BLUE DIAMONDS
- P.Krishnamoorthy
This episode has all the ingredients of a heist fiction in line with the format of an athletic relay race. The plot moves in four stages before returning to the origin stage. Blue diamonds are the baton for the race in this narration.
Sharat, an energetic and ambitious young man, with academic post-graduation qualification, had aspirations to become rich and famous. He was trying to get a career as an executive in any leading company. But he was able to get only a media reporter job in “News Herald”, a leading daily. Kay Jewelers, one of the leading diamond merchants in Surat, had arranged for an exclusive private showing of the diamonds to celebrities and media people from Mumbai to boost their sales. As it was an exclusive meet late in the evening, there were no walk-in customers allowed in the showroom. They had displayed the diamonds according to their carat, cuts and sizes. Vasant Rai, the head of Kay Jewelers welcomed and briefed the visitors on various processing of diamonds to become dazzlingly brilliant when finished. Sharat, also an invitee as a media representative, was enjoying the ambiance of the place, since the rendezvous looked ultra-modern in every detail. He was imagining the total worth of the displayed stock in crores. After a concluding brief on diamonds, Rai requested the participants to move to an adjoining hall where finished jewelry in diamonds and gold were displayed. When the visitors moved to the other section, Rai left specific instructions to Kishore, his general manager to ensure all the diamond pouches were counted and tallied with the stock before depositing in the vault.
While Kishore was keeping the pouches, his attention was suddenly diverted by a phone call in his cell. As the call conveyed a very disturbing personal message, he was totally upset and his mind went blank. He forgot the count of the pouches and one pouch left out at the end of the display desk. Sharat noticed that pouch was still on the desk which was very adjacent to the pillar. His ambitious aspiration to become rich, impelled him to avail that opportunity. ‘Morality is only lack of opportunity” and the proverbial saying “Make hey while the sun shines” compelled him to do what he wanted to do. The CCTV camera that was on the pillar was focused only towards the display desk. Kishore was still on the phone. These gave Sharat an idea of his hiding behind the pillar and stretching only his front part of his hand to pick up the pouch. He was sure that would not be noticed by anybody as all others were in the jewelry section. The CCTV camera also would not transmit image as it was focused only on the display desk area. After the call, Kishore closed the vault with safe keys without the last pouch. Sharat looked around and picked up the pouch. He went into the rest room and kept the pouch on top of the water tank above the flush at a height. He then returned to the jewelry area and joined with other people. Even a professional heist group would not plan so meticulously in such a short time. Concluding the show, Rai gave a small gift to the participants on their way out. Sharat went back to the rest room and picked up his treasure. He then proceeded to the rail station to take the last train to Mumbai with the diamonds in a backpack.
Sharat boarded the train and got inside a cubicle. He was anxiously waiting for any other co-passengers in the same compartment. Two men walked in and placed their luggage under their berths. By their conversations Sharat knew their names as Dilip and Hemanth proceeding to Mumbai. But by their appearance, Sharat felt uneasy with them. He was careful with his backpack and ensured to keep that always very close to him. Though he was responding to their usual queries, he had always an eye on his backpack. With a ‘good night’, they retired to sleep. As Sharat was holding the backpack securely with him, they had a suspicion whether he had anything valuable in it. They were waiting for an opportunity to check the backpack in his absence. Sharat was thinking about various risk-free methods to convert the diamonds into cash. Often he checked whether the other two were sleeping. When he was convinced they were fast asleep and that there would not be any problem from them, he left his backpack under a pillow and went into the rest room. Dilip and Hemant got up and checked Sharat’s backpack. On their ransacking the contents, they found the pouch of blue diamonds. Both looked at each other with glee and joy in their faces, they shook hands on acquiring the treasure. By that time Sharat came back from the rest room and saw them holding the pouch. He yelled and tried to snatch the pouch from them. Swiftly Dilip took a knife and held over Sharat’s neck. Hemant was tying his mouth and also his hands with a tape so that he would not shout for any help. As Sharat resisted them too violently, Dilip stabbed him with his knife multiple times in the chest and stomach. Sharat fell down fainted. As the train stopped in the next station, the other two got down and quietly walked out from the scene with the backpack. Dilip was so sure that Sharat may not survive with the stab injuries. On his routine rounds, as the ticket examiner found the fainted Sharat still alive, he made arrangements to move him to the nearby hospital for treatment.
