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 story starts there.
You may please read the other chapters before reading this one.
This is the 6th Chapter in the serialized story that I am writing.
CHAPTER - 6
The call to Ramu had eased the tension somewhat of the three persons in Kanatal. At least they felt that Ramu and Prema had not suspected the three friends of any foul play. That was a relief. Now they needed to tackle the authorities. They presumed that they would have to contend with the police since this was a case of disappearance of a person! How wrong they were.
Vikrant and Amrutha cleared their camp and were about to leave for Dehradun when Amrutha received a call from an unknown number. Again with great trepidation, she answered the call.
"Hello!"
"Hello! Is this Amrutha from DataLogix?"
"Yes. May I know who is calling please?"
"I am Pramod Gupta from the Government of India. I would like to speak with you. Where are you now?"
"Which department of the government do you represent?" asked Amrutha in a tremulous voice.
"That I will tell you when we meet. Where are you now? Please answer me honestly."
"I am in Kanatal. But why do you ask?"
"This is in regard to the disappearance of Akshay. We would like to talk to you about it."
"Are we in trouble?"
"That depends. I will be able to know more only when I meet you three - Ganesh, Vikrant, and you Amrutha. Just stay where you are and do not move away from your campsite. A team is coming over to you now to talk to you. We want all of you to be there. Do not leave the place. I repeat, do not leave the place under any circumstances."
"Ok sir!" Amrutha looked at Ganesh and Vikrant and all three of them realized that the situation is grave if some government agency is involved. Who knows what they may ask!
Within about fifteen minutes a police vehicle came to a halt near the campsite and a senior police officer got down with an Inspector in tow. He looked around and checked the tents of the three campers, turned around towards Amrutha and asked, "Amrutha?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Pramod Gupta spoke to me about an hour ago and asked me to come up here and be with you and ask a few questions. Do you mind if I ask each of you individually what you experienced today?"
Ganesh and Vikrant felt a bit relieved that they need not have to go anywhere since the police was here. But was that a good news or bad? They went a few feet away, but the Inspector took them about a hundred yards away from where the senior police officer was speaking to Amrutha. Probably they wanted to query each of them individually to ensure that there was uniformity in what they saw today morning. Already the disappearance of Akshay seemed to be so distant. Things were happening real fast.
"Amrutha, don't be scared of us. We are here at the instruction of Guptaji. My name is Shailendra and I am the Additional SP of Tehri Garhwal district. The Inspector there is Mr. Vikas Singh from the police station at Tehri. So we would like to ask a few questions before Mr. Gupta reaches here. He is already on his way and would be joining here within about 2 hours."
Amrutha explained in detail what they saw that day in the morning. Shailendra asked a few questions to clarify things that he didn't understand. Amrutha also showed him the pictures that she had taken. Shailendra looked at the pictures intently and complimented Amrutha for her foresight. Not for a moment did Amrutha feel that she was under any suspicion; but Ganesh and Vikrant, standing so far away that they couldn't hear what was being discussed, had some apprehensions.
Shailendra then called Vikrant over and checked with him about his impressions and later spoke to Ganesh as well. He soon realized that the three of them had prepared well what to say when questioned since their responses were, for the most part, identical. All five of them then went to the place where the 'structure' appeared and then suddenly disappeared. As they were about to reach there, a car pulled up near the campsite and they saw a gentleman in a formal suit gesture to them to return to the campsite.
"I am Pramod Gupta and this gentleman here with me is Mr. Somanathan. As I mentioned to all of you over phone, I am from the Government of India and am here to investigate this.....well... this issue. By the way did any of you three call Mr. Ramakrishnan, Akshay's father, to inform him of this event?"
Amrutha said, "Yes sir. I called up Mr. Ramakrishnan and informed him. He was shocked. Later I spoke to his wife also. They said that they would be coming here to meet us."
Pramod said, "Yes, I spoke to them afterwards too. But later they called me to inform that they may not be coming today."
Meanwhile in Bangalore, Ramu and Prema had finished their packing and were getting ready to leave for the airport, when there was another call for Prema.
"Hello!"
"Hello amma!"
"Akshay?"
To be continued next Sunday - 20-August-2023
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