01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

[clouds rumbling]

[man 1 narrating] From the year
1991 to 1993…

[intense music]

the Bangalore police did not investigate
this case responsibly.

[intense music continues]

They sent a few policemen

to interrogate Shraddhananda.

He told them that…

Shakereh Khaleeli was in the USA
and would not return anytime soon.

The Bangalore police could not do
anything for three years.

[static crackling on camera]

But after three years…

this case was handed over to
the Crime Branch.

-[gas lighter clicks]
-[flame whooshing]

[Syeda] She was missing for so long

we just didn't know
what had happened to her.

[Rebab] It was over two years, wasn't it?

-A number of years. I don't know.
-Three or four years.

Yeah, two or three years.

[Rebab] We used to hear
all kinds of garbage stories

coming out saying that,

"Oh, she was in an accident on
the Mysore Road

and she was buried there."

I know some of my cousins tried to go
to soothsayers

and fortune tellers and try
and find out what had happened to her.

-[tea gurgling]
-[intense music continues]

This is an IFS officer's wife.

[Kodandaramiah] Comes from
a well-known family…

who fell for a…

a fellow way below her status

and suddenly disappearing.

[intense music continues]

I started thinking about the fact whether
she could have been alive somewhere.

[music intensifies]

There were violent murders.

Stabbing, beating, axing.

But, I don't think I've seen a…

height of cruelty…

[intense music]

on an innocent woman…

of this type.

[intense music continues]

-[door bangs]
-[intense music fades out]

[theme music]

[theme music continues]

[theme music fades out]

[eerie music]

[man narrating] It's not
the question of fear, sir.

Once you're in the police force,
you gain courage.

We used to identify and keep the criminals
in check before the crime took place.

No crime would take place under my watch.

[eerie music continues]

My name is Azmatullah B.

B means Badari.

We have come from a place called Badari.

Assalamu alaikum, Abbuji.

[vessels clanking]

Walaikum assalam.

[gluging tea]

[Azmatullah] I was posted at CCB by
my senior Mr. Kodandaramaiah.

This case was reported in 1991.

[ambulance siren wailing]

A complaint about a missing woman was
filed at the Ashok Nagar Police Station.

Somewhere in 1994, Mr. Kodandaramaiah

asked me to make a good,
straightforward, strong case.

Genuine. It should be a genuine case.

-[vehicles honking]
-[indistinct chatter]

[Kodandaramiah] Sabah,
he narrated to me how

it had happened in the past.

That her mother has not communicated
with any of the four daughters,

for such a long time.

[eerie music continues]

Her mother was enticed by

an alleged Swamiji…

of Rampur.

[eerie music]

She said they went and confronted
that so-called Swamiji,

and he gave some stories.

She was saying that
she would go to England.

I mean, why was she not in touch
with her daughters if not anybody else?

That's my doubt.

I said…

something has happened.

I told the staff…

we should get the information.

[police siren wailing]

-[intense music]
-[vehicle rustling]

[vehicle honking]

[Azmatullah] That office had the best
staff and extremely courageous inspectors.

They arrested several culprits every day.

[siren wailing]

They worked on
eight to ten people every day.

By work, I mean questioning.

[intense upbeat music]

We inquired, but there was no result.

-[intense upbeat music continues]
-[vehicle approaching]

[Kodandaramiah] But then we inquired
here and there, even in the Airports.

We have no evidence to say that…

she went to England.

[upbeat music]

Her mother cannot disappear
into thin air like this!

Then I told the guys,

get the Swamiji to the CCB,

and work on him
and we should get the information.

[music intensifies]

[intense music fading away]

[Ravindra] I am Ravindra Reshme.

I have been a journalist for
the past 41 years.

Those days he was one of those respected
members of the elite society in Bangalore.

[upbeat music continues]

They were living in the most
posh locality, Richmond town, No. 81,

with his wife.

-[upbeat music continues]
-[camera hissing]

For five hours they questioned him…

but he was so unmoved.

Stony silence was his characteristic.

The posture he maintained throughout was…

he's as much worried as
the daughters of the victim,

about the missing wife.

-[intense upbeat music]
-[soft piano]

The initial inquiry
didn't reveal anything,

and after that he was released.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[vehicles honking]

[Kodandaramiah] He did not break down
or give any clue and…

the case is stand still.

-[vehicles honking]
-[indistinct chatter]

Where there is no evidence of any kind.

Actually there was no clue.

[intense music]

[Kodandaramiah] They were thinking
of filing a C (Closure) report

that is undetected

at that stage.

I called the officers concerned
and discussed with them.

They said they are also unable
to solve the case,

and they have not been able
to get any clue.

