The Itch

THE ITCH

by

MURALI MURTHY

An Accident

A street vendor selling fruits on the side of Ring Road with cars and bikes zipping in high speeds, all of a sudden she hears a screeching noise followed by a loud bang. Her 1 year old baby starts crying loudly shocked to hear the sudden thumping noise, and the sleeping Dog next to the cart starts barking.

On the other side of the road, a Car has crashed into a two wheeler.
A lady driving the Car has hurt her head and Blood is dripping from her forehead, she comes out to see what happened and sees a two wheeler completely under her Car and a Man's body is also completely under the wheels. The lady sees only his hands soaked in Blood, trembling vigorously and coming to a stand still within few seconds.

With people running from all over, traffic piling up and crowd building, the lady panics leaves the Car behind and starts running away from the scene.

Police Jeep squad reaches the spot, makes a detailed enquiry, as the Street Vendor explains the accident scene to the Police.
Police get on the job, and based on the Vehicle Registration number and the nearby CCTV footage, they trace down the driver as a woman named Surabhi.

Surabhi is admitted to the hospital and is in a state of shock, though her injuries are minor.

As per the doctor's advice the Police kept a close watch on her for 2 days and visited the hospital again for enquiry.

Surabhi with bandage bound on her forehead and crying holding her mother's hand, starts to explain the Incident to the Police Inspector Khan "Am sorry...am sorry" and she starts sobbing..
"Please take your time, we understand, we will be around...you can let us know when you are ready to talk"
Surabhi after a couple minutes controls emotions and starts describing "I was driving my car at around 45 KMPH, I am very careful driver, I never overspeed or drive rash...it wasn't my mistake"
"That's ok, please go on and explain how the accident happen"
"I was driving on the Ring Road...I have a wound on the Right Hand behind the Palm" she points at the Wound and continues " and at that moment, it suddenly started to itch a lot, as I couldn't control it, I just rolled down my eyes to see that wound and started to scratch"
"As I got my eyes back on the road, a Man riding a 2 wheeler suddenly crossed in front of me without any signal. I tried my best to stop the car but eventually I ran over him and knocked him down"

She started crying loudly "I killed a Man... haven't I? Don't know how much his family will be put in trouble because of me"
Khan interrupts Surabhi "It was not a Man, it was a women driving the 2 wheeler"
Surabhi was surprised "What? No..am sure it was a Man. I know what I saw, though I couldn't see his face clearly but I am very sure it was a Man"

"We have taken your statement, we understand your situation, but once you are discharged from the hospital, please come to our Station and Surrender. You can always take legal help to fight your case"

Khan left the place and started gathering more information about both the Women who were involved in the accident.

Surabhi was 36 years old and her husband had died 3 years ago due to a Cardiac Arrest.
The deceased was identified as Anita, who was also around 35 years of age and due to family issues, she got divorce from her husband 1.5 years ago.

While Surabhi spent time in Jail, her Lawyers are fighting out in the Court to get as much lesser jail stay as possible.

The Specialist - Prakash

During an event within the Police Department, Khan met an old time friend and a colleague and started chatting. Both of them were surprised to share a very similar Accident case they handled in their Limits. When Khan described about Surabhi's case, his friend thought it's a replica of his case.
They both realized it cannot be just a coincidence that in both the cases, the women had wound on the right hand and their attention went to scratch the itchy feeling of their wound when the accident occurred, and both these women thought they saw a Man.

Khan suspected something fishy and a peculiar coincidence and shared his thoughts with the Commissioner. On Khan's insistence, the Commissioner assigned the case to a special investigating team, headed by Mr. Prakash Rao.

Prakash was known for solving complex cases, especially mysterious ones with lot of strange things associated with the cases. He was a gold medalist and a very intelligent officer. He had earned the name of a Investigation Specialist.

Prakash took over both the cases, he along with his assistant Mohan started to enquire Surabhi and the deceased Anita's family members.
"Mohan, let's review the cases tomorrow. Get all the recordings of statements"
"Yes sir"
"And don't forget to get postmortem reports of both the deceased"
"Yes sir"

Next day both Prakash and Mohan met at the former's office "Mohan, do we have everything to Start the investigation?"

"Yes sir, I have also studied the case and made some notes"

"Good, even I had a briefing from both the Inspectors. What was the age of both the deceased?"

"Sir, coincidentally all 4 women are in the age range of 35 to 38. Both the deceased and the women who were driving"

"Hmm...Khan was mentioning about some strange thing with a Wound in both the cases"

"Yes sir, both the Women driving their cars mentioned in their statement that a Wound on their right hand was itching badly and their attention was diverted off the road to scratch their wounds"

"Did you check with the Doctors on the cause of the wounds?"

