The Cost of Values - 5

 

In case you happen to just come over to this blog post 

and are wondering what this is all about, 

please do go to the earlier posts, and especially  

The Cost of Values - 1. 

The story starts there. 

This is the 5th Chapter in the serialized story that I am writing.

 

CHAPTER - 5 

 

Ganesh and Vikrant discussed between themselves regarding which police station to go to for registering their complaint. The nearest police station may not have the necessary expertise for registering or investigating such 'disappearances', they felt. Hence they called up Amrutha to voice their concerns and involve her also in the final decision regarding which police station would be appropriate to meet with and register their complaint regarding the disappearance of Akshay.

It was finally decided that they would go to Dehradun and all three people were unanimous in their final choice since that was the capital city of Uttarakhand. There was a great mystery associated with Akshay's disappearance and they all felt that speaking to any other police officer in a smaller town may not get the attention that this event deserved.

Amrutha realized that the one-way journey for Ganesh and Vikrant would take about 4 hours at the least and she may have to stay back in the campsite for the full day and possibly spend the night alone too. Ganesh and Vikrant too realized this as soon as they had left; so they decided to return to the campsite. Now another quandary presented itself. If all three had to leave by vacating and clearing the campsite, they would have to remove Akshay's belongings and pack up the tent too. This would disturb Akshay's tent and may have a problem with the investigation. So they realized that they were back to square one on the next course of action.

 

Ganesh asked around if any among the three had any relative in the police department anywhere in India and whether contacting that relative would be helpful. Vikrant said that his uncle was a senior officer in the police in Rajasthan and he could contact him to inform him of the situation and get the contact details of the senior officer in Dehradun. 

Ganesh asked, "Do you think your uncle will believe us?"

Vikrant replied, "I am not sure. But do we have any choice? This is a unique situation and inspite of carrying out an internet search, Amy hasn't been able to get any information on similar occurrences in these parts, or anywhere else in India. We have to start trusting someone. I think this option is our best bet to make the authorities believe us."

 

Ganesh asked with a hint of sarcasm, "As if there would be news about such an occurrence! Even the most liberal and transparent country like US doesn't reveal any existence of such paranormal phenomena. Do you think Indian government would do so?"

 

Both Vikrant and Amrutha did not have any way to counter this argument of Ganesh.

Amrutha was pensive for a while basically thinking of her next step, which was to contact Akshay's father Ramu, or his mother, Prema, to inform them of the sudden disappearance of their son. She was struggling with how to explain. But she  had to call and Vikrant and Ganesh realized that calling Akshay's parents should be their first priority.

"Hello!"

"Hello! Is that Mr. Ramakrishnan?"

"Yes. May I know who is speaking?"

"I am Amrutha, Akshay's friend and colleague in DataLogix at Gurugram. I am here in Uttarakhand in a camping site near a place called Kanatal. I am here with two more of my colleagues, Ganesh and Vikrant."

"Ok. So why are you telling me all this? Is Akshay with you? Is anything the matter?"

"Sir, I am sorry to inform you, but today early morning when we woke up, we saw a structure had suddenly appeared near our campsite, which was not there till yesterday evening, and when Akshay went ahead of us to investigate what it was, the structure and Akshay both disappeared. Sir, please believe me when I say this, the structure and Akshay who had just entered the building, both disappeared instantaneously in front of our eyes! We are still unable to wrap our heads around this event. We do not know how to make anyone believe us."

Ramu felt all this was some sort of prank by scammers and they were after some extortion. That was his first impression and he didn't take this seriously. Amrutha, Ganesh, and Vikrant explained to Ramu in detail about their work in DataLogix, their individual contact numbers, and also mentioned that he could disconnect the call so that Ramu could call Amrutha back.

As he was speaking Ramu realized that he needed to involve Prema in any further conversation and both of them could think of their next move. He started towards his apartment and met Prema near the lift. He told her of the phone call and immediately saw that Prema gestured to him to return to their apartment to discuss further and investigate this call.

Prema and Ramu went back home and Ramu called up Amrutha, who picked up the call immediately. Prema wanted to hear from them directly and so Amrutha, Ganesh, and Vikrant told her what had happened that day. Prema said that both he and Ramu would take the next available flight to Dehradun and would plan to be there by the same day afternoon. Prema suggested to Ganesh that he should stay back at the campsite and Vikrant could take Amrutha to Dehradun after speaking with his uncle and contacting the senior police officer in Dehradun.

Things started moving speedily. Ganesh was mildly surprised that Ramu and Prema did not say anything that could suggest that they suspected any foul play by the three.

Prema contacted her office, informed them of a family emergency and said she would be travelling to Uttarakhand and may return after a week. Ramu did the same with his organisation. Prema had contacts with a travel agent who could organise flight tickets for them, which he did by the mid afternoon flight.

While they continued with their plans to travel, the 'loss' of their son in mysterious circumstances took a backseat. Though the concern was there, they were busy in organising themselves for the next phase of their task. That was to determine what happened in Kanatal and take the help of anyone who could help solve this riddle.

There was a call, again from an unknown number, to Ramu.

"Hello!"

"Hello! Is this Mr. Ramakrishnan?"

"Yes."

"Sir, I am Pramod Gupta from Delhi. We have heard of the news that your son, Akshay has disappeared suddenly today from a place called umm....Kanatal in Uttarakhand. Have you heard the news?"

"Mr. Gupta, who are you?"

 

"Please do not worry, Mr. Ramu. I am from the Government. I would like to discuss with you regarding this."

 

To be continued next Sunday - 13-August-2023