2. The Dead Tiger

It was 6:30 AM when we reached the rest house. The 'chowkidar' at entrance was still huddled up with the blanket on the stool. He displayed amazing balance and managed to recover his fall each time he nodded off a little too much on one side.

“Chor, chor …” Vijay hollered and woke up the sleepy skinny 'chowkidar'. I was familiar with his silly pranks… it didn’t amuse me however it did upset the 'chowkidar' when he realized it was a joke played on him.

We were led in the rest house and then into the big twin room after we had signed up the visitors register. I flipped the pages to see who all have been here recently; most of the names were unfamiliar, however I did recognize Sh. Lal Chand who had been in the rest house about five days ago.

I slept off as soon as my tired body met the soft mattress. Vijay stayed up. He was hungry and asked the caretaker to rush some 'aloo paranth' and tea while he worked on the case. We had to be at the office of District Forest Office at 11 AM to dig deeper into the tiger killing case.

“Damn, do you want to sleep all your life? We have to be at the forest office in another 30 mins. Come on wake up…” I had heard it before. Vijay was arranging his shaving kit and looked quite dapper in his new blazer. I rushed into the bathroom and was out in 10 mins and still Vijay was busy, this time arranging things in his bag. I was out of the room much before Vijay. I beat him again.

D.F.O sahib had sent us his Jeep. We were in his office by 11:30. D.F.O sahib was barely 40 and looked quite sharp in his suite. I felt awkward in the company of two well dressed men. We were soon discussing business.

The forest guard had found a dead tiger near Sandhu yesterday morning. Sandhu was about 10 Km from Junna. After post-mortem it was found that the tiger was shot twice in the stomach and died a slow painful death.

The report said that it appeared the tiger was shot by a party of amateur hunters who didn’t chase the tiger after shooting. The tiger must have roamed around with his injuries for 3 days and died of hunger and thirst.

We were asked to inspect the dead tiger before it could be disposed off; it had starting putrefying. I couldn’t stand the stench however Vijay inspected the dead tiger like a true professional. He made observations in his little notepad. Next step was to summon the S.H.O of the area. He made a sheepish entry into the room and shared the details of his investigation and details of the people who own a licensed gun in the area. His observation was that the tiger could have been shot by the Billu gang of poachers… as they only possessed latest hunting rifles.

Vijay was diligently recording the details of the interviews. He interviewed anyone and everyone who was brought into the room. Some of them had seen the tiger, some had touched it and some had merely heard about it.

I was drifting between thought of Kavita and the dead tiger. The dead tiger had some kind of effect on me. It compelled me to a bit philosophical and takes a rational view of life’s choices and decisions before it was too late. I made up my mind to see Kavita’s as soon as I was back and ask her to marry me.

I looked at my watch, I was getting impatient. It was 4 PM. We were getting nowhere. S.H.O was definite that it was Billu gang but there was no proof to support it. D.F.O sahib shared all that he had seen and was told.

“Did you check if we have had any visitors in Junna lately?” I directed my question at the S.H.O. “We have had many since Sh. Lal Chand got the ministry. He is a true ‘junta ka sewak’. He has connected this sleepy town to the entire county by train and has spent crores on improving the roads and schools…” S.H.O seemed as impressed as me with Sh. Lal Chand’s achievements and work.

“I mean last week”.

S.H.O was taken aback. “Sh. Lal Chand was in rest house about 5 days ago. I would want you to check the purposed of his visit. Who were with him? When he checked in and when he left? And you can start with the caretaker of the rest house.” There was silence in the room.

We thanked the D.F.O sahib for his time and came back to the rest house followed by S.H.O.

On questioning, the caretaker informed that Sh. Lal Chand came late in the evening with a party of 5-6 men who talked among themselves in English. They had dinner and left in the night only to return early in the morning and left the rest house after having lunch. All of them appeared to be excited about something they had done in the night.

I directed the S.H.O to work on the lead.

Vijay wanted to stay the night there but I had Kavita on mind. I took the last train out of Junna and all along prepared myself to propose Kavita. I was back at the railway platform which I left a night ago. The mongrels and the hawkers were back and busy with their business. I looked at my expensive Swiss made wrist watch. It was 7 AM. A bright day awaited me.