dagger with which he killed Twinkle and on the dagger with which he had stabbed Sadhna when he was caught red-handed. In addition, police have confiscated drugs, skins and heads of animals from his estate. He will be booked for multiple offences, under the relevant sections of the I.P.C. and the Wildlife protection act.”

  “So no one can help him to get out of his mess, this time?”

  “Not even that superb lawyer Anjali Kohli, who I am sure, will find some excuse not to take up his case. Furthermore, his close friend and business associate Rohit Mirchandani has also been arrested and is in custody of authorities at an unknown place.”

  “Rohit?” asked Abhay. “That name rings a bell somewhere.”

  “You may not have been able to follow the news properly in the past few weeks. This Rohit has emerged at the centre of a bribery and sex scandal, which has hit the political and other establishments. Apparently Rudolf’s friend and associate is a middleman, who fixes deals for his foreign clients, multinational corporations (M.N.C.) and large business houses, by bribing bureaucrats and ministers in the government to get their sanction on the files of his clients. A college-going girl, who happens to be the niece of a senior editor at one of the national daily newspapers and the daughter of a rich South Delhi based exporter, spilled the beans and peeled off the mask from the face of Rohit and his illegal activities,” explained Colonel Narang.

  “He had tried to sexually exploit that girl?” asked Payal.

  “It’s the same story everywhere my child; be it Rudolf’s institute or the office of his associate’s firm. The girl who was working part-time after college hours in that firm to earn some extra money, apart from the measly amount her father gave her a monthly allowance. She was drugged deceitfully and then photographed semi-nude by Rohit, who then blackmailed her into entertaining his guests – bureaucrats and ministers. Humiliated by the experience, to be forced to grant sexual favours to men old enough to be her father, she approached her high profile uncle, the senior newspaper editor, and blew off the whistle.”

  “The resultant scandal rocked the political establishment, as a junior minister and several serving senior bureaucrats of the central government were among those who frequented Rohit’s rented bungalow in Panchsheel Enclave and apartment in Sushant Lok. The newspaper and satellite channel’s investigative journalists, working in tandem with the victimized girl revealed that the huge amounts of money had exchanged hands in the shady deals, which Rohit had been involved in; one of which had the signature of the tainted Minister. The opposition parties created a ruckus and stalled Parliament proceedings for days and the ruling party was forced to ask the Minister to tender his resignation.”

  “Yes; I had read about that,” Abhay said, “but didn’t know that the middleman involved was actually a friend and associate of Rudolf”.

  “That Rohit is also a Warlock – of the financial world; he also corrupts the moral and physical character of people using wealth, women, wine, drugs and everything else in between. He is as vicious and dirty character as Rudolf, who can stoop to the lowest possible level for a selfish personal gain; only he’s less violent than Rudolf,” explained Colonel Narang. “Anyhow, the opposition parties pressed for a Judicial or Joint Parliamentary Committee (J.P.C.) probe, which the government has so far resisted. But orders for a thorough inquiry – which opposition and a section of the print and electronic media call ‘cover-up’ or damage control exercise by the government – have been issued at the highest level. A joint team of Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I.), Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate,and Intelligence Bureau have raided Rohit Mirchandani’s establishments and taken him to an unknown place for questioning, pending formal arrest.”

  “His foreign links are also being probed and the grave pine has it that several top secret documents relating to sensitive defence purchases have been found in his possession, for which he shall be prosecuted separately under the Official Secrets Act. The ruling party may have saved its well-connected Minister, partly to save its own skin and credibility, but it was not so lenient on others. Several serving bureaucrats have been suspended, pending C.B.I. the inquiry, which is under instructions from a bench of the Honourable Delhi High Court, to give it regular progress report, and half a dozen former bureaucrats have been held for questioning before they are formally arrested and booked under the relevant sections of I.P.C. In addition, the role of the chief representative of a foreign arms manufacturer and the defence attaché of an embassy and their links with Rohit is also being investigated. That associate of Rudolf is in neck deep trouble and cannot use his high connections to try and save himself, or his friend for that matter.”

  “What a coincidence Uncle; that both Warlocks were busted together,” said Payal.

  “Yes; the path they were treading, was leading only to their eventual doom. Only they were blinded by their greed, corruption, and moral bankruptcy not to see it”.

  “But will Rudolf ever be punished for his crimes?” asked Abhay.

  “What do you mean?” Asked Colonel Narang.

  “I visited him in the ‘Tihar prison’ a few days back and was surprised to see the radical change that has come in his personality,” said Abhay and then describe his meeting with the evil man and the physical transformation the latter had gone through. “And according to Professor Wilson, Rudolf seems to be losing his mental balance and appears to be heading to a lunatic asylum, instead of a court of law.”

  “As you sow, so shall you reap – goes an old saying.
Perhaps he deserved only such a punishment,” said Colonel Narang philosophically.

  “Why didn’t his supernatural powers work?” asked Payal. “Abhay told me that Warlock was not even aware that I had survived his attack; nor was he able to know of the Police trap at that P.I.’s house.”

  “Tantrik Bharoo Shah had narrowly failed to kill Rudolf once, and the latter thought that the matter ended there, until the time he would be ready to take revenge on Bharoo. But on my directions and persistence, the Sorcerer did not give up the efforts altogether. He worked this time around on freezing Rudolf’s occult powers at a critical moment; which effort succeeded at the time following the attack on you and Twinkle. Quite surprisingly, Harry - Warlock’s chief of staff – turned against him, because of the latter’s excesses and helped Bharoo in defeating his former master. As they say –Ghar ka bhedi, lanka dhaye - or an insider is the best shot to defeat an enemy.”

  “But why do evil Warlocks like him even exist?” asked Abhay. “He’s still unrepentant you know, for all that he has done. And questioned me back instead, of what do I know about EVIL?”