Crime fiction: Inspector Kumar knows it is not an accident when a young woman falls to her death

An empty, airless room on the ground floor of Hauz Khas police station was used by both Crime Branch and Special Cell for interrogations. The local police steered clear. On a narrow bed of rough wood, the man called Mona had been stripped down to his underwear and laid out prone in the position the policemen called the “helicopter”. Hari Singh held the suspect’s ankles, knees bent at ninety degrees. Das had his hands pressed down on the suspect’s back, and Zeeshan held the wrists so that the man’s arms were fully extended.

Sushil started, “Tell us where Rajesh is, tell us, tell us now, we’ll break every bone in your body, you motherfucker, we’ll set your cock on fire, we’ll break your teeth, make you swallow them. Tell us where Rajesh is …”

He punctuated his questions with slaps on the face, hooking his fingers under the collarbone and pressing deep. Parveen was standing next to Hari Singh, holding a short, fat stick with which he beat the soles of Mona’s feet in a fast, hard rhythm.

Mona was bawling freely, screaming over and over, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

Sushil was relentless. “Tell us, tell us, tell us where he is, tell us,...

Read more