The white Qualis parked by the road side three men alighted. Two of them were carrying small canvas bags much like the ones favoured by workmen. They were dressed in grey uniforms typical of many construction and utility companies common in that place. A third man was wearing a white shirt and pants and he looked and behaved like their senior. He was carrying nothing apart from a small notebook and a mobile phone. They opened the back of the car and started pulling out a small hoarding advertising a discount sale on Manik Jewellers.
"Hurry up. We have to finish the job before 2:30." The senior looking man barked.
The other two men were probably used to such talk. One of them shrugged but nevertheless both quickened their steps. In two trips they had carried and deposited all their stuff below the metro line passing above the road. Its pillars were nearly 9-10 meters high and constructed right in between the divider of the road. The pillar they were interested in was nearest to the traffic lights that controlled the traffic from three roads that converged there. The place had no official name but was informally known as Radio Chowk due to the big radio tower nearby. During the day, it was bustling with thousands of people but there was nobody in sight at midnight.
After taking inventory of all the stuff, the man in white shirt let out a satisfied grunt and asked the other two to begin their work. They opened their bags and started taking out their tools. One placed a small folding ladder near the pillar and climbed on it. Taking out a measuring tape and a small piece of chalk he started making marks on the pillar with help of the other 2 men. After the markings were made, he took out a portable drill and started drilling holes in the pillar. He was still in the middle of drilling his second hole when they were interrupted by the irritated voice of a beat constable.
"What the hell you guys are doing?" The loud voice of the constable so startled him, that, he almost dropped the drill on the head of his mate standing below. The drill was a comparatively silent type but the sound carried far at that deserted hour. The policeman had walked in completely unnoticed, his footfalls masked by the sound of the drill.
White shirt guy barked at him to stop and strode towards the cop with a big smile pasted on his face. “Good evening sir. We're from NewWays Enterprises." Motioning towards the hoarding he said, “We need to put up that hoardings on metro pillars."
"At this time? Couldn't you do it during day time?" Cop asked while nudging their wares with his stick.
"We had instructions for night time only.” white shirt replied without allowing any change in his smile,
"Really? Who gave you these instructions? "
"uh...our boss did. Mr. Nehra is his name. "
"Do you have permission from government agencies? You can't put up advertisements on government properties just like that. Where are the official letters?" he demanded.
"We have that too sir. In the car. I'll show you. “Saying this, he turned and started walking towards the car with cop ambling after him. He opened the car door and rummaged amongst papers littering the dashboard. After making a show of it for some time he emerged triumphantly waving a sheet of paper.
"Here it is. Letter from NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council)."
The policeman took it from him and read through it absently. Handing the paper back, "But this is from NDMC and the pillar you are hanging your stuff belongs to Delhi Metro. You can't do anything without their approval."
"I'm sure Delhi Metro has approved it. Our boss wouldn't have sent us otherwise." white shirt stammered uneasily.
Policeman snapped, "I really don't care about your boss or his instructions... If you are going to hang this hoarding on that pillar you need...”
Rest of the sentence was left unfinished as the policeman dropped unceremoniously to the ground. One of the two uniformed guys had sneaked up behind him and hit him on the head with a hammer. He watched with cold impassive eyes as blood started to spread around the fallen constable's head.
White shirt looked at him with some surprise but quickly composed himself, "Good work."
The second uniformed guy had walked approached by then and he too was staring at the blood. In a voice barely audible he asked "Is he dead?”
White shirt crouched and felt the neck of policeman "I can't find pulse. Must be dead or would die within minutes. Now let us carry this body and dump it in that under construction house over there. It's full of rubble; nobody will find him before morning. Hurry up before anybody sees us."
The three quickly lifted limp body of the cop and hid him behind a mound of dirt. All then sprinted to the pillar and resumed their work feverishly. "You two finish drilling the holes. I'll finish connecting the electrical stuff by then. Hurry up. We've got to catch the train at 3:00. No time to waste. That moron cop could've messed up everything"
Working quickly they fitted the hoarding and packed up their tools before 2:30. "Everything finished?" White shirt asked glancing at both men in turn. Both nodded yes. "Let's go then. Change your clothes in the car. Train leaves in half an hour."
Picking up their belongings they quickly threw everything inside the Qualis and drove away towards Old Delhi railway station. They changed in to new clothes while on the road and threw old clothes and their tool bags in a sewage gutter in the way. They parked their car a few 100 meters away from the station and caught the train to Gorakhpur near Nepal border; they were out of New Delhi before 04:00 am.