"Yes, I did sir. They say its just a regular bacterial infection. And I found a very strange thing. Both the women who died in the accidents, also had a similar Wound."

"So basically all 4 women involved has this Wound on the Right hand behind the palm?"

"Yes sir"

"Are these women related or know each other?"

"No sir. All are from different profession, some of them are housewives, neither know each other directly or have any common friends"

"Hmm ok...about this Wound....did you check with the doctor if that Wound is kind of virus or contagious?"

"As I said before, it is just a bacterial infection where all four women got it just 2 days prior to the accident"

"As I see, the first accident happened 1 Month before the second one, and none of the women knew each other, and this mysterious coincidence of Wound and the feeling of Itch."

"Mohan, by tomorrow I want you to dig out all cases of unnatural deaths where two women are involved from past one year"

Next day Mohan reached Prakash's office with handful of files "Good Morning sir. As you instructed yesterday, I could find one closest matching case."

"Again these two women didn't know each other, the accused had visited an office for a job interview while the deceased was working in the same company as Tech Support executive. It was lunch time and both of them were on the cafeteria, as all other employees and visitors.
The accused had this itchy feeling and felt shooting pain of her wound on the hand, while she thought a Man touched her inappropriately from behind. She suddenly turned to slap the guy and found a girl standing close to the terrace railing speaking on the phone, and she slipped and fell from 15th floor"

"Freaky....."

Freaky turns Bizarre

After a day of thinking through the cases, Prakash calls Mohan to his office "Take out the reason of death from the equation, what are the common things with all 3 cases?"

"Sir, all 6 women on 3 different accidents had this Wound at the same spot, all in 35 to 38 age."

"Interesting....let me meet the family of all 6 women tomorrow, please arrange for my visit"

Prakash visited all 6 families and on the way back "Mohan, I noted one thing in common with all 6 women. All were married once, either their husbands have passed away or are divorced"

"There must be a link in all 3 cases"

"Indeed sir, no doubt. But what do you think is the common link sir?"

"And one more thing, all these women are looking to get married again. I think this is the common link. My guess is some Psycho is involved who knows about their personal lives and playing games"

"Could be sir, I didn't think of that angle"

"Mohan, you visit the families and friends of all 6 women, one by one again, and make a list of all Men involved in their lives."

"Sure sir, give me one week time"

Mohan gets back to Prakash the next day "Sir, one more uncanny coincidence. All three women who died in the accidents, had nominated a woman named Prajakta. All their life insurance, PF & Bank Accounts have Prajakta as Nominee"

"Good find Mohan, I will meet Prajakta to see how she is related to these cases. You go ahead with your work"

Prakash extracts Prajakta's contact details and meets her at her home. Prajakta is a house wife and is happily married from past 8 years. Aged around 35, Prajakta doesn't know any of those 3 women who named her Nominee.
Even she is perplexed and puzzled why such random people are making her Nominee for their Insurance, PF, Bank accounts and completely unaware why would any unknown people would want her to benefit.

Prakash explains all three cases to Prajakta and asks her to give the List of all Men she has met or involved till date.
Prajakta takes an hour to jot down all the Men she has interacted in her life, and lists the Men she met during Groom hunt days, 8 years ago and mentions she doesn't have any other man in life since she is married.

Prakash comes out of Prajakta's house and immediately calls Mohan "Mohan, when you talk to the 6 women's families and friends, check if they knew Prajakta and get the List of Men whom they met 8 to 10 years ago for matrimonial purpose".

"Why that specific information sir?"

"Prajakta is a house wife with no other men in her life. She is not aware of anyone stalking her or behind her since her marriage, so it has to be someone before her marriage"

Mysterious Link

Mohan met Prakash after 1 week, gathering all information and making notes.

"Sir, no one is aware of Prajakta. The deceased family members are angry and confused why their daughter's nominated someone whom they didn't even knew"

"Okay, I guessed so. What about the men in their lives?"

"Yes sir. I got a list of all Men these families met 8 to 10 years ago for matrimonial purpose and boys behind there women from their friends. The only common name that has come from all the Lists is Karthik"

"Then, that's our man, let's get him"

Prakash and Mohan visits Karthik's house and they are shocked to learn he is Dead. They get to know from Karthik's mother that Karthik commited suicide as he went to depression. When further questioned the old lady said "He got into depression, as he suffered within and was in emotional distress. He was disturbed and hurt and eventually committed suicide, after struggling for 3 months"

"What was bothering him?"

"It's been 9 years now...we were looking for a suitable bride for him. We meet 7 girls, but none of the alliances worked out. After meeting each girl, he used to sulk and be sad."

"Didn't he like any of the 7 girls?"

"He did, but all of them rejected him. Only one gave her nod"

"Do you know why they rejected your son?"

