The Bankster (Ravi Subramanian) (17 page)

Purtsi was about to take his position at the head of the table, when his deputy Johann Schroeder walked up to him. Schroeder, the perennial prince in-waiting—the longest serving deputy in the history of the Vienna Police—was a lot more popular than the snobbish Purtsi, more so for his trademark handle bar moustache.

Schroeder whispered something into Purtsi’s ear. He then walked up to the podium and started speaking, ‘Friends, something urgent has come up which needs the President’s attention. I would request you to be patient. He will be back with you in fifteen minutes,’ and both Schroeder and Purtsi walked out of the room.

‘This better be good,’ threatened Purtsi the moment they were out of earshot of the prying media.

‘I wish it was, Gerhard,’ said Schroeder with a stern look on his face. ‘Unfortunately, it isn’t.’

‘What’s the problem?’

Schroeder narrated the entire sequence of incidents to Gerhard whose facial expressions first depicted curiosity, then shock and finally anger. ‘What the hell?’

‘Does the media know? Can we hold this back for some time?’

‘That wouldn’t be advisable sir. We will have to take it head-on.’

‘I think you are right. Let’s go. We will face it.’

‘And Gerhard, here is the press statement that we have hurriedly put together, just in case the media asks too many questions.’

‘Thanks,’ was all that Gerhard could say as he accepted the paper and walked back to the media briefing.

There was sudden commotion in the briefing hall as Gerhard, followed by Schroeder, strode in. Everyone rushed to take their seats and cameramen moved towards their cameras to record the proceedings. Finally when everything settled down, Gerhard began to speak.

‘Friends I am extremely glad to inform you that as of today we have resolved all the homicide cases which took place in our capital city over the last year. This brings the investigation success rate to hundred per cent. I do not remember a single year when all murders were resolved in the same year. It is almost as if we are in Colombo,’ he smiled, ‘I’m sure you would have watched that popular US criminal series. . .the one starring Peter Falk,’ and he smiled again. Gerhard went on for the next ten minutes, outlining everything that his unit had done to make Vienna a crime-free city. He even compared the crime rates in Vienna with the neighbouring Czech Republic, labouring to explain how the crime graph in Vienna was far superior to the neighbouring countries. Not only was the crime graph better, even the rate of resolution was far superior. The police in Vienna was far more effective in controlling crime than anywhere else in the region.

The media was in awe, but something was holding them back from going gaga over the Vienna police and Gerhard could sense that. After the speech, the floor was thrown open to the media for questions.

‘Mr Purtsi. Congratulations on a stellar year in office. You have continued the good work done by your predecessors and maintained a very low crime rate. Kudos to your team for that. I just have one question. I believe there has been a serious incident last night involving foreigners and tourists. Can you please tell us more about it?’

Gerhard turned left and looked at Schroeder, a visible act of nervousness. It was only for a fraction of a second, but the media caught on to it. They sensed that something was wrong.

‘Yes, I would like to confirm that there has been an incident last night involving two tourists. Even though all indications are it is a hit and run case, we haven’t ruled out homicide.’

There was an immediate chatter that ran through the room. Some of the reporters who hadn’t heard about what was being discussed wanted to know more. In no time, it had become loud enough for Schroeder to step in and ask the media to focus on the main agenda of the press briefing and put forth their questions to Gerhard.

‘Can you tell us more about this incident?’ someone screamed even before Schroeder could complete his statement.

‘Okay. We will give you all the details we have at this point in time.’ Schroeder took over the media briefing from the President as he had more information on the incident.

‘Last night, it is suspected, sometime between 02:45 hours and 03.15 hours, at a blind spot just off Ringstrasse two people were run over by a garbage disposal van. According to the driver of the van, who has been taken into custody, the two were lying in the middle of the road, possibly drunk, when the van turned into the alley. He was at a reasonable speed and it was almost impossible for him to stop in time and he ran over them. The road conditions were wet and slippery on account of overnight sleet. We are verifying the facts of the case and have some vital clues, which will help us resolve it soon. An autopsy is being performed. We will brief the media once we know the results.’

‘Where were the two tourists from?’

