When the cigarette almost burnt his fingers, Ashok dropped it. He looked up and said “Lets see what you do today. I will drop you there” he told Raju, one of the other two who were also smoking. They dropped theirs and got ready to follow him. Ashok was tall and muscular which was visible in the seams of his shirt. As he went ahead the other two followed him. He looked calm.
As they moved out of the narrow mud road in the outskirts into the main road leading to the town, they got into the van parked on the roadside. After ten minutes Ashok crossed the bank. It was shuttered from outside and locked. He took a right into the street next to the bank and then another right turn and went past the Bank manager’s house and parked a little further. “Let me see if you have the guts. We have to leave for a trip. Come out and tell me if you saw him” Raju got down and went inside the Manager’s house.
“Hi Shilpa” he said to the Manager’s daughter when she opened the door. She smiled at him and he entered. Ashok saw this in the rear view. “We should not have got him involved” Ravi told Ashok. Ashok did not answer. He was intently looking into the rear view. He saw Raju come out of the house and raise his thumb. He immediately got out of the Van with Ravi following him. They walked in the empty plot of land next to the Manager’s house and came to the back side. They could see the Gate on the wall that separated the Bank and the Manager’s house. It was an iron gate and it was not locked. They pushed it gently and sneaked in. They were inside the compound of the Bank. They could see the back side of the Manager’s house on the other end. The bank was housed in a house and its back door was just latched. They moved in. “Pull on your mask” Ashok told Ravi and both now walked in directly to the Cashier’s room with the mask on. The fan and light in the Manager’s cabin was on apart from few others in that hall with darkness hiding in between patches of light. The cash box was solid iron and heavy. Ashok and Ravi lifted it with some effort and started to walk back. They were in the van with the box within the next five minutes.
The manager had his cinnamon tea which his daughter is good at. He slips out of the bank into his house once in a while. It was very convenient. He enjoyed every sip. He checked the cricket score on the TV in between and turned around to Raju and asked “So you are the one my daughter has been talking about?” for which Raju said “Yes uncle, I just came to share some notes I took in the class”. The Manager smiled “Hope you pass on some of your wisdom. I have to go now. Will see you at six” and left. He came into the bank and went to his cabin and put his head down to sign in the papers stacked on his table.
Ravi was driving the Van. It was almost two hours since they got the box. Ashok sat in the back of the Van trying to open the box. He had his master keys and tried with various combinations of it. The lock gave in after few attempts. “Hurray” he said. The box was full with cash, may run into a million. “Let’s celebrate” he said. “Let’s celebrate with a whiskey” Ravi shouted. Ashok said “No”. He sounded firm. “Not until we reach the motel”. He had planned to check in to a motel on the highway which was still an hour away. “Let’s celebrate it there” he said. Ravi stepped on the gas. “Meanwhile I have some work to do” Ashok got all the notes and lifted the floor mat of the Van. He then brought out black plastic bags which matched the colour of the mat and stuffed the bundles in small groups. He lifted the floor mat and slid the floor a bit. It opened to reveal a compartment specially made for it. He pushed the plastic bags into the compartment and closed the lid and moved the mat over them. Everything appeared normal. The Sun was going down fast. There was no sign of life anywhere except for some far away village lights and sound reaching them. He asked Ravi to stop the Van. They got down to loo. The wind was quite heavy. “Give me a hand” he said and both got the box and ran a little into the land nearby and threw the box as far as they could.
The manager saw the clock. It was seven and dark. He walked to the cashier’s cabin to get something and saw the box was missing. He called the cashier immediately. “Yes, Sir” the cashier came on line. There was lot of music and shouting in the background. “Madhu, the cash box is missing” the manager shouted. “Sir..What…What is missing ?” , “the Cash box”..Now Madhu must have gone away from the music. “Sir..when I left it was there in the usual place…”. “Come over immediately…”. When Madhu came, and they were convinced of the theft, it was late. Shilpa called her Dad. “Ya. I am coming…give me sometime. There is a little problem”. Raju had left a while ago. In the bank, the manager was now shaking. His words were not coherent. “Police…lets call them”. It was 10’o’clock by the time inspector Raghav stepped in.
The whole of next day went pretty much in Raghav briefing the reporters and getting his dog and police to gather information. The cashier told that the box had around three million. He said he counted, placed everything and sealed it. He had got one other staff to verify and sign it. Raghav asked the Manager “What happened to all the staff ?”, “All of them went to attend a colleagues wedding. I stayed back to get things done”. “Where you there all the time ?”, “No…briefly around 4’o’clock I stepped into my house for a cup of tea.”. The constable walked in and whispered something. Raghav went and saw two masked fellows walking into the bank from the back door in the CCTV footage. He could not make out their faces, the video was hazy, but likely they were young from their frame. The time said 4:15 and it must be around the same time when the manager had stepped out. So, they must have entered from the parallel road behind the bank. Raghav went ahead and questioned Shilpa. “Did you see your father?”, “Yes”, “what time he came in to the house?”, “…May be around 4” , “…How long was he there..?”, “..May be half hour..”, “What were you doing ?..”, “was talking to Raju..”, “Raju ??”, “Yes, he is my classmate..”. When Raghav started questioning Raju it was 11’o’clock.