"He had this speech disorder, and used to stammer a lot while speaking."

"Can you identify which of these 7 girls agreed to marry your son?"

The mother went through each name carefully and stopped at the name Prajakta.
Prakash and Mohan looked at each other with their eyes wide open and Prakash further questioned "Then why didn't Karthik and Prajakta get married?"

"We found their Horoscope didn't match and both the families decided not to pursue".

After they came out of Karthik's house, Mohan with a bewildered look asks Prakash "Sir, are you thinking what I am right now? Or am I going crazy?"

"Mohan, there are lot of unexplainable things in this world, and I have seen such paranormal events in few cases, and this is one of them."

"So, is Karthik the root of the problem?"

"Yes, all 3 accidents occured after Karthik's death. In his after life, he has taken revenge on all 6 women, and looks like he had a soft corner for Prajakta and he has helped her"

"But only 3 women are killed, and other three are still alive"

"As all 6 of them were looking to get married again, he has killed 3 and ruined the lives of other 3 by involving them in the accidents. Probably he has ensured none of them who rejected him gets married again & suffer like he did"

"So, was it about revenge just because they rejected him?"

"Looks like he was weak emotionally"

"And what about the Wound and the itch?"

"That's worrying me as well. All 6 women had this Wound"

"So, is that it Sir? How do we close this case?"

"Yes, looks like Karthik has taken his revenge and we can close the cases and report as unintentional accidents."

Two days later, Mohan receives an Email from Prakash's email ID:

That's all your honour, I rest my case.

- Karthik

Mohan initially confused, later gets scared and calls Prakash "Sir, did you send me any mail now?"

"No, I didn't"

"But I have received a one line mail, signed by Karthik, from your ID"

"Get your laptop and come to my Office immediately. Before that, visit the IT Cell and get the IP Address from where the Mail was sent"

Mohan checks and confirms the Mail was indeed sent from Prakash's office PC.

He rushed to Prakash's office and excitingly starts talking "Sir, I checked with IT cell and the Mail has come from your computer here....Sir....Sir..."
Prakash sitting in this office chair turned towards the Computer, doesn't respond.
Mohan goes near the chair and tries to tap him, and finds Prakash in a pool of Blood, flowing from his head which has a bullet Wound and his Gun on the other hand.

Mohan slowly takes step back realizing Prakash has shot himself dead and he observed the same Wound on his right Hand.
Sweat starts to roll down Mohan's forehead, he is shivering and sits on the floor with his hand on his head.

9 Years ago

Karthik had finished his LLB and was a bright student of the Law. His interest was always in Criminal Law and started practicing under Anand Associates, very famous Law firm.
Karthik had idolized a star investigating officer - Prakash Rao. He had studied all the cases Prakash had handled and he was impressed with the way Prakash has solved the most complicated cases.
Karthik always wanted to work under Prakash on couple of cases to gain from his expertise.

Meanwhile, Karthik's mother started to look for a suitable girl for her son. She started arranging meeting with few girls every month. In a span of 6 months, they had seen 7 girls.

As Karthik had this speech disorder and used to Stammer, he had faced humiliations all through his life and always had complex of speaking in front of strangers.
As he started stammering while speaking to the girls he met, 3 of them rejected him because of his problem, while 3 more also rejected but had giggled and made fun.
Though there was some respite as the 7th girl didn't mind his stammering problem, it didn't work out as the Horoscopes didn't match.

This humiliation left Karthik hurt and decided to never see another girl. He was upset and this had done lot of damage to his self confidence.

He got a call from his Boss Anand and mentioned about a case where there is an opportunity to work in Prakash's team.

Elated with this opportunity, he reported to Prakash's team, though there were no direct interactions between them, but he was happy to closely observe Prakash's work.
One day, Prakash got information on whereabouts of a criminal who was on the run, and wanted in this case.
Prakash and his squad ran to the spot and during exchange of firing, Karthik accidentally came in line of fire from Prakash's Gun and was quickly taken to the hospital.

Next day, Prakash visited the hospital to see Karthik and asked him how he was. Karthik excited to see his Hero "I am ffffffine ssssir. Luckily, the bbububuullet just brushed past me and hhhhhit my right hand. It only left mmmme with a small wwwwwound on the paaaaalm"

Prakash burst out of laughter "You can't even speak properly, and you wanted to become a Criminal Lawer?..HaHa..take rest...Bye"

This made an irreparable damage to Karthik and crippled him. An already sulking Karthik could not take this humiliation.
The disgrace he faced from all 6 girls and from his Idol, deeply hurt Karthik and he went into depression and mentally disturbed.

He started to hurt himself physically. The Wound also aggregated and started to itch badly. Unable to bear the pain and itchy feeling, he started digging the Wound with a knife and eventually died of pain and Blood loss.