Belliappa was 55 in 1988 when he had a car accident. There was no major damage, except a broken arm. But when in hospital, surrounded by his only sister Devaki and his brother Jappu, something occurred to him. He realized then that he was all alone, and being unmarried, with no kids, he would have nobody to look after him when he got old. Belliappa was a brilliant criminal lawyer, with a booming practice in Bangalore. He was the eldest of three, his sister Devaki was three year younger had two kids, one son – Rahul and one daughter Kaveri. His younger brother Jappu had two daughters – Dechu and Deepa. Over the years he had amassed a considerable fortune, invested shrewdly in property and shares.
Lying in bed in the hospital, see his brother and sister fuss over him in the hospital, a plan formed in his head. While pretending to be under heavy painkillers, he ranted in his sleep that he would only leave his money to the family member who looked after him.
For the next 20 years, Belliappa enjoyed the love and attention of his family. Both his brother and sister were determined that their kids would inherit the bulk of his estate. His only nephew Rahul, would visit him every day. Driving him from his doctors appointment, to the club in the evening and also to buy his provisions. Jappu’s daughters, would try and visit him every month, and call him every week, and literally thrust their children down his throat. Belliappa enjoyed all the attention, playing along innocently.
Then in Jan of 2010 he died. Suffering a massive stroke, he slipped into a coma, and never recovered. The family mourned his passing. On the 15th day of his passing, the executor of his will contacted the family and asked them to gather in his office at Brigade Road. His brother Jappu, his two daughters Dechu and Deepa and their respective spouses were present. So was his sister Devaki, her husband, her son Rahul and his wife present. The only person missing was Kaveri his niece. She had moved to Mumbai in 1992. Got into theatre and basically would have nothing to do with the family. She was by Coorg standards not very successful, but she was very happy. She had come down for the funeral, stayed for the puja’s and left.
The executor started to read out the will. In his monotonous voice, he divided up the estate, and described each property. He then mentioned all the monies in various accounts, he also mentioned the sale of the shares and the monies accrued thereof. Some of the money had been willed to the Coorg Education trust, some to other charities. The lawyer then droned about the caveat in the will, that if any body decided to contest the will, they would be counter sued by the executor. The will was the final testament and Belliappa had written this with all his faculties being sane and intact. The build up to the last part was too much for the family, who by now were out of their seats, bursting with anticipation.
The executor then started reading the last part of the will “ I, Belliappa have left the bulk of my estate to my niece Kaveri, the reason I did this is because she is the only member of my family who did not have a vested interest in my money. Greed is not a quality one admires."
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Diamond Necklace
It was 1968.Somanna was the Director General of Police for Karnataka. He was 54, a crusty bachelor, with a terrible temper. A very handsome man, with strong features,tall and quick witted, who did not suffer fools easily. In the course of his career had rubbed off a lot of people the wrong way. Needless to say he had a lot of enemies.
Every day he finished work at around 9 O'clock and drove his own Willy's jeep back to his house from his office near M. G. Road police station to his house at Cook Town in Bangalore. On reaching home, his houseboy of 30 years Kaliah and his wife Devamma, prepared his bath and served him dinner. After which he smoked his cigar, listened to the BBC news on his radio, read a bit and turned in for the night.
It was a cold winter's night, with a bit of fog in early January, when Somanna got into his jeep, wrapping the thick winter coat around him tightly,and started his jeep to drive home. He had been driving for about 20 minutes nearing the area of Commercial street, and decided to take the usual route, near Frazer town, he heard a loud piercing scream. Ahead of him,through the haze he could see three men, carrying what looked like a struggling woman. Somanna drove up to them, and keeping the engine running, pulled up the hand brake of the jeep. He casually got out to survey the scene. In the meantime, all three men had stopped dead in their tracks, still carrying the woman.
Somanna very calmly asked them to let go of the woman and walked up to them so that they could see the police uniform he was wearing. On seeing the jeep and the uniform all three men, let go of the woman and got into their jeep and drove away.
The woman promptly ran and got into Somanna's jeep. Somanna then drove her to his house, not a word was exchanged. On being let in Kaliah and Devamma did not say anything, but on Somanna's instructions, the lady was led into the spare bedroom and given some food to eat and some clothes to wear.
The next morning, the Commissioner was surprised to see Somanna in the office when he arrived. They all went about their work. And at the usual time Somanna returned to his house that night. At around 11.00 pm, the front door bell rang, and Kaliah opened the door for 4 constables and the Deputy Commissioner. They had come to investigate and search the place, based on a complaint that there was missing diamond necklace in the house. The complaint had been made by a woman called Savita Gowda. They found the necklace exactly as they had been told, in the dining room in the big vase there.
