Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Bhavin Patel
bhavvy@hotmail.com
There it was again, another strange door for him to walk through and figure
out the nightmare that awaited him. It was a dirty white door, in a filthy
corridor in a brown block of flats. The protective whites will keep him clean,
the thought crosses Paresh’s mind. He walked through confidently into the
living room, trying to look like it was just another day at the office for him.
The other officers would be looking at him to see if anything could be used
against him. Finding the weakness in people was a social sport for the Police.
They knew it can be used as a weapon, especially for someone who had
cocked up so dramatically the last time. The paranoia started to creep in.
The attending officer at the scene looked worried. Paresh was trying not to
think the officer looked like a schoolboy in uniform. Hopefully the attending
didn’t cock up this time. The probationers don’t even get a second chance
these days.
“Have SOCO finished preliminary yet?” Paresh asks the attending officer.
“I think so” the officer stutters.
“That’s good enough for me” Paresh barges over to the victim in the
bedroom.
“The baby is with Social Services Sir” the officer calls after Paresh.
Instinct and training took over when surveying the scene. This was no
quick, premeditated kill. Her throat was slit from someone standing behind
“Nobody heard or saw anything,” the officer said looking at his notes for no
reason. “The last person to see her alive was a friend babysitting for her, three
stories up,” the officer points upwards with his thumb, “says she saw her leave
“How long has she been in the country? They traffic these girls in!” snarls
Paresh.
“I don’t know sir; I’ll ring the Home Office as soon as I can leave”
Paresh bends down to inspect the body more closely. She was wearing a dress
which seemed unusual to him. When was the last time a prostitute wore a nice
dress around here. Maybe the punter liked them to dress up. She wasn’t
wearing any shoes. It looked like a toe had been hacked off.
“We haven’t found the toe yet” replies one of the SOCO boys hovering over a
The SOCO team begin to cover her head, hands and feet with white plastic
bags to stop any trace from falling off the body. She had no dignity left even
after she had been murdered Paresh thought. The hatred started to build up
inside him.
“I don’t think the boys back at the station realised this wasn’t a domestic,
otherwise they would have been all over it, Trainee DC Shana Mistry” she
“I was wondering if you had gotten lost” remarks Paresh. “And how do you
“You can tell there was no struggle, she was taken by surprise, no murder
would like to think that they assigned this dusky woman to cheer up a middle
aged, beer belly like him. But he knew it wasn’t the case. Nobody wanted to
train her on their watch, she was a so called ‘known trouble maker’. Shana
had already filed an internal complaint for racism against her superior officer,
and won. Paresh had given up fighting for his rights many years ago.
“Let’s go back to the station and set up the murder room” Paresh tells Shana.
“I’ve already borrowed a room and moved some stuff in, that’s why I was late
Sir”
“Well, don’t get too cocky, you’ve got to manage all the boys in blue now,
they won’t be too happy to take any crap from you,” Paresh tells her. “Lets get
***
It took them until the afternoon to organise the murder room and bring in the
manpower. The forensics preliminary report had come in by then. The victim
was 21 years old; she had only been in the country for sixteen months. She
had her baby 3 months after she arrived. She was found at around 3.a.m, and
died around 1 a.m. Nadifa had her throat slit. The small right toe had been
removed by knife. No transfer under the fingernails. There was plenty of DNA
material on the carpet and bed – too much for it not to be used as coincidental
long slow process of eliminating these would have to begin. All those lives
disrupted by this one act, how will the wives take the infidelity of their
“Is this all they could muster?” Paresh asks Shana. There were about 13
from Derby. Bad timing for a black prostitute to get killed, I suppose” she
replies. Shana walks away and sits with the rest of the officers.
Paresh goes over the collected information so far to the officers in front of
him; the early witness statements, the method of murder and the lack of forced
entry - it was obvious it was she knew her attacker, probably a punter.
“Right we know it’s not her flat mate, she was down the pub trying to pick up
punters. The bar owner has confirmed this. She was too small to have done
this anyway. We have to wait until tomorrow for the fingerprint list, but
there’s plenty to be going on with today. I want you guys to pair up and visit
all the overlooking, flats. Don’t miss any line of sight to the entrance; there
are a lot of people with binoculars who are ‘bird watching’ in those flats.”
his mates.
“You don’t look so attractive either Johnno” Paresh trying to keep his anger
in check. “There is no CCTV we can find at the moment of where she went at
midnight”, he gets more serious. “We need to know what she did in that hour
before she came back to the flat and who she came back with. Now fuck off
The officers start to file out. They looked happy enough – they’ll get plenty of
“Siloso, her flat mate told me that she has a regular on a Monday night. Let’s
go talk to him”.