[indistinct chatter]

But I gave certain directions
about working out a clue,

on the presumption
that she is put to death.

And the only person who could've
done that was this man.

[Kodandaramiah] And their is
no other person in the country

who is interested to finish her.

[eerie music]

I told the staff…

"You have to keep a watch on him,
and on his movements…

[vehicles hoking]

and that property on the Richmond Road."

-[vehicles honking]
-[birds chirping]

I still recall this umm…

conversation that I had with

Mr. P. Kodandaramaiah,
then police commissioner.

-[cycle bell ringing]
-[indistinct chatter]

I asked him,
"Where did you get the breakthrough?"

That's when he said that,

"I'm rewarding my constable.

His name is Mahadeva."

[suspenseful music]

[vehicles honking]

[Kodandaramiah] One day, Head Constable
Mahadeva came and informed me that…

they've got some clue.

[indistinct chatter]

We already were on a missing woman case.

We had a complaint against
Swami Shraddhananda,

as we had our doubts on him.

And later we found out about him,

and had our informant…

give us details, and we got the lead.

[interviewer] How did
you get it out of him?

By getting him drunk?

-[distorted sound]
-[birds chirping]

[crows cawing]

[vehicles honking]

[Imran] I said how?

So, Mr Kodandaramaiah had
a very hearty laugh.

-[Kodandaramaiah laughing]
-[soft music]

Anyway…

crime clues are worked out in places
not visited by gentlemen.

I meant people…
[laughing]

Like addas.

And, Mr. Mahadeva here, was able to…

work out something in a Arrack shop.

-[glasses clanking]
-[indistinct chatter]

Arrack was a country liquor at that time.

What you call in Hindi as "tharra."

Arrack used to be sold
in sachets those days.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[intense music]

-[female reporter] Tell us your name?
-Raju.

In this case, we have given money
and paid for liquor.

They are like daily wage laborers.

We have to pay money also.

I also laughed.
I said, "Oh!"

Who is…

So Mahadeva, how many drinks did he have?

So he said no Mahadeva just held a drink,

but, Raju spilled the beans.

He had I think three…

sachets of…

Aarack.

[Kodandaramiah] He did an excellent job.

He got that sense of

suspicion,

when he first heard about the place

and the wooden box.

[dramatic thudding music]

[intense music]

[metal clanking]

[Imran] But the surprising thing was that

the box had been fitted with four wheels.

[intense music]

The carpenter said, I had very specific
instructions on the size of the box.

And the box was ordered by…

[intense music continues]

Shraddhananda Swami.

[dramatic music]

That day in the afternoon,

Swamiji called me up
and asked me to bring the box.

[distorted sound]

I took four guys along with me…

[box scraping]

and brought it here from the guest house.

[metal clanking]

Hmm. I brought the box.

He then handed me
a 100 rupee note for everyone.

He gave that for all of us.

-[buzzing sound]
-[light thudding]

After that…

my madam…

my madam--

[buzzing sound]

She was fast asleep.

[music intensifies]

I've been reduced to this condition

because of my madam.

Because of drinking…

[buzzing sound]

The case was dead…

till Mahadeva took this guy for a drink
and got this information.

We got on the particular gentleman

which confirmed our suspicion that yes,

Shraddhananda has got something
to do with the disappearance.

[suspenseful music]

[Ravindra] Once he sensed
that something is going to happen,

then he files a complaint
and also takes an anticipatory bail.

[suspenseful music continues]

So that's how he goes on
pointing fingers at the police only.

He had got an anticipatory bail,
so we couldn't just catch him.

And if we got him to the station…

he could file a case against us.

-[buzzing sound]
-[cars honking]

[Kodandaramiah] I thought yes,

there is some strong

reason to believe,

that he put her out.

And it has to be dug out.

That's how I told them
to start working out the clues.

-[soft music]
-[vehicle honking]

[dramatic music]

[woman] The property is very vast.

I gave it to her…

and their four children.

And that is where he put his…

[vehicles honking]

[Azmatullah] Earlier,
during the questioning,

uh… we got to know that…

after their marriage, he got a will made…

and secondly a power of attorney.

So he could buy, sell her property.

We knew

that he got some papers

signed by Shakereh,

papers of property…

to be transferred to his name.

[indistinct chatter]

[Imran] This man had sold the property.

He had struck a deal with one of
the biggest builders at that point of time

for 6.5 crore rupees.

He would enter into a contract of sale

for the sale of
the entire property number 81.

[indistinct chatter]

But, to the exclusion of this area…

in which his residential premises was

located.

[indistinct chatter]

-[birds twittering]
-[intense music]

No, no, no!

