The Message! Part-2

Inspector Rajdeep singh was one of the most corrupt officials in the country. He had account of all the robbers in the town but never arrested them. He always used to take share from them, and leave them free giving warning. Word was out that two young men had robbed the bank early in the morning. When he went to the bank and asked around, it became clear to him that the robbers were Mahesh and Rajneesh. Since the moment he had found out, he had placed a constable near their house. When the constable called him up and said that they were headed somewhere in the middle of the night, he had asked him to follow. And now he had them.

"I'm pretty sure boss's father's property is hidden here." said mahesh

"how can you say that?"

"The old man not only wanted his able son to inherit watch, but also all his riches" he said

"But you said, there were only 2200 rupees in the package!" said the inspector baffled by the situation. A moment later he realized Mahesh was talking about the same money.

"I don't understand" said the inspector

Then Rajneesh gave the money to the inspector.

“An address is hidden there – address to here. This graveyard. This very grave,” said Mahesh, stamping his foot on the ground. The inspector crinkled his eyes.

“Hold these 500 rupee notes, and tell me what is NOT common between them.”

“Serial numbers?” asked the inspector.

“Damn right, you are. Serial numbers. I was a bit perplexed in the beginning. Why would the old man keep just Rs. 2200 in a locker? That too 6 mutilated notes! Then it got me thinking. Serial numbers!”

Mahesh paused for a moment and then continued.

“The serial numbers of 500 rupee notes are RST 030821, YST 011404, 4ST 180308 and 1ST 180523. Observe something?”

The inspector shook his head.

Mahesh continued. “Leave the series and observe only the numbers. Assign a letter of English to the first two numbers in each serial number. 03=C, 08=H, and 21=U. Next, 01=A, 14=N, 04=D. Then, 18=R, 03=C, 08=H. And finally, 18=R, 05=E, and 23=W. So, it’s CHU, AND, RCH, and REW. This is the order in which I held the notes. They didn’t make any sense to me then, but later on when I re-arranged them, I got “ANDREW CHURCH.”

“Go on,” said the inspector.

“Well, now observe the series. All the notes have the series ST. So, it has to be St. Andrew’s Church. Now which church exactly? There could be more than one. Now notice the very first letter or alphabet of the series: R, Y, 4 and 1. 1 and 4 give the values A and D. Again re-arrange the letters and you’ll get YARD. Graveyard! This is the only St. Andrew’s Church in the city, which has a graveyard.”

Silence reigned supreme again. None of the three spoke for the next few seconds.

“Phew! That’s some analysis. But how did you find out the exact grave?” asked the inspector.

“Look at those two 100 rupee notes. 0MN 101505 and 0MN 720096. They say MN JOE, 1972-1996. The first digit of the series, which is 0, has no value of course,” Mahesh finished explaining.

This was too much for the inspector to digest.

A minute later they picked up their shovel and pickaxe again, and dug until it became easier for them to lift the big metal box, which was buried for ten years or more.

Everyone took a deep breath and broke open the lock of the box.

“Let’s do it,” said Mahesh, and lifted the lid.

***

They were staring at the contents in mute amazement. There were two other small boxes. And when Mahesh opened them, their hearts skipped a beat. It took them almost 2 minutes to recuperate.

“How much is it worth?” asked Rajneesh, not taking his eyes off the contents.

“Minimum 30,” said the inspector.

“Lakhs?” asked Rajneesh innocently.

The inspector shook his head vigorously and said, “Crores, you moron.”

Finally, they decided to split it. The inspector demanded 50% of the share and got it. Mahesh and Rajneesh argued in the beginning, but they later agreed as they didn’t want to go to prison.

"Now, take your share and run as if you’ve never run before. And remember. Never come back,” said the inspector, packing his ‘precious’ little black bag.

Inspector Rajdeep Singh then turned and wended his way out of the graveyard.

“Damn it, man. Why the hell should he get so much?” Rajneesh was enraged.

“Keep still. We’ll figure out something soon.”

***

Few days later, Inspector Rajdeep Singh's house was robbed. Nothing was taken except that little black bag. The robbers perfectly knew about the bag’s whereabouts, because they had dealt with him many times in the past and knew how to think like him.

The inspector felt a raging thirst to kill the robbers. His ‘precious’ little black bag was gone. But what he didn’t know then was that it was just the beginning.

The next day, LokAyukta, the anti-government corruption organization of Karnataka, raided Inspector Singh's house. To his shock, the officials knew exactly where to search. They went straight to the bathroom, and pulled open the top shelf. And there it was; a small messenger bag, and in it were 20 lakh rupees in cash, a few biscuits of solid gold, and 2 small diamond stones. He was aghast. He hadn’t kept it. But he knew who had set him up. A week later he was given a permanent leave from his job.

***

Exactly one month later, Rajdeep Singh received an anonymous letter. It read:

Dear Singh,

In spite of all the dirty things you’ve done, we still think you deserve something.

So, here’s the code: 84748 843 7263 47283 24246.

Decipher it and get your share. Good luck!

P.S. If you don’t take it within 6 months from today, we’ll retrieve it back.

Yours sincerely,
MR