conclusive inferences about what may have triggered it in the body of an
otherwise healthy person without a history of heart ailments. The report
came like a kick in the gut to the police officials in charge of the
investigation as they could not proceed further without answering the
question-“Had the man been murdered? ”. This case also attracted the
attention of local newspapers ,some of which also hired its own team of
investigators to be the first to reach to the bottom of the story.
The killer enjoyed a moment of laughter as he read an article about the
murder. Everything had gone according to his plan, till now no one had
been able to find traces of the poison. Perhaps they never would. He
seemed to enjoy the hapless condition of the police. He sipped his coffee
while seated on the sets of the show .He put aside his newspaper and got
ready for work. After all the show must go on !
After running down different alleys of investigation but reaching only
dead ends the police officials were frustrated beyond measure. Chief
Inspector Shyam Sunder was in charge of the investigation. He was a very
hard working but irritable man. He had been in the service for a decade
and had invaluable experience and expertise ,but even to him there
seemed to be no foreseeable end to this case. He had gathered up all the
possible suspects and checked there alibis. He had attempted to
construct a motive for the murder but even his imaginative and inventive
mind could not fathom what anyone could gain by killing a broke nobody
in the show business. Money had been ruled out of the equation when
Shyam received a copy of Ram’s bank statement. Next on the list was love
; here again Shyam was not surprised to find that the man did not have
any female acquaintances. He was running out of options.
With each passing day the killer grew in confidence that the murder
would never be linked to him.
In the second week into the investigation Shyam was desperately
searching for motives when suddenly an idea struck him. Now that he had
thought of it, the motive seemed apparent. It was a classic , it had been
the ruin of many an innocent man’s life – Jealousy. He had not thought of
this motive as it did not seem conceivable at first; after all who would be
jealous of a bankrupt actor of a third grade TV show. It seemed that the
replacement who had been roped in to fill in the role of Hanuman had
gained a lot. Interestingly, he had played the part of a substitute for the
original Hanuman before the actor’s death. According to the statements
given by the witnesses at the scene of the crime he was the last person
who had been seen with Ram before the shoot began, and a certain props
manager stated that he had seen the suspect carrying a tray of food into
Ram’s room. This gave the chief inspector enough reason to issue a
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