Somanna was very calm through out the proceedings, not saying anything. When he went voluntarily to the police station, he asked for the lady to be produced before him, as he needed to see his accuser. It turned out to be the lady he had rescued.
She had accused him of taking the necklace from her, after drugging her and taking advantage of her. Somanna did not respond, and then asked the permission of the Commissioner to cross question her.
Somanna- "Can you please narrate to me the exact circumstances that brought you to my house"
Savita- "You had invited me to dinner"
Somanna-"What did you have for dinner?"
Savita- "I had chops, rice, etc for dinner"
Somanna-"What did I eat for dinner?"
Savita-"Obviously the same food"
Somanna-"Yesterday, where did you spend the night?"
Savita- "In your house, in your room".
Somanna-"When did you leave?"
Savita-"I left in the morning."
Somanna kept quiet, then called his two constables.
Somanna then asked them to tell all present when he had arrived, both constables said that Somanna had returned to the police station at around 10.30 the previous night, and stayed at the police station the whole night. He then called his house help Kaliah and Devamma, and asked them when he had left the house, the previous night. They both replied that he had not eaten dinner at home, but had got into his jeep and gone back to the police station, stating that he did not want any body to think that anything untoward had happened in his house.
The Commissioner apologised to him then barked orders at the Sub Inspector to lock up Savita into the police station.
Walking Somanna to the door, the Commissioner asked him only one question-
"How did you know?"
Somanna replied "Instinct, I have been doing the same route for 11 years and never had any trouble, and when I saw the men, not even put up a fight, I knew there was more than meets the eye."
Every day he finished work at around 9 O'clock and drove his own Willy's jeep back to his house from his office near M. G. Road police station to his house at Cook Town in Bangalore. On reaching home, his houseboy of 30 years Kaliah and his wife Devamma, prepared his bath and served him dinner. After which he smoked his cigar, listened to the BBC news on his radio, read a bit and turned in for the night.
It was a cold winter's night, with a bit of fog in early January, when Somanna got into his jeep, wrapping the thick winter coat around him tightly,and started his jeep to drive home. He had been driving for about 20 minutes nearing the area of Commercial street, and decided to take the usual route, near Frazer town, he heard a loud piercing scream. Ahead of him,through the haze he could see three men, carrying what looked like a struggling woman. Somanna drove up to them, and keeping the engine running, pulled up the hand brake of the jeep. He casually got out to survey the scene. In the meantime, all three men had stopped dead in their tracks, still carrying the woman.
Somanna very calmly asked them to let go of the woman and walked up to them so that they could see the police uniform he was wearing. On seeing the jeep and the uniform all three men, let go of the woman and got into their jeep and drove away.
The woman promptly ran and got into Somanna's jeep. Somanna then drove her to his house, not a word was exchanged. On being let in Kaliah and Devamma did not say anything, but on Somanna's instructions, the lady was led into the spare bedroom and given some food to eat and some clothes to wear.
The next morning, the Commissioner was surprised to see Somanna in the office when he arrived. They all went about their work. And at the usual time Somanna returned to his house that night. At around 11.00 pm, the front door bell rang, and Kaliah opened the door for 4 constables and the Deputy Commissioner. They had come to investigate and search the place, based on a complaint that there was missing diamond necklace in the house. The complaint had been made by a woman called Savita Gowda. They found the necklace exactly as they had been told, in the dining room in the big vase there.
Somanna was very calm through out the proceedings, not saying anything. When he went voluntarily to the police station, he asked for the lady to be produced before him, as he needed to see his accuser. It turned out to be the lady he had rescued.
She had accused him of taking the necklace from her, after drugging her and taking advantage of her. Somanna did not respond, and then asked the permission of the Commissioner to cross question her.
Somanna- "Can you please narrate to me the exact circumstances that brought you to my house"
Savita- "You had invited me to dinner"
Somanna-"What did you have for dinner?"
Savita- "I had chops, rice, etc for dinner"
Somanna-"What did I eat for dinner?"
Savita-"Obviously the same food"
Somanna-"Yesterday, where did you spend the night?"
Savita- "In your house, in your room".
Somanna-"When did you leave?"
Savita-"I left in the morning."
Somanna kept quiet, then called his two constables.
Somanna then asked them to tell all present when he had arrived, both constables said that Somanna had returned to the police station at around 10.30 the previous night, and stayed at the police station the whole night. He then called his house help Kaliah and Devamma, and asked them when he had left the house, the previous night. They both replied that he had not eaten dinner at home, but had got into his jeep and gone back to the police station, stating that he did not want any body to think that anything untoward had happened in his house.
The Commissioner apologised to him then barked orders at the Sub Inspector to lock up Savita into the police station.
Walking Somanna to the door, the Commissioner asked him only one question-
"How did you know?"