***
Chandra Bose owned businesses all around the East Midlands area, including
five restaurants. His P.A. told Shana that Chandra was in the ‘Delhi Blues’
restaurant. It was nearly late afternoon by now and they found him half way
through a meal. He was fat and sweaty, how the rich over indulge - could this
guy have killed her, Paresh thought? Maybe, he had been wrong over first
impressions before. Before Paresh even sits down the fat man speaks up.
“I’m very good friends with your Chief Super you know?”
“I saw you flashing your badge at my man, and I read about my murdered
“I don’t admit anything of the sort you stupid ‘Muinda’, I was with my wife
“Do you want me to take you into custody right now or talk to your wife
first?”
“Try it and I’ll have your badge. Now fuck off until you have something to
talk to me about. You can leave your nice detective behind if you want,”
into your mouth sideways. Enjoy the rest of your meal Sir.”
Outside the restaurant Paresh is still seething. He wants this guy to be the
murderer. Chandra must be about the same age as him and he has obviously
come from East Africa with the other ‘Muinda’s. This Swahili word was an
affectionate name for the Indians that ran their countries on behalf of the
British. He could barley remember it there, but his father loved talking about
“That fat bastard!” Shana can’t keep calm either. “What would he want with a
cheap shag like Nadifa? I’m sure he can afford more a more discreet service”.
“He must have a penchant for African prostitutes. There’s not a lot we can do
until we get some forensics in. I think you should go home and get some rest
Shana turns on her heels and starts walking away looking upset. Paresh can
see the Chandra on the phone, obviously ringing his boss. It won’t be long
before a bollocking from his boss. Thinking about the past reminds Paresh
that he needs to visit his father at the housing association. He hasn’t been for
several weeks and his father keeps begging him to come and visit.
***
His father was sitting in the communal area at the ASRA housing association.
The room seems very homely to him. There is a TV on in the corner of the
room showing some old Bollywood musical. There are groups of men and
women dotted around the place. His father is sat with a group of men. They
start to wonder off as Paresh comes and joins his dad, sitting down in a soft
sturdy chair.
“At last you come and visit your father. They must be quiet at the station, or
“Don’t start dad, you always say the most clichéd things to me. How are
you?”
“I’m very well, I think I am beginning to like it here,” he says with a big
smile “lots of people to talk to all day. Better than being at home on my own
waiting for you to come home. I think your mother would’ve have liked it
here as well. They can’t cook, but they let us help out in the kitchens if we
Paresh and his father have always got on well together. They continue to talk
about the daily trivialities of his father life for a while. Paresh decides to tell
him about his new trainee after his father has finished detailing the minutiae
of his life.
“I’m working with this new trainee – a girl; they call her a trouble maker. I
don’t think she’s too bad at all – in fact I think she is very sharp. She’ll go a
long way.”
“Dad, I’m forty-five and she’s half my age – what do you think?”
“Never mind, I’m sure you will get married one day”
Paresh hadn’t led a homicide case for over two years, not since the death of
his last murder suspect. The murderer jumped from the 10th floor of his block
of flats, but there were lots of people who thought that he was thrown out of
the window. The murder suspect was a racist thug, who had beaten up a girl of
16 for wearing a Hijab. The girl died in hospital while Paresh was trying to
question her.
“So you’re the lead DCI on this case? Thank god you have got back into it.
You shouldn’t let those murdering swine out there get the better of you. I dealt
with dozens of murders back in Uganda – much nastier than you see over
here”
“Come off it dad, you’re not going to bore me with your old stories of when
you were a policeman in Uganda. Kampala’s criminals must have run riot
“It might have said police on our badges, but they used to call us Askari, after
the soldiers that used to fight with the British” his father proudly announces.
His father leans over intently “So tell me about your case”.
“I can’t tell you too much, only what’s been in the papers this morning. The
actually. She was from Somalia, a 21 year old. Her throat was cut. The funny
thing was she had a toe missing, the murderer took it with him. That’s why we
know it’s not just an old boyfriend. We’re just waiting for forensics before we
“Now don’t tell me off, but I remember just a few months before we were
chucked out by Idi Amin in ‘72, there were a series of murdered prostitutes
with parts of their body parts missing. I’m sure the one of the victim’s had her
“Are you suggesting it’s the same M.O. and the same murderer? The guy
must be an older than you! I think your memory is playing tricks on you.”
