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Mumbai ke Lower Parel ke ek upscale co-working tower mein thi RealmTech, ek emerging AI startup jiska kaam toh virtual tha, par politics kaafi real. Team remote thi, har Friday ko hoti thi full-hands Zoom meeting. Lekin is baar kuch alag tha.
Pratyush Grover – charismatic coder aur co-founder – woh usually loud aur gyaan dene wala banda tha. Lekin is Friday uska mic aur video dono off the. Ananya, HR lead, ne casual tone mein bola, “Pratyush, camera on karo na yaar, sabko dikhao tumhare Goan walls finally repaint hue ya nahi.”
Silence. Chat mein koi reply nahi. Dinesh, backend se, half-joking bola – “Bhaiya shaayad Goa mein beach pe hi baith gaye hon.”
Meeting khatam hui, par kuch gadbad thi. Shaam tak, Ananya ne Pratyush ko call kiya. No reply. Weekend pe 9B ke neighbors se complaint mili – foul smell. Monday ko local police ne door todkar andar dekha – Pratyush was dead. Sitting in his gaming chair, headset on, eyes wide open, webcam taped from outside.
Initially laga cardiac arrest hoga. But post-mortem ne kuch aur reveal kiya – deliberate poisoning with aerosolized neurotoxin. Room ke AC vent me kuch synthetic compound mila, jo dheere dheere circulate hua. Koi forced entry nahi. Killed in a room he never left.
Investigation start hui aur RealmTech ki team ko bulaya gaya. Sab shocked the. Pratyush ki death pe kisi ka reaction zyada emotional nahi laga. Bas ek chehra tha jo overly anxious tha – Ishan Verma, junior developer. Kaafi bar paani pi raha tha, aankhon se clarity missing thi.
ACP Vishnu Kale ne casual se tone mein poocha, “Tum logon ki meeting ke dauraan iska webcam band tha. Kya ye normal hai?”
Ananya ne hesitate karte hue bola, “Nahi, usually nahi. Par we assumed weak network. Uska background blur rehta tha, toh kaafi time ignore kar diya.”
Ek odd line thi jo Dinesh ne bola tha, jo ACP ke kaan me atki: “Beach par baith gaye hon.” Strange coincidence. Jab check kiya gaya, toh IP logs batate the – Pratyush was online that entire time, but using a remote virtual camera feed – ek pre-recorded loop from previous meetings.
Yeh cheez kisi insider ne plan ki thi. Aur phir reveal hui ek aur detail – Ishan had developed an internal screen-sharing plugin for RealmTech testing ke liye, jisme mirror feed chhup jaata tha. Pratyush ne usse public mein criticize kiya tha, uska code delete karwaya aur ek recent bonus bhi cancel karwaya tha for under-performance.
Ishan ke computer se forensic logs milte hain – usne hi remotely ek script push ki thi jo Pratyush ke computer pe chali thi, jiske zariye pre-recorded webcam footage play hui during Zoom call, aur room ka electricity-run scent diffuser activate kiya gaya jisme wo toxin tha.
Lekin shock twist ye tha… ki confession Ishan ne nahi diya. Jab ACP Kale usse formally accuse karne gaye, Ishan had disappeared. Par ek flash drive chhodi gayi thi gated society guard ke paas with instructions – “Only hand to Ananya.”
Drive mein ek recorded message tha:
“Main hi us raat Zoom ka black screen engineer tha. Lekin maine sirf uska fake camera feed execute kiya, as a prank. Main nahi jaanta tha ki koi isko real murder mein use karega. Kisi aur ne Pratyush ke diffuser mein chemical daala. Main warning dena chahta tha, par dare gaya. Main janta hoon Ananya ko dikhega woh clue jo sab miss kar rahe hain.”
Ananya ne dhyaan se video frames rewind kiye. Us fake feed mein ek cheez subtly badal rahi thi – Pratyush ka wristband, jo har din color change karta tha fitness stats ke hisaab se, woh har meeting mein alag color hota tha. Lekin us Friday ke feed mein woh static tha – bright orange.
Aur yeh wristband sirf ek insaan customize karta tha – Tara, senior UI designer, aur Pratyush ki secret partner.
Tara ko jab confront kiya gaya, tab ek aur sach samne aaya. Pratyush ne uske ideas copy karke funding pitch mein daal diye the, aur jab Tara ne protest kiya tha, he gaslighted her and terminated her freelance contract. She had access to his home through a hidden spare key – which they once shared during their brief relationship.
Tara confessed: “Main sirf chhoti si khushi chaahti thi. Uska silence hi meri revenge thi. Jo banda sabki screen control karta tha, uske last moments ek black screen ban gaye. Fitting, na?”
Case close hua, par ek nayi reality open ho gayi digital crimes ke era mein – jaha video on hone ya na hone se zyada important hota hai ki kaun kaun us video ke peeche kya kya cheede chhupa raha hota hai.
