Seshu wasn't of sound mind, needed help in understanding both himself and the concept of boundaries and morality. In his condition of mental health that had survived years of abuse and dark survival methods, he couldn't be trusted with the life of someone; especially that of a person who was the reason for most of his deeds including murders.
"We can find him," Vishal deduced to Sandeep as they stood overseeing the forensic proceedings at the crime scene. "He was there during the pavement accident incident. Mitra captured him in that video which she posted to Twitter. We can cross-check the people who appear in that video and the records of those were booked that day for the traffic violations."
"I will tell the team to look into it. We should get something by tomorrow," Sandeep stated.
"You think this validates what he testified in the video, about these two dead people being criminals?" Vishal wondered aloud to Sandeep, pointing at the corpses being moved to a mortuary van.
"It would take a day or two, but we can get an idea of the extent of the truth once the preliminary investigation is done. Word will spread around and we will get tips and unofficial data about it from our informers," came the answer.
"Would Seshu be prosecuted for this?" Vishal asked quite unsurely.
"Yes," Sandeep's answer was with a tone of obviousness.
"Even if he saved a number of women from getting trafficked?" Vishal was pragmatic.
Sandeep turned to look at him and Vishal could see that he was conflicted a little too.
"It is a crime, no matter how upright it is," Sandeep voiced firmly. "He might get a little leniency for having saved innocents, but there are other devastating crimes he committed. Mitra, Lekha, and god knows who else he killed or criminally offended all these years. Not to forget the hawala rings and the cyber crimes he is involved with in Mumbai. He has a lot to be tried for in court." He paused and then added, "With the way things stand right now, we would be shooting him first if and when we find him."
Vishal wasn't against it. There was just a small prick in a corner of his conscience which kept nagging him occasionally with the fact that Mitra didn't get peddled away by women traffickers because of Seshu.
She was still locked up in his custody and being psychologically marred by him, and that in itself warranted death for Seshu. He had crossed too many lines of moral obligations and justifications.
Still, for the one help he did to keep her safe, Vishal wanted to see if there would be any chance of putting him off the noose of death.
Mitra was getting her initial support back from public and media. It was visible to everyone how naive and thoughtful she was, and despite the flak she had received previously for her involvement in Lekha's murder, she was earning brownie points for being true to herself, for being strong and trying to talk sense into Sashi's clouded head.
They pitied her fate and expressed thankfulness for her escape from the women traffickers, no matter how it was evaded.
Seshu, or Sashi as the public knew, was gaining a strange cult following online. There was no lack of people with grey principles, perverted ideologies and forsaken thoughts. All they cared about and highlighted was his abstinence from killing Mitra and the cruel way he had "saved her". They all "understood his behaviour" and empathized with him, some even defending him strongly.
He was a hero to a delicately high number of people. They were ignoring the glaring maltreatment and persecution he was subjecting Mitra to. They were idolizing a criminal and the rational observers noted that the cult behaviour might egg Sashi further into dark territories that he cannot return from.
The insensitive and thick-skinned supporters might actually justify Sashi's actions even if he were to murder Mitra. They would say she deserved it.
Heavens forbid if Sashi was already drawing inspiration from the callous and inhuman keyboard warriors posting ridiculous abetting statements online.
Vishal had been keeping Mitra's parents posted about all the efforts that were being put for finding her. The women trafficking incident was something he found answering to a little tough. He himself was so agonized that he had to pull all his strength into assuring them that it was nothing, that they were still investigating, and that Sashi's claims might not be all true.
The ambiguous explanations were much better than subjecting them to the same rational turmoil that he was going through. To Mitra's parents, the news that she had almost been lost to sex slavery felt too emotionally damaging.
"I've got the location," Dhara informed Vishal over the phone. She had put a trace on the video as soon as it was uploaded and called up Vishal just as she found the IP address.
"Tracking him is faster now; he's following the same patterns of his cyber activity."
"He won't be there by the time we reach," Vishal stated the obvious. "And he would have covered his tracks well. But still, send it over to me. Who knows, we might find something."
"I'm not sure about that," she voiced uncertainly. "He used a public Wi-Fi network in a mall."
"It's okay. We are closing in on a radius for his location."
"Got it. I texted you the details. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Sure. Thanks."
It had been days since he had slept for more than five hours, and yet, Vishal didn't feel exhausted. He felt like he was working on his adrenalin reserves. He sat in a corner in Sandeep's office watching the traffic accident video that Mitra had shot a year ago.
The video was a little rushed, as Mitra had tried to capture everyone present and perpetrating the traffic violations, thereby making it a little unfocused at certain points. She hadn't fixated the video on anyone for longer than a second, except for the actual culprit who had committed the accident and the registration plates of the two-wheelers on the pavement.
Vishal paused at every frame trying to check out the people visible, noticing and memorizing their faces. He had been considering a possibility of recognizing and nabbing Seshu in case he was actually keeping an eye on Vishal or directly following him like before.
There should be at least one coincidence or an incident where they both could cross paths, and Vishal needed to be prepared for it.