I have some sentimental reasons
for this place.

Both husband and wife,
we lived together here.

I don’t want to give this!

To the exclusion of this area…

-[crows cawing]
-[vehicles honking]

you can buy the property.

[eerie music]

That was the guilty mind!

[dramatic music]

One day I came in the evening,
around 6:00 p.m.

I said,

call the maid servant Josephine.

She came,

and I questioned her

about the habits of Shraddhananda.

Where would he go in the morning?

In the afternoon?

In the evening?

Where would he have his meals?

I asked her everything.

-[camera clicks]
-[distorted sound]

[Josephine] My husband Raju and I

worked at 81 Richmond Road house.

We took care of
the cooking and cleaning there.

[tea gurgling]

Like always, we were busy with
our work on that day too.

But, that day, only Swamiji
came out of the bedroom.

[eerie music]

Before I started with my work,
I noticed that

due to rain the backyard soil
had become damp and wet.

There were mud puddles everywhere.

Before 28th May, the backyard had
a lot of Tulsi plants.

[eerie music continues]

Swamiji wanted to make
an underground tank there.

But, that day there was only
one Tulsi plant there.

[dramatic music]

Swamiji asked me to nourish it well.

[eerie music continues]

And I obliged.

While she was talking,
she one day told me that,

on the day of Eid

he performed a prayer.

And later, he would pour milk over
the Tulsi plant.

[dramatic music]

Suddenly, something flashed my mind.

Back in our village, where I hail from,

the Brahmin priests cremate their dead.

[fire crackling]

And after that they plant a Tulsi sapling
in that same spot.

And then they pour milk on it.

[dramatic music continues]

I realized that he too is a Brahmin

and maybe that's why
he is pouring milk on the plant.

So that created
the first doubt in my mind.

[suspenseful music]

The second doubt was
the power of attorney.

Both of these doubts put me in
a position to think

and I decided we will get him
and interrogate him.

I was also scared because,

I am not someone who would arrest anyone
without any proof and spoil their life.

Till the end I was scared.
What if I was making a mistake?

I was scared that an innocent person
would go to jail because of me.

After much deliberation, one night at
2:00 a.m. we decided to interrogate him.

We left to get him.

[siren wailing]

[man speaking on walkie talkie]

At 2:00 a.m. we knocked at his door.

He opened the door and we went inside.

We got him to the station.

[crowd chattering]

-[woman shouting]
-[crowd chattering]

I said okay the game is up. Come out.

He said nothing doing.
There is no game up.

I just don't know anything about it,
she disappeared.

[soft music]

And he takes him to
Koramangala police station…

and there they question him seriously.

Using very strong and aggressive language.

[intense music]

[footsteps approaching]

Jai hind, sir.

"I don't know where she is."
He kept on saying that.

[eerie music]

Till the time I got the case
he kept on lying like this.

By the time he came to the station,
it was almost 4:00 a.m.

I was sitting like this
and he was sitting on the opposite side.

I sent my driver to get coffee.

I served coffee to him,
myself and the staff.

After having coffee I told him,

"Look Shraddhananda even I have a family.

I do not need
to trouble anyone unnecessarily.

I do not involve anyone unnecessarily.

If there is something, tell me.

Tell me clearly, what is the matter?"

As soon as I said this
he became emotional.

He was fed up of all the harassment.

He suddenly fell at my feet.

He was seeking pity and started crying.

[Shraddhananda crying]

I asked him to get up and sit.

He started telling me his story.

The real story.

[tape recorder clicking]

[intense music]

[static sound]

[Shraddhananda] My name is
Swami Shraddhananda.

-[footsteps approaching]
-[intense music continues]

Shakereh used to treat me like a servant.

[woman speaking faintly]

Everyday she used to find
a reason to fight with me.

She did not love me anymore. She hated me.

Even though I had sacrificed
so much for her.

[Kodandaramaiah] She was quarreling
with him it seems.

For two things, number one is
why did you get my properties

registered in your name?

[woman speaking faintly]

[Kodandaramaiah] And then all your
promises about getting a male child

are not fulfilled.

So I want the properties back.

[Shraddhananda] "I've made a huge mistake

by trusting you."

She said this and yelled at me.

[intense music]

I could not sleep all night.
Her words were ringing in my ears.

[intense music continues]

I thought that if I did nothing even then,

I would be thrown out of
our house on the street.

[intense music]

I suppose he knew that if the children
also had to come close to her…

his influence would not…

be too much or at all.

[eerie music]

[Shraddhananda] In the first week of
May 1991 I went to the wooden market…

and got a plywood box made from there.

[intense music]

[eerie music]

I decided that…

I will k*ll her.

