The murder was new. The fear behind it was six years old.
Sequence I
A Warning
The police were still working near the playground when the Sarpanch came to Sanjay. His face was pale, and his voice was low.
“Inspector, this has happened before.”
Six years earlier, in 2020, several girls had been murdered in almost the same way. Every girl was between ten and fifteen years old. The police had searched for the killer, but the case was never solved.
Sanjay looked back at the empty playground. The murder no longer felt like a single crime. It felt like something that had returned.
He left for the police station at once.
This was not the village’s first murdered girl.
Sequence II
The Dusty File
As soon as Sanjay entered the station, he called Constable Raghuvir Tiwari.
“Raghuvir, 2020 wala murder case nikaalo. Inspector Prabhu Sharma wala.”
Raghuvir went into the record room. For several minutes, Sanjay heard files being moved and metal cupboards opening and closing.
At last, Raghuvir returned with a thick file covered in dust. He placed it on the desk.
FIR No. 0184/2020. The first case had been registered on 12 May 2020. The investigating officer was Inspector Prabhu Sharma.
Sanjay opened the file and began to read.
Sequence III
Four Dates
The first girl was killed on 13 May 2020.
The second was killed on 14 June. The third on 15 July. The fourth on 16 August.
All four victims were girls between ten and fifteen years old. Each murder had been carried out in the same terrible way.
Inspector Prabhu Sharma had followed every lead. He had questioned families, searched the village, and checked the nearby areas. But he had never found the killer.
Sanjay placed the old file beside the new one. Six years apart, the crimes looked almost the same.
Four girls. Four months. One unknown killer.
August 2020
Sequence IV
Inspector Prabhu Sharma
Then Sanjay reached the final case in the file.
On 12 August 2020, Prabhu Sharma’s twelve-year-old daughter, Riya, went missing.
Prabhu was no longer only the officer investigating the murders. He was now a father searching for his own child.
For four days, he searched without rest.
On 16 August, Riya’s body was found. She had become the fourth victim.
The case that Prabhu had tried so hard to solve had entered his own home.
The fourth victim was the investigator’s daughter.
Sequence V
The Silence After
Prabhu was broken by his daughter’s death. He could not return to the man he had been before.
A few weeks later, Prabhu and his wife were found hanging inside their government police quarter.
After their deaths, the investigation fell apart. The files were closed and pushed into the record room. The village slowly stopped speaking about the murdered girls.
The killings also stopped.
For six years, there were no similar murders and no new clues.
Until now.
After six years, the old case was alive again.