‘The tourists were from India. Nothing was recovered from their person and hence there was some delay in identifying them. We had to run a match against the immigration database, post which we were able to establish their identities. They have been identified as an Indian couple, visiting Vienna on a tourist visa—Mrs and Mr Lele. Harshita Lele and Siddhartha Lele. The Indian embassy has been informed and they are working with their counterparts in India to get in touch with the family of the deceased and inform them about this tragic occurrence. As always, the Vienna police is committed to solving this in the quickest possible time. We will keep the media informed as and when we have more information.’

‘Was the truck over speeding?’

‘Like all other utility vans in Vienna, this one too was fitted with a speed governor, which was found to be working fine, and hence the question of over speeding does not arise.’

‘What were the tourists doing at 2.30 a.m.? Everything including the bars and pubs are shut by then?’

‘Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for that. We are piecing together the story from the information we have. Once we have the complete picture, we will let you know.’

This one issue hijacked the rest of the media briefing. Death of tourists in a friendly city like Vienna was a serious issue for the media and the police was unable to allay all their concerns. It was probably just the awkward timing of the incident. The President of Police, Gerhard Purtsi, was caught in no-man’s land. The media wanted answers and it was a bit too close to the time of occurrence of the event. ‘Give me some time, I will be able to give you further details soon,’ was what he ended the media conference with. He was a bit pained though, that no one really bothered to see that the overall crime rate in Vienna had dropped.

17

Mumbai

30
^th
January 2012

That afternoon, Tanuja was in office going through a PowerPoint presentation to be urgently sent across to the GB2 regional headquarters in Singapore when she got a call. It was from a representative of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), informing her about the unfortunate death of Harshita and Siddhartha in Vienna. They called her because they didn’t know the contact details of either of their families.

‘We will send someone to personally convey this. In fact, I will go myself,’ Tanuja volunteered.

‘That will be good, madam. You have my telephone number. Please call me and let me know once you have spoken to them.’

‘Sure.’

The moment the MEA person disconnected, Tanuja called out to her secretary. ‘Melinda, get me Vikram!’ He too was shocked when he heard what Tanuja told him.

‘I think we must go personally. Let’s not leave it to the branch to handle,’ Vikram agreed. ‘Have you told her sister?’ he asked.

‘Sister?’

‘Yes, she works with us. In Raymond’s team.’

‘Oh. Didn’t know that.’ Tanuja was surprised. ‘Let me try to get in touch with her.’

Within five minutes, Tanuja called back, ‘She’s just got onto a flight from Calcutta. Won’t be here for the next three hours. Even Raymond is not traceable. We might have to go. You coming?’ and after a couple of seconds added, ‘we don’t even know where her parents stay.’

‘That’s okay, I’ll come. Have already told Nikhil to find out. Apparently they stay somewhere in Juhu. Nikhil said he will come with us. Let’s pick him up on the way.’

‘Sounds good. If more people go, it’ll be easier to manage.’

‘Done. Ten minutes, at the main entrance. Not in the basement. See you there.’

‘Great.’ Tanuja’s hand was shaking as she kept the phone down. Picking up her bag, she gave instructions to her secretary and walked out of her cabin. The secretary immediately picked up the phone to call her driver to ask him to bring the car up to the main entrance of the building.

The head of security smiled at Tanuja as she reached the entrance. Being closer to her office, Tanuja had reached there ahead of Vikram. The security guards were busy checking the bags of customers waiting to enter the branch. Tanuja had blanked out. She was pointlessly looking at the metal detector, when a tap on her shoulder broke her reverie.

‘Hey Tanuja.’

‘Hey. What brings you here?’

‘Nothing. Just came in to meet Raymond.’

‘Raymond?’ Tanuja was surprised.

‘Yes Tanuja. Had some work.’

What work could he have with Raymond?
Tanuja wondered. However, she recovered quickly. ‘How are you doing? Long time.’

‘Been good. The media keeps you busy, much busier than banks, I guess.’

‘Haha. . . By the way, did your favourite, McCain, call you up before he left from India?’

‘No. He was not particularly fond of me. And you know that.’

‘Yeah. . .but towards the end of his tenure, he became a big fan of yours,’ Tanuja smiled.