Somanna replied "Instinct, I have been doing the same route for 11 years and never had any trouble, and when I saw the men, not even put up a fight, I knew there was more than meets the eye."
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The Pact
They were best friends. They first met in Lawrence School, Ooty, where they had all joined when they were 8 years of age, in class 4. Since it was a boarding school, they became each others family. Four boys from different parts of the world. Binu Verghese was from Kerala, but his father had been working in AbuDhabi , and that is where Binu was born, the eldest of three sons. Medappa was from Coorg, his Dad had also studied there in Lawrence, it was a right of passage for the boys from the family to go to the same school before being sent back to Coorg, after studying outside. Digvijay was from Rajasthan, his Dad Colonel Pratap Rathore had put his only son there to discipline him. Jasjeet Singh was a Sikh, his Dad was a Vice President from a Multinational from Chennai, travelling all over the world. They were best of friends, doing everything together, they got in to trouble together and also supported each other. No body could break the bond they formed in school.
When they graduated in 1991 from school they made a pact to meet every year. Each moved onto different places and different colleges. They promised to meet every year in the alumni meetings in school and they did. In 1996, two years after passing out of college, each was settled in his new job. Binu was in Abu Dhabi with his Dad’s company . Digvijay had joined the army, the Rajputana rifles like his father and grandfather before him. Jasjeet was studying in the US, completing his Masters in Business Administration and wanted to stay on in the US to work. Medappa had gone back to the estate to look after it in Coorg.
They decided to meet again in Ooty, and that year, they decided that they would go camping. They decided to go to not very far from Ooty to Conoor, spend some time together and do some mountain climbing. Four went on the trip and three came back.
When they recounted the tale to the police, all three had decided to tell the same story to the police.
All four landed in Conoor, and went into the hills. They went climbing the hill, each shouting instructions to the other, after a very successful climb, they returned back to their camp that they had set earlier. They lit a bonfire, and started drinking. Drinking late into the night, exchanging stories, cracking ribald jokes, and remembering the good old school days. At around two they all called it a night and decided to get some sleep. Binu got up at night to take a pee, he walked away from the camp. Something startled him at night, he slipped and fell, hitting his head on a rock. His body then rolled down the hillside into a crevice. He was dead, his neck had been broken in the fall.
When they went to the police, Jasjeet was a blubbering mess. He did not remember anything from the previous night, and felt responsible for his friend’s disappearance. The police went back to the scene, and the Inspector began examining the scene, noticed the skid marks on the ground. He sent some havaldars down the hill to investigate. They came back with a fragment of a shirt, which all of them recognized as their friend’s. The police then got a team of men to go down and scour the area. Binu’s body was discovered just before sunset.
They still meet every year on the same day. All of them are married, Jasjeet has two sons. Medappa has one son and one daughter. Digvijay had one daughter and his wife and he were expecting their second child. They never talk about that night.
When they graduated in 1991 from school they made a pact to meet every year. Each moved onto different places and different colleges. They promised to meet every year in the alumni meetings in school and they did. In 1996, two years after passing out of college, each was settled in his new job. Binu was in Abu Dhabi with his Dad’s company . Digvijay had joined the army, the Rajputana rifles like his father and grandfather before him. Jasjeet was studying in the US, completing his Masters in Business Administration and wanted to stay on in the US to work. Medappa had gone back to the estate to look after it in Coorg.
They decided to meet again in Ooty, and that year, they decided that they would go camping. They decided to go to not very far from Ooty to Conoor, spend some time together and do some mountain climbing. Four went on the trip and three came back.
When they recounted the tale to the police, all three had decided to tell the same story to the police.
All four landed in Conoor, and went into the hills. They went climbing the hill, each shouting instructions to the other, after a very successful climb, they returned back to their camp that they had set earlier. They lit a bonfire, and started drinking. Drinking late into the night, exchanging stories, cracking ribald jokes, and remembering the good old school days. At around two they all called it a night and decided to get some sleep. Binu got up at night to take a pee, he walked away from the camp. Something startled him at night, he slipped and fell, hitting his head on a rock. His body then rolled down the hillside into a crevice. He was dead, his neck had been broken in the fall.
When they went to the police, Jasjeet was a blubbering mess. He did not remember anything from the previous night, and felt responsible for his friend’s disappearance. The police went back to the scene, and the Inspector began examining the scene, noticed the skid marks on the ground. He sent some havaldars down the hill to investigate. They came back with a fragment of a shirt, which all of them recognized as their friend’s. The police then got a team of men to go down and scour the area. Binu’s body was discovered just before sunset.
They still meet every year on the same day. All of them are married, Jasjeet has two sons. Medappa has one son and one daughter. Digvijay had one daughter and his wife and he were expecting their second child. They never talk about that night.
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