Unconventional Investigative Methods?

Vina - Sebelum 7 Hari. (Indonesian, 2024)
Director: Anggy Umbara

Thanks to Saravanan Decodes, my latest indulgence, for highlighting many solved and unsolved mysteries worldwide. He has 700-over YouTube presentations of some of the most puzzling and heinous murders and tries to decode them.

Two exciting cases piqued my interest. It was in how these seemingly dead-ended cases saw living daylight through unconventional methods.

The first case happened in Cirebon, West Java. A 16-year-old Vina Dewi Arsita, a student, was reported to have died after getting involved in a road traffic accident while travelling with her boyfriend, Edy, in the thick of the night in 2016. The death certificate was released as death due to Motor Vehicle Accident. There were some uncertainties about whether police did not come forward with more information about the ongoing investigations or whether their investigation was shoddy. Her boyfriend, too, perished in the accident. Burial was done.

On the seventh day of her death, Vina's best friend, Linda, was possessed by Vina's spirit, who narrated minute to minute account of what Vina endured before her death. In the local populace, it is believed that a dead person's spirit hovers around their neighbourhood before departing for good. Vina's admirer, Eky, who had made bold advances towards her, was once spat upon and humiliated by Vina. Eky was a member of a motorcycle chain gang. Keeping a grudge against her actions, Eky, with his ten other friends, confronted Edy and Vina, ramped them down, ran their machines over Vina's limbs, gang-raped her and left her to die.

This news soon became viral, and sympathetic netizens launched an awareness campaign. The police had no choice but to re-investigate. New investigative papers were opened. Rape was confirmed, and eight of the eleven perpetrators were apprehended, charged and convicted. They confessed to their crimes. Astonishingly, their account of what happened corresponded precisely to what was told by Vina's spirit. Eky and two others are still at large. A point to note is that Eky's father is a police officer.

Saravanan Decodes

People wonder whether its investigation was manipulated or whether justice can still be served after so many years.

The second bizarre case happened in a village near Agra, India, in 1988. A 4-year-old Toran Singh (@Titu) was born into a poor family of six children. Titu was a precocious child who started speaking at the age of 18 months. By 4, he started talking about his wealthy family, which he was born into, and the roaring electrical business he ran in Agra. And he said his name was Suresh Verma.

Out of curiosity, his elder brother checked out his assertions. It was all true. Titu even recognised his widowed wife of his last birth. Suresh Verma indeed had a radio business and was killed by foes. He was shot in his head. Due to a lack of evidence, the case stalled. Police were called in. 

Titu ( Toran Singh)

Curiously, Titu could narrate all the intimate details of the murder that only the victim could tell and that the police did not reveal for public consumption. Titu identified his shooter, who confessed to the police later. The killer was later charged and sentenced. Titu had a birthmark on his scalp, which corresponded to the area where Suresh Verma was shot.

Toran Singh went on to lead a quiet life away from media scrutiny. He is reportedly an assistant professor of naturopathy and yoga therapy at Benares Hindu University in Varanasi.

Even though the methods employed to investigate these cases will not stand alone if challenged in a court of law, they can nevertheless be helpful as part of the police armamentarium to cow the perpetrator into submission.

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Everywhere you lay your hat...

The Indian Detective (Canadian Miniseries, in Hindi and English; 2017)
Netflix (Season 1, E1-E4)

The 1950s were important in world politics. The Second World War was over, but the world, never learning from its past mistakes, was building another. The world was divided into two, those subscribing to capitalism or communism. The Cold War was brewing. The newly independent nations, the Third World, was up for grabs. In that environment, in 1955, a few countries got together in Bandung, to assert that they were not aligned to either side of the fence. The Americans, however, viewed it as the ranting of the newly-independent third world states with a slight socialistic stance as they were not invited but China was.

One of the prescient thing that the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai had said was that the Chinese residing in different countries should show their allegiance, not to China, but to the countries they are residing. 

That too must be applicable to the Indian diaspora which is spread the world over. Driven to the four corners of the mainly for economic reasons and the colonial masters' labour needs, they had 5easily embraced into the cultures of the newfound motherlands. In some cases, they had even cut their umbilical cord off the country of their forefathers. They may be Indian on the outside or by name. The connection to Mother India ends there.

Generation elapsed. Indianness became diluted. The head-boobing went the same way as the subservient nature of their ancestors. For them, their grandfather's guest country became their motherland. They shared fond memories, their childhood, experienced pain and joy and shed a tear or two when their nation was under attack. So to accuse them of showing more loyalty to India rather than their country of birth is mischief or not inciteful.

This Canadian production is a mediocre one. The story is quite predictable and paints India in the same brush as most Hollywood movies. We are all bored with the stereotyping of a corrupt police force, abuse of power by officials, of arranged marriages and a dirty and polluted India.

The drawing force to this flick must have been Russell Peters and  Anupam Kher. Even they could not save the film. The acting is unnatural and forced. The dialogue is cheesy and the storyline implausible. William Shatner guests as a baddie but he remains a pale shadow of Captain Kirk. He does not explore any facial expressions beyond the emotionless and bland facies that he puts up in most scenes. The producers put up a cliffhanger at the end of Episode 4 but, obviously, the miniseries did not garner such a following to demand another season. 

Just for the record, the story is about a bumbling constable who is suspended for a month for bungling up with a drug bust (or was he?). He is forced to visit his 'ailing' father (Anupam Kher) in Mumbai. Here he gets entangled with an Indian mob and a social worker cum lawyer. See how this Mumbai gang is intertwined with his Canadian case and how the detective (Russell Peters) comes out smelling of roses. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We get the world we deserve

True Detective (Season 2; 2015)

After the successful first season, the producers decided to come out with the second season. Even though it did not live up to the celebrated former, nevertheless it did leave an impact. It recreated a nihilistic world which lies ahead of us which we can already see. A society where truth and natural justice takes a back seat whilst power, authority, money and our animal instincts dictates our life. Human relationships fail miserably. Commitment to the institution of marriage is farcical. Occasional casual relief of human carnal desires is the norm. Sexual preference is optional, and people are confused about they actually want in life, personal glory or acting in a just manner. Divinity is nowhere in the equation.

The second season, in keeping with the mood of its predecessor, creates a broody environment with equally depressing characters all with the problems of their own. First, there is Ray Valcoro (Colin Farrell), a cop with a chequered career record, substance abuse issues and a messy matrimonial dispute to handle. Next, there is Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdam), a CID officer who has a string of suicidal siblings and relationship issues. The third is a highway patrolman, Paul Woodrugh, an angry ex-soldier with homosexual past and a pregnant girlfriend. All three are assigned to investigate a murder.

Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn in a significant negative role) is a local gangster and a playmaker of sorts. The investigation opens a can of worms of deceit, vice, mob, drugs, politicians and entrepreneurs. The bottom line is greed and profit. Doing the right thing for the people is never on anybody's agenda.

The whole machinery of the powers that be is to enrich the select few. The big master plan is geared towards this end. Any opposer to this grand vision is treated as a hindrance and is dealt with appropriately as collateral damage. Period.