[dramatic music]

[Azmatullah] Shraddhananda said that
if we took him,

he can show us the place and the body!

He said if you take me…

I will show you the place and the body.

This is very important.

[man] According to law,
immediately I must go.

Without losing a minute of time.

[crowd chattering]

[static crackling]

-[sirens wailing]
-[dramatic music]

[Kodandaramiah] He said
he will show the place.

He led them to the

property on the Richmond Road.

[distorted static sound]

[Azmatullah] We got him home.

I held him on one side
and gave him the keys.

[dramatic music]

[static crackling]

They took him inside…

and took him to the place of crime.

[intense dramatic music]

-[static crackling]
-[flame whooshing]

[Shraddhananda] On 28th May 1991…

around 8:00 a.m. in the morning,
our cook Josephine brought tea.

[eerie music]

I thought this was a perfect opportunity.

[eerie music continues]

I quietly took…

the sleeping tablets
and stirred them into her tea.

[dramatic music]

[spoon clanking]

[dramatic music continues]

Shakereh was awake.

[dramatic music]

I handed her the cup with a smile.

[dramatic music continues]

Around 9:30 a.m. I told my staff that
Shakereh was unwell.

[dramatic music intensifies]

A while little later I went to
the Taj for lunch.

[static crackling]

[indistinct chatter]

[Nagesh] A chalk piece
was given to him.

He would mark the area

in the backyard.

We asked him to show us.
So he took the chalk and marked

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…

he marked the entire area.

[intense music]

[static crackling]

[indistinct chatter continues]

Some labor was summoned

and they excavated the earth.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[metal thudding]

-[indistinct chatter]
-[vehicle honking]

He was just standing there on the side.
He had become mild.

[static crackling]

[Shraddhananda] In the afternoon
around 3:30 p.m., I came back home.

[intense music]

I saw that Shakereh was still sleeping.

She didn't wake up.

[eerie music]

I asked Raju to shift the plywood box
from the guestroom

to the bedroom.

[box scraping]

He would bring that box…

he would keep it by the side of the cot.

[eerie music]

[Shraddhananda] After that,
I locked the door from the inside.

[dramatic music]

[crowd chattering]

[Nagesh] After it was excavated…

a wooden box was seen

lying in a slanted position.

It was diagonal.

You can see it in the CD.

It was diagonal.

[crowd chattering]

-[static crackling]
-[dramatic music]

[music intensifies]

[high pitched sound]

[floor thudding]

[man 1] He pushed his wife
and she would fall down

inside the box

with her face downwards.

Then he would put the top,

nail it as if it's a coffin.

[nails clanking]

[eerie music]

-[box thudding]
-[crowd chattering]

Then he would venture to open
that area between about

2 and 1/2 by 4 feet.

[indistinct chatter]

[wall thudding]

[dramatic music]

[dramatic music intensifies]

[Abbas] I was standing right by the grave

and we couldn't believe what met our eyes.

There was just a skeleton with
a tuft of hair.

And there was a bit of flesh on
the left leg.

This was crime most horrendous

and unthinkable.

-[music continues]
-[static crackling]

[Gauhar] He just pulled her around
with a sheet…

got her into that box,

nailed her down and just…

he must have just thrown her into the pit.

[dramatic music continues]

You mean to say he has not
been planning this for some time?

And how well he's done it…

how secretly, he's done it.

[music intensifies]

I could never imagine that
she was m*rder*d.

-[dramatic music]
-[static crackling]

I just cannot associate seeing umm…

a skeleton of my mother.

[dramatic music continues]

[Gauhar] We just don't know…

how to take it, it hasn't still sunk,
the grief that we are feeling.

The grief is too great.

One feels stunned.

Cruel man…

schemed.

She was a mother too.

Like I'm a mother, she was a mother too.

[woman sobbing]

[eerie music]

[Kodandaramiah] At the time he told
the CCB that she was

breathing at the time she was
put into the box and closed.

[Rebab] She was alive!

She was alive when he buried her!

[dramatic music]

[rain pouring]

[box thudding]

[Imran] Most shocking thing is that…

Shakereh Khaleeli was buried alive.

[Abbas] She was buried alive.

She was not dead
when she went inside.

He wasn't a human being,
he was really a monster.

-[eerie music]
-[car approaching]

[eerie music]

CENTRAL JAIL, SAGAR

My name is Swami Shraddhananda.

I am also known as Murli Manohar Mishra,
which is my original name.

I want to tell you that

whatever has been spoken about me

is a lie.

It is all just a white lie
and nothing else.

[eerie music fading away]

[theme music]

[theme music continues]

[theme music ends]