‘Never told me that. Chal. I’m getting late for the meeting, I’ll run. Keep in touch.’

‘See you. And if you see Raymond, tell him to call me. Have been trying to get in touch with him.’

‘Cool. Take care.’ Hardly had he disappeared into the waiting elevator that Vikram arrived on the scene. ‘Has the car come?’

‘Not yet, Vikram. Sad na, this Harshita thing?’

‘Hmm.’

‘Aah. . .there.’ Tanuja pointed to her black Honda Accord as the driver brought it round to pick them up.

In the car, Tanuja looked at Vikram. ‘I should tell Indrani na?’

‘I think you should.’

‘Okay, great.’ And she dialled the CEO’s number. In no time she was rattling off all the details to Indrani, who rightfully expressed her deepest anguish but politely declined the offer to meet the parents that day. She was to attend a conclave addressed by the finance minister.

‘Bitch she is.’

‘Why, what happened?’

‘Madam has to go to a party where the finance minister is speaking and hence she can’t meet Harshita’s parents. She says if she visits Juhu today, she will be late for the conclave and the after-party.’

‘Arre, she is the CEO. She can’t be coming to meet parents of all employees who die?’

‘If I die, Vikram, I expect her to visit my parents and offer condolences.’

‘Mad woman, she will come for your funeral. Harshita is too junior for her to even be moved by it.’

‘What’s seniority got to do with it? Isn’t Harshita human, too? Isn’t she an employee of this bank?’

‘Let it be, yaar. Why should we spoil our mood over it?’

‘Hmm. . .yeh bhi sahi hai. Let it be. Forget it. Achcha, guess who I met today?’

Vikram shook his head. ‘Who?’

‘Karan Panjabi.’

‘Really?’ There was a tinge of surprise in his voice and almost as an afterthought, he said, ‘Where?’

‘I met him in the bank lobby. You just missed him. He left a couple of seconds before you came in.’

‘Why was he in the bank?’

‘I asked him. He said he had come in to meet Raymond.’

‘Strange. Why would he meet Raymond? What’s cooking?’

‘I don’t know. I asked him, though. He didn’t say.’

‘Hmm. . .They were good friends even when Karan was with the bank. In fact, Karan was the only boss Raymond got along with.’

‘Hmm.’ And Tanuja started looking out of the window, staring blankly at the buildings go by.

‘Achcha, listen. Now that Harshita is history. . .’

‘That’s rude, Vikram.’

‘Haha. Anyway, now that we are faced with this unprecedented and tragic situation, we need to put our sorrow behind us and look at what we need to do at the Bandra Branch, to take care of her accounts.’

‘Vikram, don’t be so cold. Your senior RM has just died. Can we discuss the succession plan later? And in any case, I don’t need to be party to that discussion; it’s in your remit.’

‘I know, baby. But the entire world knows that you run Retail Banking and not me.’ He winked at her and lifted her left hand, which was intertwined with his right, and brought it up to his lips and kissed it.

‘Vikram, not here. Are you mad,’ she whispered. She was worried the driver would see. Drivers are known to gossip about everything said or discussed in the car. In fact, when Vikram called her ‘baby’ earlier, she wanted to stop him, but her mind was far too slow to react.

‘Haha,’ Vikram laughed.

Both were silent for a while as the car drove on to the sea link and entered the reclamation area of Bandra.

‘Achcha, tell me. What do you think of Zinaida?’ This time it was Tanuja.

‘About what?’

‘About her big and shapely mouth. About her ability to give you a great blow job. About her sexy figure. Her ability to be an awesome fuck,’ she said tartly. ‘Obviously I am asking you about her work. What else will I ask you about?’

‘Haha. . .anything!’ And he lifted his eyebrows, moving his head to indicate the driver was listening in and so she should watch her language.

Tanuja just looked the other way.

‘Do you think she will be able to do Harshita’s role? Will she be able to manage? Should we give it to her?’

‘Ask Nikhil. Ask Anand. How would I know? All I know is that she is hot.’ Vikram was a bit peeved at Tanuja’s sarcasm.

Tanuja made a face.

‘Kidding ya. She is good, but she has been in the system for less than a year.’