The Case at the Agra Hotel

In April 2018, Jeet Thakur Sahai had a few days of holidays so he went to Agra. His cousin Abhishek owned a hotel there called Hotel Grandeur. It was about 40 km from the Taj Mahal. Jeet had a good time in Agra for the first few days with his cousin and his family.

Three days before he was returning to Delhi for his work, Jeet found out that a guest of the hotel (Mr. Samir Baktawer) was found dead about 15 km away near a road (besides the Shiv Temple). He had been shot twice. The police found his corpse at about 7:20 am and preliminary reports suggested he was shot 8 hours before then (late the previous night). The chief investigation officer, Inspector Jagdish Malik, was a friend of Jeet and came to the hotel to meet the owner Abhishek and Jeet.

Jagdish: “Gentlemen, we found a torn business card of Hotel Grandeur near the victim’s body. It seems that during the struggle it was very late and after the murderer left, in a hurry he forgot to take the business card with him. That helped us know that Mr. Baktawer was a guest at this hotel.”

Jeet: “Did you see any tracks near the road on the dust where the victim’s body was lying?”

Jagdish: “Yes, we saw tracks of one of the tires of a car. My forensic colleagues are looking more into that, but the tire is of the make of a Maruti 800 car.”

Abhishek: “In our hotel register, currently we have four guests who have Maruti 800 cars. They have all been staying for at least 3 days and none of them are supposed to check out before the coming 2 days.”

Jeet: “That is great information Abhishek. Hope this will help the case Jagdish.”

Jagdish: “It most certainly will. I have asked my colleagues to seal the hotel so that no guests can leave until I permit them. Will you help me Jeet?”

Jeet: “Of course, let us see what we can make of this case.”

Abhishek: “I remember Mr. Baktawer leaving with a suitcase full of cash yesterday. The suitcase dropped and opened, and a few rupee notes fell out. He quickly put them back in and then left for a few hours. He was supposed to return that night but he did not. When he was leaving I noticed a few other guests saw him.”

Jeet: “Let us focus on the four guests who have the Maruti 800 cars. What are their names?”

Abhishek: “Ms. Nisha Sinha – room 1012, Mr. Mazhar Abbas – room 2513, Mr. Kishore Saxena – room 1411 and Mr. Snehal Hirwani – room 1707.”

Jeet: “Jagdish, we will not let these guests know we are looking only at their cars. We will let all the 50 guests in this hotel know that we are looking at their cars, so they will think we are suspecting everyone and not a few people.”

Jagdish: “Sounds good Jeet.”

Jeet, Jagdish and Abhishek went to a few rooms, including the rooms of the suspects and the rooms near to them. They told them of the ongoing case and that they needed their car keys. All of the suspects as well as several other guests gave their keys to Jagdish and Jeet. They told them that after checking their cars their keys will be returned.

Jagdish’s colleagues were at the hotel ensuring that no one left the premises.

Before going outside, Jeet took notes from the hotel register. He found out that Ms. Sinha came from Dehra Dun 5 days ago (Dehra Dun is about 300 km away from Agra). Mr. Abbas came from Kanpur 4 days ago (Kanpur is 175 km away from Agra). Mr. Saxena came from Delhi 3 days ago (Delhi is 80 km away from Agra). Mr. Hirwani came from Jaipur 3 days ago as well (Jaipur is 130 km away from Agra). He noticed this from the addresses noted in the register.

The security guard maintained a register in which he took notes on which cars came in and came out during the guests’ stay at the hotel. Jeet also talked with him to get more details on each car. After taking some more detailed notes he went with Jagdish to each Maruti 800 car.

Jeet and Jagdish checked each Maruti 800 car’s odometer and noticed that Mr. Hirwani’s car was the only one that travelled 30 km the day before. Others had travelled less or more than that. This analysis was based on all the kms travelled by each car since they arrived at the hotel from their original address.

Upon Jeet’s advice, Jagdish kept all 4 suspects in his custody and then further investigated. Jeet provided him with all his notes that he took at the hotel.

In a few days, it was confirmed that Mr. Hirwani murdered Mr. Baktawer. Jagdish was able to find the pistol that Mr. Hirwani had thrown in a box of mithai (sweets) in the dumpster near the hotel. He and his team had done extensive searching. Upon questioning him and telling all the evidence that he had, Mr. Hirwani told Jagdish that he wanted to steal Mr. Baktawer’s 8 lakh rupees. He followed him the night before when Mr. Baktawer went to the Shiv Temple. At that time there was no one there. He confronted Mr. Baktawer and said that he would shoot him unless he would give the money. Mr. Baktawer shouted that he will not give him the money. Mr. Hirwani shot him twice with his gun and was about to leave. As Mr. Baktwawer was falling on the ground he held on to Mr. Hirwani’s shirt. Mr. Hirwani’s pocket tore and so did the business card which fell to the ground. In a hurry Mr. Hirwani did not notice that and he took Mr. Baktawer’s suitcase with the cash with him. When he returned to the hotel at night, no one noticed the suitcase because it was quite a common one (blue in colour). When the suspects’ rooms were searched extensively, the suitcase and cash was found in Mr. Hirwani’s room. It was hidden within a larger suitcase as Mr. Hirwani had a few suitcases.

Jagdish arrested Mr. Hirwani and the other suspects were free to leave. Mr. Hirwani’s court trial would start in several weeks.

Jagdish thanked Jeet for his help in this case. Jeet told him that it was his pleasure to help out.

After two days, Jeet left for Delhi as his leave was complete. He looked forward to resuming his office job very soon.