On the next day, Kay Jewelers, while checking the inventory of the pouches, found one pouch missing. Rai immediately placed Kishore under suspension. On a complaint from Rai, police also arrested Kishore on suspicion. In the footage of the CCTV, it showed only the human forearm picking up a pouch from the display desk.
The doctors found the stab injuries of Sharat were very deep and serious with the one in his neck besides heavy loss of blood. Though critical when he was brought to the hospital, with immediate surgical procedures, they revived him. Ten days after surgery, he was able to disclose how the other two co-passengers seized his backpack thinking that there was something valuable in it. He was resisting them strongly from taking the backpack, but one tied his mouth with a strong adhesive tape and the other stabbed him in different places and he became unconscious. On police enquiry Sharat did not disclose the pouch of diamonds in the backpack. They could not find the backpack nor any trace of it.
Dilip and Hemanth, professional robbers, who visited Surat to commit a heist of gold or diamonds, failed as local conditions of their targets, were securely guarded from robbers. Sharat’s backpack with a pouch of diamonds was an unexpected windfall and treasure hunt for them.
The relay had its first stage with the baton of blue diamonds.
Dilip and Hemant were very close friends in Mumbai since school days. They were also residents in the same area. As school drop outs, they were doing daily menial and hard jobs. Frustrated with the kind of living, they resorted to small thefts, gradually leading to hoists. With the present gains, they were thinking as to how to convert the diamonds to hard cash. Dilip suggested the best solution to get rid of the treasure, was only outside Mumbai which would be safe to avoid the police net. Hemanth suggested Nasik would be a better venue for their future secret activities. Dilip concurred with his idea. The contents of the backpack were changed to a carry-on with a false bottom to conceal the pouch of diamonds. They also destroyed the empty backpack in a fire. They avoided going outside in the streets during day light to avoid any detection by any authority. After sunset in the dark, they boarded an Omni bus to Nasik and reached the place past midnight. When the city was asleep, they found an ordinary hotel. With false names they checked in at the reception and got a room in the sixth floor.
Both were not able to sleep in spite of long travel, as the treasure haunted them with mixed feelings of fear and happy emotions. Though they had handled many such heists earlier, this was their maiden adventure with diamonds. The risk of getting caught by the police was much more if they approach any jeweler directly to dispose of their acquired possession. Next morning both were in the open balcony adjoining the room, discussing the pros and cons of the plans for the day. Both had agreed to do first a survey of the city’s bullion market to find any favorable contact to finalize the deal. Now fate had played a different game.
Dilip’s selfish inner urge calculated the proceeds to be quite substantial if it was not divided with Hemanth. This would also stop him from indulging in future heists. His ambitious plan was leading him to think as how to do away with Hemanth in the deal. Any direct violent action against Hemanth would directly implicate Dilip and consequences would only be to his disaster. He was very seriously thinking a strategy whereby Hemanth could be eliminated without directly involving Dilip in the crime. Dilip’s inner conscience was against this idea, in view of his long partnership with him. Hemanth was leaning on the parapet wall of the balcony. He was engrossed in thinking of any risk-free and better way to convert the diamonds into cash. Dilip’s attention was focused on Hemanth’s leaning on the parapet wall. Suddenly he got an idea to just push him towards open side when he would fall below in the garden area and meet his end. By this modus operandi, Hemanth’s fall would be attributed only as an accidental fall and nobody would doubt about Dilip’s indirect involvement. Dilip was very firm in his partner’s annihilation and the timely opportunity of using Hemanth’s leaning on the wall for this purpose.
Time memorial selfishness had been a natural phenomenon with every human being. and Dilip was no exception to it. Memories of honest togetherness with a partner on many earlier heists, might have ended in mental satisfaction.. But now, under pressure of few moments to decide between compromised living or ambitious future, Dilip opted for the latter. Dilip, as he planned, merely pushed him to a fall and he was gone forever. Dilip, to cover up his criminal act, rushed to garden area and grieved Hemanth’s death along with others. The mockery scene was well orchestrated by Dilip for his personal gains. The police came and after necessary inquiries, they concluded it was a case of accidental fall and closed the case.
The relay had its second stage with the baton of blue diamonds
Dilip was quiet for that day. On the third day, he got the details of the local bullion market and visited that area. It was full of jewelry shops dealing with gold and diamond jewelry. Holding the carry-on strongly with him, he found a jeweler dealing in sales of mostly diamond jewelry. He made a casual enquiry for a diamond necklace. On a glance of Dilip’s outfit, profile and talk, Aditya Ram, the sales assistant understood that he wanted to sell something discreetly. He gestured at Dilip to come to a nearby restaurant during lunch hour.
