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Shimla ke paas ek secluded luxury ashram — Shanti Utsav — mein har saal influencers aur tech entrepreneurs ka private wellness retreat hota tha. Internet aur phones strictly bandh, taki sab mindfulness aur detox mein lage rahein. Sirf ek Zoom session permitted tha har second day — to broadcast one conscious-living talk to their followers.
Isi retreat ka highlight tha Vivaan Rathod — ek tech influencer jise log MindMogul ke naam se jaante the. Crores ke followers, meditation se leke crypto advice tak sab kuch post karta tha. On Day 4 of the retreat, uska scheduled live late night talk tha: “Silence is the Real Currency.”
Jab Zoom live hua, Vivaan dikhai diya, sitting in lotus pose, eyes closed. Pehle kuch seconds sab normal lag raha tha… phir achanak — uske eyes khul gaye, unblinking, mouth se blood trickling — aur screen freeze ho gayi. Session abruptly ended. Panic mach gaya. Sab soch rahe the — yeh koi stunt hai ya sach mein kuch hua hai?
Staff ne Vivaan ke cottage ka gate tod ke andar dekha — woh waha tha, dead. Sab kuch locked tha from inside. Computer still open. But koi weapon nahi mila.
Retreat ke founder Anvita Jalan ne local SP ko contact kara, lekin combing mein kuch bhi suspicious nahi mila. Autopsy report ne bataya: Vivaan ki death cardiac arrest se hui — lekin unusually elevated blood serotonin levels paye gaye, indicating designer psychedelic overdose. Retreat ke rules ke hisaab se waha drugs allowed nahi the.
Participants mein major names the:
1. Kabir Qureshi — wellness blogger turned VC investor.
2. Ritu Kedia — a quiet coder who’d helped Vivaan with his recent app.
3. Ishan Brar — an ex-techie turned monk who ran rituals at the retreat.
4. Elina Sayal — fashion-tech influencer, Vivaan ke close circle se.
Vivaan ke laptop ko jab retreat ke only offline tech protocol ke under examine kiya gaya, ek encrypted folder mila: “Ashram.01”. Password protected thi, par uska hint tha — “Not visible when eyes are open.”
Tab kisi ne yaad dilaaya: Vivaan ka ek past IG reel tha jisme woh kehta tha — “My deepest passwords are stored in trance.” CCTV access nahi thi, but ek drone video mila jo retreat ke ek intern secret record kar raha tha apne vlog ke liye (despite no-device rule). Us video mein Vivaan dikha in trance state, whispering his password — “3raEye$hut” — in a meditation chant.
Encrypted folder khola gaya — andar kuch shocking found hua: a screen-capture video of Vivaan setting up a deepfake rendering software to simulate his image in live video. Saamne ek timer aur USB gadget dikha — remote-activated dispenser for LSD microdose — cleverly embedded in his aromatherapy diffuser.
Lekin twist yahaan aaya: Device tha remotely triggerable, par ashram ke within koi internet allowed nahi tha. Toh remote kaise?
Tab Ritu Kedia ne ek observation rakhi: “VPN koi bhi local file se run kar sakta hai if preloaded.” Unhone bataya ki Vivaan mujhe coding ke liye short USB drives deta tha.
Cross-checked kiya gaya: Retreat ke outer area mein ek Himalayan pine tree ke upar concealed WiFi repeater mili — solar powered, broadcasting faint WiFi internally. Uska MAC address trace hua ek smartwatch se — Ishan Brar ke.
Ishan confessed — “Vivaan mujhe nag kar raha tha disclosures ke liye. Woh meri past identity ka blackmail kar raha tha.” Turns out, Ishan asli naam Naveen Bhardwaj tha — ek ex-cybercriminal against whom Vivaan had kompromat.
He didn’t have to touch Vivaan. He modified meditational diffuser with delayed trigger and deepfake software played Vivaan’s live talk, masking his death.
Aur phir quietly smart watch ke through network on kiya, diffuser ko trigger kiya. Itna hi nahi, drone video bhi usne viral hone diya — so that media thought Vivaan ki death live hui thi.
Ishan wanted Vivaan’s death to look like karmic collapse — not murder, not natural.
Ritu ne final words mein kaha, “Digital silence bhi kabhi kabhi sabse tez awaaz hoti hai.”
