NCC Cadets in the Line of Justice

Follow the gripping journey of Aarav, Arnav, and Dev, three NCC cadets who stumble upon a tragic mystery in the jungle during their training. Written by Nilanjana Gupta of class 8, Epic Public School, this story of courage, friendship, and justice unfolds as the trio seeks to solve a brutal crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Aarav, Arnav, and Dev were three NCC cadets of the 1st Bihar arty regiment. They all were in FCTC training in forest areas. Suddenly all three friends had separated themselves from the rest of the groups by mistake and forgotten the right way to reach their camp.
Aarav was the senior among them so he convinced his fellow cadets not to worry and that they would reach their camp safely.
Aarav was trying to find the right path with the help of blowing winds. Suddenly they could hear a screaming sound, it was a female voice, possibly a young girl. They started going in the direction of the sound and finally, they found a wounded girl lying in the bushes. It looked like she had been beaten very brutally.
Aarav and Dev ran towards the girl, lifted her, and slowly came out from the bushes. Arnav spoke to Dev “Just check if you can find someone nearby. If you find someone ask for help.”
As Dev left, Arnav took out his first aid box to help the girl. She was bleeding terribly through her nose and ears. Meanwhile, Dev managed to find a passer-by. The man helped them to connect to their camp and they asked for an ambulance for the girl. They informed the entire situation and asked the camp to inform the local police. 
The local police reached along with the NCC camp commander and the girl was taken to the hospital. Following this, all three cadets reached their camp. The commander praised them for prompt action to save a life. But later that night they received a sad news. The girl they had saved died.
They decided to help the police to solve the case to give justice to the girl. As they reached the police station they found that the inspector had already received the post-mortem report and it revealed that the girl was being beaten brutally. However since the girl was unable to give any statements before she died, the case remains unsolved.
The three friends decided to investigate the case themselves.
The next day they visited the hospital and started speaking to the ward boy. They befriended him in no time and invited him for a cup of tea, by this time the ward boy was quite comfortable and started discussing various topics. It was then that Arnav suddenly asked him “Madhavda tell me something, why is there no CCTV in the hospital?”
“Who said we do not have CCTV? We have cameras installed in each and every place.” Madhav replied proudly.
“Oh is it?” Arnav pretended to be surprised. He wanted to know more details from the man.
 “As a matter of fact that reminds me something.”
“What?” a curious Arnav asked.
Do you remember the girl you brought the other day? The one who died the next day?”
“Yes, of course. Why what about her?” All three came close to Madhav in anticipation.
“Well, the day she died, I was cleaning the CCTV monitor room and then suddenly I saw on the TV that she was trying to say something looking at the camera.” Madhav narrated.
“What was she saying?” Arnav asked, quite excited by this time.
“That I do not know, it was some sign language which I do not understand.”
“Okay Madhabda, you are a great help.”
And in no time the trio rushed to the hospital and went straight to the CCTV monitor room. But to their surprise, the officer in charge refused to show the footage without proper approval.
“But you see this is a crucial lead to the case,” Dev argued.
“I understand, but I have to follow the protocol. Why don’t you ask the police inspector to come with an official letter, that way you all can see the footage.” The officer suggested.
When they returned to the hospital, they were joined by the police inspector and another lady – Aarna. She was a middle-aged lady who was an expert in sign language.
After viewing the video several times she finally spoke.
“The girl was indicating to the fact that her assailant was a man, in fact, a young man with a tattoo on his left arm, and the tattoo was the alphabet ‘S’.”
“Alphabet S?” reacted Aarav. “I know someone with the alphabet ‘S’ tattooed in his hand, left or right I don’t remember.”
“Oh come on Aarav, there are plenty of people who have tattoos on their hands, we cannot suspect someone just basis that.” The inspector reacted.
“You are right, but this is a beginning at least,” Dev said.
“Yes, true but not a very strong one.” Said the inspector.
When they returned to their camp, they first checked on the man they were suspecting. His name was Saurav. “We have to first check if the tattoo is in his left or right hand.” Dev suggested.
“But how?” asked Arnav.
“I have a plan…..
After an hour a PT drill was organised at the NCC camp. All the cadets came in line one by one wearing shorts and vests which was their PT uniform. All joined except Aarav, Arnav, Dev, and the commander. They were observing the exercise from a distance.
“There is Saurav, his tattoo is on his left hand,” Dev informed.
“Well, now that we crossed another step, what next?” asked Arnav.
“Very simple, we need to check where Saurav was on the day of the incident.” Saying this Aarav turned to the commander, “Sir, can we check?”
“Of course, come to my office, we can check the in-out register.”
After about an hour the police inspector was speaking to Saurav at the campus. “So where were you on Tuesday, Mr Saurav?”
“I was here on the campus, why?” Saurav replied coolly, “Why what is the matter officer?”
“You were not, according to this register.” The inspector showed him the book.
“Oh, yes I went out to buy some chocolates,” Saurav replied, but this time less confident.
“Where did you buy it from?” the inspector probed further.
“The shop opposite our campus,” Saurav replied after a pause.
“So, how long did you take to buy the chocolate?”
Sweat appeared on Saurav’s forehead.
“Tell us, Mr Saurav, how long did you take?” The inspector spoke with a firm voice.
“I ….I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember because you did not go the shop, instead you were in the jungle…
“No,….No… I …I did not kill the girl…
“Kill the girl? Which girl Mr Saurav?”
Saurav kept quiet.
“Which girl tell me …which girl.”
“No…it was an accident, I did not kill the girl. Please believe me.”
“Accident? You are lying. The girl named you in her dying statement”
“But she could not have I had beaten her so much that she was unable to speak at all….” Saurav realised that he had already acknowledged his crime unknowingly and broke down in tears.
Finding no other options Saurav finally said “Yes inspector we did do it.”
“We?”
“Yes sir, me and my friends…”
And as Saurav gave all the names the police caught them, though they tried to run, but as the police had surrounded the campus from all sides, they were arrested finally and were taken to the police station.
The commander was angry and sad at the same time because of such devilish action of one of his students. But somewhere he was happy that the case was finally solved by Aarav, Arnav, and Dev.
A year later after they had passed from NCC, Aarav, Arnav, and Dev were recruited by the police department. And as far as Saurav and his friends, well they were sentenced to death.