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Mumbai ke Bandra mein ek swanky co-living workspace — HiveLabs. Startups ka adda, freelancers ka paradise. Saturday raat ek confidential brainstorming session set hua tha — hybrid mode pe. Kuch log physical space mein, kuch Zoom pe. Client tha ek big fintech investor, aur product launch hone wala tha Monday ko.
Team mein the: Arohi, the ambitious product head; Jiten, coder genius; Neerav, marketing ka mastikhor banda; Shruti, HR — aur finally, Yash, co-founder, jiska vision sab ko jod ke rakhta tha. Raat 10 baje Zoom call chalu hua. Kaafi discussions hue, thodi gossip bhi. Sab kuch normal laga, jab tak agle din subah Yash ka laash HiveLabs ke meeting pod mein nahi mila.
First assumption — cardiac arrest. Par Shruti ne police bulayi. Report mein dikhaya gaya ki heart attack nahi, poisoning hui thi. Kisi ne uske protein shake mein cyanide milaya tha. Sab shock mein. Chief suspect ban gaya Jiten, kyunki use Yash se profit-share dispute tha. Aur meeting se kuch der baad woh HiveLabs aaya tha laptop lene.
Lekin Shruti ne ek aur baat point ki — Zoom recording mein glitch tha. Poore call mein ek extra ‘user login’ tha, naam tha Guest_59, jiska camera off tha, lekin mic se thoda static sunayi diya tha, jaise koi aur bhi wahi room mein ho.
Arohi ne bola, “Main confirm kar sakti hoon ki room book hi nahi tha kisi aur ke liye.” Kisi ne Guest_59 account ka IP trace kiya. IP HiveLabs ka hi nikla.
Tabhi Neerav ne ek aur baat nikaali: “Us room mein ek purana Amazon Echo speaker hamesha plug mein hota hai — background noise capture karta hai, company testing ke liye use karti hai. Shayad recording ho.”
Shruti ne quick-thinking dikhai aur Amazon cloud se data retrieve kiya. What they discovered changed everything.
Raat 10:47 pe, Yash jab washroom gaya tha — mic mein saf saf awaaz aayi: glass clink hua, ek female voice boli, “Tu samajhta hai tu sab kuch control karta hai? Ab dekhta hoon tune kisko underestimate kiya.”
Voice match karaya gaya — it was Arohi.
Jab usse pucha gaya, usne pehle deny kiya. Par jab proof saamne rakhe gaye, Arohi ne breakdown kiya.
“Pichle mahine Yash ne mujhe pitch se side kar diya tha. Mera innovation churaake Neerav ko credit diya. Mujhe laga mujhe kabhi acknowledge nahi karega. Usne kaafi baar backup team ke samne mujhe belittle kiya. Main sirf warning dena chahti thi — bas uske shake mein thoda chemical mila diya, lethal quantity nahi thi. Pata nahi kaise overdose ho gaya.”
Shruti ne quietly ek detail aur add ki — “Actually, us rat ke Zoom call mein sab busy the, par ek aur screen thi jis par projection chalu tha. Yash ne pura call record kara aur ek AI audio-transcript tool run kiya — usmein uska intention tha ki team ke behavior ka psychological profiling kare imaginary investor ke liye. Usne tum sab ko test kiya aur samjha kaun trustworthy hai.”
Twist ye tha ki us ‘investor’ ka koi hona hi nahi tha. Puray call ka scene ek social experiment tha. Yash secretly sab pe investigation kar raha tha. Arohi ne bina jaane game ke beech mein khel khatam kar diya.
Police ne use poison planning ka charge diya, aur partial manslaughter mein arrest ho gayi. Par sab se disturbing line wo thi jo AI transcript mein mili:
At 11:05pm — jab Zoom call khatam hone hi wala tha — Yash ne softly bola tha: “Arohi will never forgive me for this. But I need to know.”
Final irony: Yash ke data vault se milaa ek mail draft, jo Monday ko client ko bhejna tha — title: ‘Recommending Arohi Jain as HiveLabs’ New CEO’.
Par woh kabhi bheja nahi gaya.
