Serial Killer - 6

'This is Ravi Kumar reporting', the voice from TV put an end to inspector Shyam's flow of thoughts.
Automatically he turned towards TV.

As they had expected he was presenting latest murder victim, girl’s naked dead body's photos in different angles with commentary.

Casually watching the screen, Shyam, became alert suddenly!
Unable to believe his eyes, he watched again and again and again!
It was looking like a bad dream on TV.
Naked dead body of the girl...
Broken head...
Scratches all over the body...

But what attracted inspector Shyam’s eyes wasn't that!
It was the gown piece, soaked in blood, lying next to the dead body.
Pinching himself, he watched it again and again.
A small doubt in the brain, in seconds grew bigger, blasting inside his brain.
Standing stiff, clutching his head, inspector Shyam let out a scream ‘Sir, I found the murderer’!

Ananth who was arching back in his chair, eyes half closed and trying to think, was shaken and jumped next to Shyam.
'Who..tell me..who's it...who’s that bloody bastard?'
Breathing heavily, said Shyam ‘sensational crime reporter, Ravi Kumar!'.

Feeling like there was landslide right under his feet, Commissioner was speechless.
Shyam continued breathless ‘Yes sir, I was there in the spot within 10 minutes of the murder. The blood soaked piece of gown that you can see clearly on TV...I picked it up with glows, and it’s still safe in crime scene box.’
'What’s the relationship man' asked Ananth impatiently.
'There is Sir, I removed that gown piece from the spot and after 30 minutes, arrived the TV cameras unit. Kumar was with them Sir.
So in the scenes that they had shot, there is no chance of that blood soaked gown piece being present...
But now in the photos Kumar's telecasting, that cloth piece is clearly visible.
What does that mean?
That means...it is visible in the photos taken immediately after the murder. If those photos are with Kumar who came after 30 minutes...means...after the murder...he himself...

Head & tail of every murder was now crystal clear!
Sprinting to his car, said Police Commissioner Ananth 'Ravi Kumar, your game is over'.

Epilogue:
For almost 15 days, scaring the hell out of people, making them stay inside the house and taking the whole city to standstill, Ravi Kumar was a hero.
But their hero was the real villain! People were shell shocked for the second time to learn that.

Kumar, who had won the hearts of the people as a poet and a reporter was also a deadly psychopath!
It took time to realize that fact.
And the value of that time?
11...no...12 young lives.
The very next day after being imprisoned, he committed suicide in the cell, saying goodbye to the world, Ravi Kumar, the serial killer.