“Typical, just because we get old, you young people think we have all gone
senile”
“I’ve gotta get going now dad, I’ve got an early start tomorrow” Paresh starts
“Don’t forget to call me, I have my mobile phone with me all day and no-one
rings me on it!”
The following day, more forensics reports had come and the door to door
questioning results were all in. There were hundreds of leads to follow now.
Paresh wasn’t convinced by any of the names on the suspect list. They just
looked like regular punters to him, but they would all have to be investigated.
Luckily they had found Chandra’s fingerprints inside the flat. Paresh couldn’t
wait to pay him a visit again. After he had given his morning briefing to the
rest of the investigation team, he went to visit Chandra and his wife at their
home. Shana did most of the questioning this time. She wasn’t very subtle
asking the wife about her husband’s infidelities. Mrs Bose didn’t seem to be
too bothered about her husband’s affairs. Chandra even had an alibi for the
“Never mind, we need to concentrate on the actual killer,” Paresh replies, also
looking very disappointed, “Looks like a lot of dead ends at the moment”.
***
A week later, Paresh is looking at another door and thinking he just wants to
run away this time. Another murdered prostitute - this time it was his fault
because he was the one responsible for catching the murderer. He went in and
inspected the murder scene. Shana had already beaten him to it.
“Exactly the same M.O. again Sir. Definitely our guy again.”
“What was her name?” Paresh asks. He wanted to make sure he knew the
“Adele Thomas, Sir, 22, local girl, Jamaican origin. Her mother found her
“Left little finger, Sir” Shana was trying to sound officious to hide her anger.
“Yes sir”
“Any witnesses?”
“None. It was very late at night sir. Initial guess, it happened around 3 a.m.”
Paresh had had enough and left for the station. There were dozens of police
now waiting for him at the station. His boss, Chief Superintendent Maxwell
“Don’t fuck this up Paresh. I know you were going down a blind alley with
Mr Bose last week. I don’t want any more sidetracking of the investigation
like that again. You need to catch this killer quickly. It’s the reputation of the
“If I find that bastard’s fingerprints at the scene again – I will not only
sidetrack towards him, I’ll jump down his throat so hard, he’ll be shitting me
“This is your last chance, I’m going to bring some of the other DCI’s in on
this if you don’ make any progress soon. Stop chasing dead ends!” he walks
away.
Paresh and Shana both recap the current investigation to the new members of
the team. There was a lot of information but no solid leads. Without witnesses
and without any forensics they were going nowhere. They were hoping that
the latest victim would yield some clues. There would be another excruciating
“I don’t think this is the time for a family get together sir. Everyone’s
“Sir?”
“My father reckons there were similar murders in Uganda in ’72 when he was
a copper there.”
“You’re joking!”
“He was ill yesterday, so I rang him this morning, on the way to the murder
scene and he told me that I would find that a left sided finger or ear would be
As soon as they arrive at ASRA, his father starts with the clichéd greetings
again.
“So you remembered where I live, Oh and who is this lovely friend of yours?”
“So what can you tell me about the murders in Kampala Dad?”
“Only what I said last time, but you ignored me for an old fool.”
Jayanti suddenly becomes very serious. “We thought there may have been
dozens of murders, but we only started investigating them early in ‘72. There
were 3 murders within four weeks. Each one had a severed piece of the body
“Well at the time everything was going mad, including Idi Amin. But we did
have the protection of the army during the investigation. We didn’t have
access to everyone. At the time we suspected the Bose brothers but they were
“Bose?”
“They used to go to see those women all the time. The women told us they
would get beaten and raped all the time by those boys. They were so scared of
“There were stories that these guys would bring their kids with them to
watch”
Paresh knew what he had to do next. Bring Chandra into the station for
questioning. This is going to be tough to get past the C.O. but his instincts told
***
They pick up Chandra on their way back to the station. Once Paresh had told
his C.O. what he was about to do, Chandra became very cooperative. He also
had a top notch solicitor waiting for him at the police station, thanks to my
“You do realise this is just questioning to help with our investigation” Paresh
informs Chandra when they finally sit down in the room. “You’re not actually
under arrest.”
“Maxwell told me to cooperate with you, which is what I’m doing. But I still
Shana wasn’t invited into the interview room as she was still a trainee. They
this time.
“We would like to know more about your father and his brother when you and
“You really are stupid. My father doesn’t even have any brothers.”
“We have reason to believe that he along with someone else was suspected of
abusing women in 1972 in Kampala. We think that has a direct bearing on this
current case.”
Chandra starts to whisper into his solicitor’s ear. His solicitor returns the
favour.
