Read Online The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan - Free Book Online

guards, demanding money to go away. Itinerant peddlers of everything from twice-fried samosas to straw hats that would dissolve at the first hint of rain moved amongst the crowd. A nukkud natak – street theatre – performance was attracting a great deal of attention as the costumed actors caricatured the all-round incompetence of the Force One Unit.
    Chopra gave a rueful smile. Another thing one could always expect of his fellow Mumbaikers was that they would excel themselves in making a comedy out of a tragedy.
    â€˜Come on, boy,’ he muttered.
    At the entrance to the museum’s formal gardens they were confronted by a phalanx of Force One guards. Chopra took out his identity card. The senior-most guard stared at the card as if it were written in ancient Sanskrit. Clearly, this fell beyond his jurisdiction.
    â€˜Look,’ growled Chopra, ‘I am a special advisor authorised by the Chief Minister himself. He was here this morning, wasn’t he?’
    The man’s dark face took on a look of panic. Chopra guessed that the CM had not had many good things to say to the Force One contingent. ‘Do you want him to come back?’
    The man looked around wildly as if the CM might appear in a ball of flames behind him at that very instant. He ushered Chopra through and did not even seem to register the fact that the former policeman was accompanied by a baby elephant.
    In the museum’s Central Gallery Chopra was confronted by the surreal sight of two white men in plastic crime-scene suits chatting and sipping cups of steaming tea. As Ganesha came in, they stopped talking and stared at him.
    â€˜I say, do you know there is an elephant behind you?’
    Chopra nodded. ‘He is with me.’
    â€˜You have a pet
elephant
?’ The man seemed incredulous.
    â€˜He is not a pet.’
    He left Ganesha there, examining the waxworks of the royal family, and walked up two flights of steps to the Tata Gallery.
    When he had first gone to see Garewal Chopra hadn’t been sure that he could help, or for that matter whether he even wished to. But the encounter with Rao had left him resolved to prove Garewal’s innocence or, at the very least, to establish for himself that Garewal was guilty as charged.
    ACP Suresh Rao always seemed to bring out the worst in him, he reflected.
    He had decided that the first thing to do was return to the scene of the crime. He had often found, during his long career, that taking a second look at the scene the day after the crime was one of the wisest things any investigator could do.
    The Tata Gallery was bustling with activity.
    A half-dozen or so white-suited forensic technicians were crowded into the gallery going over the scene using a variety of arcane instruments, many that he did not recognise.
    Forensic science was still an emerging discipline in India. Chopra, who had made a habit of perusing forensic textbooks and international criminology journals during his police years, had often lamented the fact that much of what he read would remain a distant dream as far as the Brihanmumbai Police was concerned.
    The first thing he noted was that the remaining Crown Jewels had vanished. He had expected no less.
    The theft of the Koh-i-Noor had put paid to the magnificent exhibition. He had no doubt that even now the priceless collection would be under heavy military guard awaiting transport back to its home in the Tower of London. The news channels were beside themselves, but the Indian government remained resolutely tight-lipped as to the current location of the hoard.
    Chopra’s eyes scanned the room.
    A smattering of glass particles from the shattered display case sparkled on the carpet as they caught the light from a ring of arc lamps. His wandering gaze alighted on the gaping hole in the gallery’s rear door. He recalled now that the door had been sealed for the duration of the exhibition. At the time it had seemed like a sensible precaution.