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Friday evening, Mumbai ke posh Khar area ka ek penthouse flat. Influencer Avni Malhotra apne 200k followers ke saath live thi — “7 Chakras in 7 Minutes” meditation series ka final episode chal raha tha. Soft flute music ke beech uska calm voice sunayi de raha tha: “Breathe in divine energy… and release all negativity…”
Lekin 4:23 PM pe, livestreaming abruptly black ho gaya. Screen pe bas ek freeze shot: Avni ka expression frozen in something between pain aur shock. Thousands of comments flood hone lage — “What happened?”, “Are you okay Avni?”, “Is this part of the practice?”
Raat tak jab koi clarity nahi aayi, ek concerned follower ne local police ko alert kiya.
Inspector Shaunak Desai ko first glance mein hi kuch odd laga. Flat ka main door locked tha from inside. No signs of struggle. Living room pristine, plants perfectly placed, diffuser slow smoke mein chal raha tha. Aur Avni ka body — meditation cushion pe hi mila — ek awkward pose mein, eyes wide open. Postmortem report: she died of cardiac arrest. Lekin forensic team ne observe kiya ki diffuser oil mein kuch unusual tha — ek fat-soluble neurotoxin, practically untraceable. Small dose mein, it causes extreme calm. But mixed with heat over long inhalation? Heart failure.
Suspects teen:
1. Veer Malhotra — Avni ka estranged cousin, aur us yoga wellness brand ka former co-founder jise Avni ne 2 mahine pehle nikaal diya tha. Claim: “She made it all about her spirituality — I wanted science!”
2. Prisha Roy — Avni ki live-video editor, jiske Insta pe khud ke healing reels banane ka secret channel chala tha. She admired Avni publicly, but privately competed.
3. Arun Vade — Avni’s loyal housekeeper of 6 years, jiske personal life ke kaafi saare expenses Avni hi cover karti thi. Recently, she had threatened to stop.
Shaunak ko ek strange clue mila: diffuser ke paas ek open bottle of lavender oil thi — brand different tha than Avni usually used. Label pe name: “BoatLeaf— Himalayan Therma Oil.” Ye brand kisi bhi spa supply list mein nahi tha. Jab usne oil lab test ke liye diya, wahan pata chala — this wasn’t lavender at all. It was lab-purified Delphinium extract — extremely rare, smuggled chemical.
Prisha ka angle first suspicious laga, kyunki uske laptop se livestream manually record ho raha tha. Usne kaha: “I pre-record Avni’s voice overlays in case her mic drops… it’s backup only.” But jab audio files check ki gayi, ek file ka label tha “PreMeditationTest3.wav” — with 3 extra seconds at the start jahan ek low hum aur ‘click’ sound sunayi deta tha. As if someone turned the diffuser on manually, but didn’t know mic live tha.
Shaunak fir Veer pe focus karta hai — motive strong tha, but uske GPS ke records se pata chala ki he was stuck in Pune traffic whole day (verified by traffic camera pings). Doubts Arun pe bhi aaye — lekin uske fingerprints diffuser pe nahi mile. Prisha’s were.
Toh kya Prisha killer thi?
Final twist aaya livestream ke footage se. Avni ne background mein ek new Himalayan salt lamp lagaya tha — livestream mein reflection us lamp mein dikh raha tha. Aur ek poore 2 second ke frame mein — fire alarm sensor ka red light ON aur phir suddenly OFF ho jata hai. Investigation ne reveal kiya that alarm was tampered — it din usmein battery missing thi.
Shaunak ne ek final trick use ki. Usne Prisha ko bola ki diffuser oil trace ho gaya hai — Himalayan Therma Oil matches an online order made from her IP. Usne deny kiya, but jab shaunk ne poori edit footage uske saamne live run ki — aur lamp reflection dikhaya — she cracked.
Truth: It was Arun.
But Prisha unknowingly became accessory.
Arun ne borrowed login se Prisha ka edit software use kiya to pre-upload Avni’s overlay voice. Us voice ke start mein actual ‘diffuser click’ sound recorded ho gaya tha. Prisha didn’t notice as she used auto-trim feature.
Arun was blackmailed by a drug ring — Avni had unknowingly recorded a private retreat where their silent deals happened. She threatened to go public. Arun, trusted blindly, used diffuser to administer invisible death. Prisha’s guilt came from editing blind.
Case closed? Not quite. One person watching that meditation livestream noticed a whisper — in Sanskrit.
“Anugraha ya vinaash — sab prarabdh hai.”
He clicked pause.
Background mein ek flash dikhi — not flame. A blinking redirect.
To another livestream, scheduled 10 days later.
Same diffuser.
Same whisper.
New host.
Who will die next?