Raju was shaky. He said he came to exchange some notes with Shilpa and they studied in the same class. “Did you see anyone around when you came in ?”. “No”. “You came in at around 4?” , “”Yes”, “Did you meet the manager in his house ?” , “Yes”, “Did you see anyone walking around in the road at that time?” , “No”. Raghav felt there is something about this guy. But he wanted to allow some time. “OK you go now. Will call you if needed”. Raju went.
Ashok and Ravi had checked out of the Motel early in the morning and were on the road pretty much all day. They wanted to cross the border somewhere and get into the neighbouring state. The TV was flashing breaking news everywhere they stopped about the theft. In one of the toll, they found uniformed policemen stopping and checking the vehicles. “Just behave normally” Ashok said Ravi. “Where you guys are going?” , the Police peeped into their Van. “We are heading to get the goods”, “Do you have the copy of invoice?” Ashok showed a invoice which had the description of goods and the town they were supposed to pick up. The police asked them to step out. He lifted the mats and found nothing. Still not clear of suspicion in his eyes, he noted down their names,phone numbers and the number and color of the Van and let them off. “Guess we still have 200 kms to reach the nearest border?”
“Now the police have started the manhunt” Ravi had fear in his voice. Ashok was at the wheel as they almost reached the border. “Yeah..what do you think the police should do?” Ashok was a bit casual. “Tell me, What you want to do with all the money?” Ravi persisted,”We will think about it. For now, we need to wait and watch” Ashok was thinking about the border check post. “Just stay calm. Nothing will happen” he told Ravi who was already looking pale. “I will answer”. The police asked the same set of questions as before and looked inside and around the Van, looked at the papers and he was let go.
Raju felt there is something wrong with Ashok and Ravi. They were making fun of him and Shilpa. It is true that of late he had developed a sort of soft corner for her. He was a bit scared of Shilpa’s father. He always timed it to her house during Bank hours when her father would be busy. This time strangely Ashok challenged him to meet Shilpa when his father was at home. Ashok asked him to go to her house on a Saturday late noon when they told her father would be there. If he is around, Ashok asked him to come out and show his hand as a sign of victory. All of these appeared a bit strange. He had known them for a long time. They played cricket together. That’s how he got to know of them. But given the timing of the theft and the police asking him if he saw anyone at that time, he felt he should have told the police. When he approached Raghav and told about Ashok and Ravi, Raghav immediately aired it and got to know they have left the border. He summoned the owner of the delivery company. The owner vouched for their track record and told that they are on their way to the neighbouring state to pickup some goods. “I want to talk to them”. Ashok took the phone when Raghav called. “I want to talk to you”. “Sure sir. We will be here today to get the goods and we are returning” Ashok replied in his usual calm self.
“We are done with” Ravi said. “All these years of hard work is going to be washed away in Jail”. Ashok was looking at him. “Why do you need all these money ?” Ravi asked. “Why not ? What’s wrong with having money?” Ashok asked. “What do we do now ? ”, Ravi was clueless and scared. “Lets go back and let them know” …..“If you stay calm and forget what we did…and simply look from that point of view, we will be lucky to get those 3 million”. “But how do I stay calm?”… “Just forget what happened. Erase it. Think that there is nothing you have done other than driving the Van to get the goods. The money is safe in the Van. No one is going to go near it. We just have to wait for everything to pass away”. Ravi was not convinced that he could easily pass the questioning. He nodded his head for Ashok as he always does.
On the way back they stayed in a motel. It was late night. Ravi was drunk. He started shouting and talking about the police treatment. For the first time, Ashok felt it is going to fall out. He started to think of the possibilities from there. As he switched on the TV, All News channels were beaming the Prime Minister. “We want to get rid of black money and counterfeit notes in this country. This is one of our ways to hit the terror network. That is our poll promise and we want to go by our word. This Cabinet has decided to invalidate all the high value currencies with immediate effect. Starting tomorrow for a window of 3 months you can exchange the high denomination currency with the bank. You do not need to panic. Your money is safe and Government will replace it with new currency”.
It took a while for Ashok to get what would happen. He shook Ravi to his senses. “The currency in our van is just paper”. Ravi cried suddenly “I thought we can live a happy life..Everything is spoilt. Everything…”. The winter night was unusually cold. We can get some warmth for the night burning the notes, Ashok thought and laughed out loud. There was both relief as well as disappointment in that laughter.
Far away, Raghav called the Manager and said “You can sleep in peace. There is nothing to chase now. The money chased itself out and shut the case.”.