“My father died last year and you are trying to ruin his good name!”
father telling me. But it went no further than that. Those stupid whores were
all lying.”
“Can you tell me the man who used to accompany your father to visit the
prostitutes?”
“Did you ever go with your father on any ‘visits’ to those women?”
“I refuse to answer that question. I was only nine years old in 1972 for god’s
sake. I’ve had enough of this. I’m leaving; you can arrest me if you want to.”
“Just one more question if you don’t mind. Did you ever visit the second
“No, never. She wasn’t one of my women. I’ve never met her.”
Paresh escorts Chandra out of the station. He has a driver waiting for him
outside. When he gets back to Shana, he has to tell her the bad news.
“I don’t think it is him now. I’m more interested in who else used to go with
“You think that his father’s friend was the murderer back then, and his child
“That’s one way of putting it. If the child used to escort his dad during the
“Just like that. I’m going to ring my dad to see if he remembers anything
else.”
When Paresh asked him, Jayanti couldn’t remember the name of the other
man. He had always assumed they were brothers. Asians often said their
“What next boss” asks Shana. “We’ve exhausted all the leads. All the
fingerprints in both flats have checked out. It’s amazing how many people can
“Now you just have to follow your gut instincts. This is where you get in
“Why don’t you go through the old witness notes and I’ll check out as many
***
Several days later and there was still no break in the case. Paresh was
pounding on doors and had nearly exhausted all of his favours and contacts to
find out as much as he could about Chandra’s friends and relatives. Shana, as
usual, was working long hours going through the hundreds of witness
statements to see what she could dig up. It had been nearly two weeks since
Shana was wondering whether to get a pizza delivered for her dinner, when
A witness from the second murder describes seeing a man picking up Adele
the night before she was murdered. They haven’t found the man yet. He is
described as ‘Asian and Middle aged’, that’s half of Leicester Shana thought.
Something in the description puzzled her. The man was described as a very
well dressed – which stood out from Adele’s other punters. Maybe this man
The thought of the well dressed man started to bug her. This guy didn’t sound
like Chandra Bose, but maybe it was a friend of the family as Paresh thought.
She spent the next few hours going through all the pictures and magazines
which featured Chandra. She decided to search for Chandra’s friends online.
She ‘Googled’ him, which didn’t produce many results surprisingly. Maybe he
likes to keep out of the picture. She started to ‘Facebook’ his children. As she
suspected, the children’s Facebook was open to anyone who wanted to see
their personal lives. After going through hundreds of their pictures and
following their friends, she saw a picture of a wedding with Chandra standing
next to an immaculately dressed, middle aged, Asian man. The picture was
***
Meanwhile, Jayanti had called Paresh and asked him to come over. When he
got there, his father was getting very anxious for him to speak to one of the
Jayanti.
“Well, I think I remember, who the other guy Bose used to hang around with”
“My mind doesn’t work as well as it used to, but I think the other guy was a
Sikh. I used to work for him. I think his name was Pritpal.”
Shana rings Paresh – he doesn’t answer. Shana decides to text Paresh where
she is going before she decides to talk to Tony Singh on her way home. He
also lived in Leicester, near his friend Chandra. No immediate reply on her
phone – he must be busy. “Never mind” she thought, it was a long shot
“Oh shit” Paresh cries out. He hits the speed dial for the station to get the
***
“Hello” Tony answers the door very quickly. “How can I help you?”
“Come in please, what can I do for you?” Shana follows him in.
“I’m investigating the murder of two prostitutes in Leicester. You may have
“Even though you were seen by a witness picking up Adele the night before
she was murdered?” she was going by gut instincts now – just as Paresh told
her to.
Tony’s face suddenly changed from the confident smile into a menacing grin.
“I see you’ve come on your own – stupid mistake my girl,” he grabs Shana by
the wrist and punches her in the face. She is knocked out. When she wakes up,
she is tied to bed. She tries to scream, but is muffled by the gag.
“I didn’t really want to use my house, but when the opportunity of a stupid
He pulls a knife up from his side which Shana didn’t see at first. There is
panic in her eyes. She starts to cry uncontrollably, she even wets herself. Tony
“I’ve not collected an ear for many years. I thought I had these urges under
control, but since my wife and children left me – I can’t control myself again,”
he grins.
Just as his knife starts to cut her ear, Paresh comes crashing through the door,
tackles Tony and both go flying out of the bedroom window. Paresh lands on
“I think I’m fine. Thank you, thank you, thank you” she is crying.
Paresh unties her and picks her up. He takes her out of the house and into his
car.
ENDS