Amit felt nothing but a clean absence after Ranjit. He was now a veteran of the dark process.
Debu, the second killer, was easier to trace. Debu was a rickshaw puller who routinely slept in his cart near the main market square. Amit captured him using the same chokehold and chemical cloth method.
Amit chose a secluded section of the railway line, a short walk from his own post, tying Debu to a redundant junction box, well-hidden from the main track.
The Punishment: Corrosion and Frequency (Prolonged Agony)
Debu's torment was themed around maximization of pure physical pain receptors and sensory overload. The goal was to keep Debu conscious and in extreme pain for nearly four hours.
1. Chemical Stripping (First Hour): Amit used the flask of specialized, slow-acting corrosive solvent. He applied it, carefully measured, to Debu's back and torso. The solvent did not instantly burn, but slowly and deeply degraded the top layer of skin and tissue, causing hours of deep, burning, chemical agony. Debu writhed, but the steel wire held him fast to the metal box.
2. Frequency Shock (Second and Third Hour): Amit, using his knowledge of electrical wiring, had prepared a custom rig. He connected a low-voltage battery to fine, exposed copper wire stripped from a transformer. He then attached the wires to Debu's teeth and the base of his spine. He applied intermittent, high-frequency, low-amperage current—not enough to kill or even cause a permanent burn, but enough to induce waves of intense, localized nerve pain. The system created a continuous, agonizing, rhythmic shock that made Debu's body spasm and scream.
3. Aural Overload: While under electric shock, Amit played the digital recording of Ranjit's full confession on repeat, amplified through a cheap speaker placed close to Debu's head. The sound, mixed with the physical agony, broke Debu's mind.
4. Death: After four hours, Debu was a barely coherent mass, dehydrated and physically broken. Amit ended the process by switching the current to a high-amperage setting, routing it through the heart. The death was instantaneous, violent, and looked like a flash short-circuit due to a faulty old junction box.
Subodh's View:
Sipahi Subodh heard the official report: two local thugs killed, one disappearance, one accidental electrocution. He realized with cold dread that Amit was using his own professional environment—the railway—as his final execution ground. He found Amit at the tea stall, calmly sipping tea.
"Sir," Subodh murmured, his voice low. "The body found near the rail line... it was one of the names. And the police say it was faulty wiring."
Amit didn't look up. "The police will find nothing, Sipahi Das. They never do. A wire failure is the easiest fault to document."
Subodh shivered. He realized he hadn't just given a man justice; he had given a grieving man a blueprint for murder.