Aditya came as promised. Without beating the bush, he directly came to the point whether Dilip wanted to sell something. Dilip’s response was more regulated and said that he would like to sell a blue diamond, as he needs money very urgently. Aaditya was smart and said somebody was interested in diamonds, not a single piece but in multiples, to save his only daughter kept captive.by a gangster for ransom. Dilip corrected his earlier enquiry, offered ten pieces of blue diamonds. Aaditya Ram agreed to take him to that person in the evening after the shop was closed. Dilip waited around that area until Aaditya Ram arrived to take him to the prospective buyer. Aaditya Ram wanted an assurance that his interest in the deal would be protected. Both arrived in a factory shed by a taxi. Aaditya Ram took him inside the dilapidated shed where nearly ten strong men and the chief mobster were waiting for them. Dilip felt uneasy at the sight of the gangster who made a condition that he would need ten blue diamond’s urgently to get his only teenaged daughter, kept captive by a rival gangster. The terms were discussed and the chief wanted to see the diamonds. Dilip took the pouch from his carry-on and showed the diamonds. Suddenly a gun shot was heard from a corner. One of his men shot Dilip in the head. Aaditya Ram was flabbergasted at this sudden development. He wanted to leave the place for safety of his life. He was even prepared to forego his share in the deal. But the chief gave him two bundles of currencies and ordered Dilip’s body to be burnt without any trace. As soon as he collected the money from the chief, Aaditya Ram rushed to escape from the scene to save his own life
The relay had its third stage with the baton of blue diamonds
The chief immediately called his rival gangster on the phone and checked with him as to when and where he could bring the ransom diamonds.. The gangster’s reply was a big shock to the chief. He told him that his daughter was shot by his men when she tried to escape from his custody. With tearful eyes and the diamond pouch on one hand, the chief banged on the desk in frustration. He even regretted the death of Dilip. He felt remorse because he killed Dilip, his only daughter had to meet the same fate.
The entire telephone talk between the two gangsters was overheard by the police to trace the call and found their area of operation. Within minutes the police came with two battalions to two different locations and sealed off their premises. With intensive investigation, both the mobsters confessed their crimes of homicides for personal gains.
The police also got the history of the whole case starting with Sharat. Based on circumstantial evidences which had bearing on one another, the police concluded that the missing pouch of the diamonds was the same, finally given to the gangster by Dilip. This was corroborated by Aditya Ram who brought Dilip to the mobster. Solving the riddle, the police finally concluded that the pouch of diamonds was stolen from Kay Jewelers by Sharat. He then travelled by train to Mumbai with Dilip and Hemanth who inflicted him with stab injuries; the next day both travelled to Nasik and stayed in a hotel where Hemanth died due to ‘accidental fall’. Dilip with the help of Aditya Ram met the mobster who was in need of the diamonds to save his captive daughter. Both mobsters confessed their crime of homicides. The missing pouch had the same identification of a red star thereby it was clear that belonged to Kay Jewelers.
The police still had only one puzzle to be solved. They have to prove that Sharat was the one who took the diamonds from Kay Jewelers. The footage of the CCTV showed nothing but a human forearm taking the pouch. There was no other clear proof that the forearm was Sharat’s.
Sharat was in improved health talking to friends and relatives about how close he was to death. But for immediate medical help he would not have survived. He profusely thanked God for his benevolence. Suddenly they saw a police team entering his room. The Inspector wanted to enquire some more details from Sharat, as he was under sedative after surgery during his earlier visit. Sharat still maintained that Dilip and Hemanth had assumed something valuable in his backpack and, on that basis, tried to kill him As they found the pouch with the mobster in a carry-on and no trace of backpack, they definitely require some proof of Sharat’s involvement.
When the inspector was enquiring other details, Sharat got a call in his phone. He stretched his right hand to pick up that call. The inspector suddenly noticed a circular black mole on his right wrist He had a vague remembrance of seeing a black mole in the footage of the CCTV. Instantly the inspector checked the footage of the CCTV where it was very clearly showed the mole on the same spot of the right wrist. Sharat was dazed at this development, for he never thought of the mole when he was taking the pouch from behind the pillar. Finally he confessed his crime, The inspector arrested him after clearance from the doctor. Sharat’s dream of luxurious life had become a miage to him.
The relay of the blue diamonds reached its fourth stage of origin location - Kay Jewelers; but the price paid in between was with human lives.
