I am puzzled, everyone seems suspectable & everyone seems innocent, I can’t make out as to who is the culprit? In 25 years of my career journey, I have never been so puzzled about any case, never been in such a dilemma, said Mr. Jack to Police Commissioner, when he was called to police commissioner's office in context to missing "Oxus treasure" case which is yet unsolved, even after 48 hours of the robbery. Everyone is worried & shocked as Mr. Jack, a well-known detective has solved all cases of his career within 24 hours, & this case is taking too long to be solved.
Police Commissioner- I want you to solve this case within the next 24 hours, otherwise sadly we will have to appoint another detective for this case & I am sure this unsolved case will be a big black spot on your career report & graph.
Good Luck, see you after 24 hours either will culprit or with a new case.
Remember you just have 24 hours, No Extension, No Delay.
Mr. Jack- Certainly, I will solve this case in the next 24 hours sir.
(Mr. Jack visits the crime scene again & reads the report again while discussing it with Calvin & Mark who are his team members)
Calvin- Sir, how shall we solve this case in 24 hours? It doesn't seem practical.
Jack: Mark read the entire crime summary again as mentioned by police in FIR.
Mark: Sunday, on 1st March, about 300 people were present at the museum till 12 o'clock, @12:15 there was a power cut & @12:25 when the power supply was reconnected, "Oxus treasure" collection was stolen from the British Museum.
Inspector Jovel was immediately informed about the robbery & he was at the crime site with 12:40
Inspector Jovel asked his team to check each & everyone present in the museum, & he announced that no one has taken an exit from the museum until he allows. All the suspects are currently resting in the gallery hall of the museum.
Out of 300 people present there, 60 are the staff members, 40 are senior citizens & 3 were kids & remaining were adults aging from 20-45 years.
On checking everyone, nothing was found, nor does CCTV footage says something about robbery, out of all suspects nobody has seen anything due to blackout. At the crime location, nothing is found.
(Calvin interrupts, as he has something to inform)
Calvin- Sir, Inspector Jovel is here & he wants to talk with you urgently.
Jack- Yes ask him to visit Staffroom, I am coming there.
(Jack enters the staff room, where he meets Inspector Jovel & they are discussing the case)
Inspector Jovel- I wanted to talk with you urgently as I have some important news for you. I enquired at the electricity department, & as per the information provided by them, on the 1st of March, there wasn't any power cut in this area.
Jack- What a coincidence, I too need to inform you something which might trouble you.
Inspector Jovel- What is it? I am worried
Jack: Before you arrived, I told Mark to read out the report provided by police, he was reading it & while he turned the page of the report, after page number 3, directly page number 5 is attached.
Page number 3 is missing, I am sure if the criminal is intelligent surely the same must be the case with a copy of the Report prepared by you.
Inspector Jovel- Let me inquiry about the copy of report.
Jack- If this is the case, then I am sure there are 2 or more than 2 thieves, and one is among the museum staff.
Inspector Jovel: How can you say so? The staff working here is constantly monitored.
Jack: You are partially right, the staff is monitored, but via CCTV & at the time of robbery no CCTV footage is been captured. Without a power cut issue, how can there be a blackout?
Inspector Jovel: You are right, except the staff member, nobody knows where is the power supply room & general public cant enter the power supply room, it is open for staff only. That means the thief is among the staff.
Jack: Yes, again you are partially right. Another thief can be among laymen.
Inspector Jovel- How can you be so sure about it?
Jack- While scrutinizing the crime scene, I found a ring, finger ring from Washroom.
Inspector Jovel- I am not getting you, finding a ring from the washroom makes you think that thief is among the visitors?
Jack: It a female ring & I have found it from a male washroom, which means after the robbery the lady thief must have visited washroom to wash her hands & due to blackout she couldn't make her way, as she is not used to with the lanes of the museum, unlike the staff members. Moreover, CCTV has hacked, which means whoever it is either thief has taken the help of someone who knows hacking or has knowledge about computers.
Inspector: How do you know they went there to wash their hands? Any layman might have lost ring.
Jack: An attractive WAX decoration was done around "Oxus treasure" collection, if the thieves don't wash their hands after the robbery, due to wax, their hand must have got sticky, the stickiness of wax would make it easy for us to catch them. Hence they washed their hands. And let's assume a layman might have lost ring, then he must have made noise or inform the staff, as it is a gold ring, considering prices of GOLD is seems to be an expensive one.
Inspector, update me about the missing papers from reports.
Inspector- Yes.
(Jack meets his team & makes a plan to catch the robber)
Jack- Now listen to me carefully, if this ideal fails we will not be able to solve this case. What's that one thing that troubles the thief the most?
Mark- Fear of being caught out?
Jack- Isn't that obvious? Other than that what troubles the thief the most?
Inspector Jovel- Accidentally leaving clue at the crime scene, I think that fear troubles the thief most.
Jack: Yes, That's True.
Inspector: Sorry to interrupt, but Your doubt was right, pages are missing from copies as well. As per my team, those pages had details about the conversation that I had with visitors.
I remember I communicated randomly with few guests before you arrived & nothing was suspectable about any of them.
Jack: Still I want to know what conversation you had with visitors. Tell me as much in detail as you can.
Inspector: I communicated with 4 visitors, 2 females & 2 males.
Maya is the name of the first visitor I asked questions to, she is a teacher, she has imparted some of the vocational courses & short term courses. She is teaching at ER International School for the past 12 years. She was here just to gather knowledge.
The second was Ria- She is a computer engineer aged 25 years, she was here with her friends, she is fond of antiques & that the reason she is here at the museum.
Sam is another visitor whom I questioned, he is physically handicapped by birth, he is pursuing his bachelors in Electronics, has he is here with his parents.
Next person whom I interacted with was Sam's father, Mr. Peter, he is a retired postman, he is a middle-aged man, while I was asking questions to him he requested me to complete an investigation as early as possible as his son is handicapped & it's difficult for him to sit for so long. I asked him why he doesn't opt for operating his son's injury, science & medication can it make it possible for his son to walk on his own but due to financial issues he cants do so & all of sudden, he started crying so I didn't ask him anything further.
Jack: It can be any of them as well, Ria has knowledge of computers, she might have hacked the system. Mr. Peter is in need of money for his son's operation, Sam has knowledge of electronics, he might have helped his father or Maya who is a teacher but has a vocational course, which means she might have knowledge about electricity & how to tamper electricity connection? Or it can be someone else.
To catch the criminal, I have an idea. We have to spread the rumor that I have found a clue about the thief, which is kept in the staff room & will reveal about the clue in half an hour after the police commissioner arrives.
As soon as the thieves will come to know about the rumor, they will surely try to tamper the clue as they tried to tamper the report.
And as soon as he/she enters the staff room, they will be caught by the spy camera placed in the room.
Let’s spread this rumor & catch the thieves.
