📢 LEAD DETECTIVE — Read aloud to all players before opening any evidence
It is Thursday evening, 6 March 2025. Pune's most respected law firm — Desai & Associates — is working late. Senior partner Vikram Desai, 67, is found by the security guard at 9:15 PM, slumped at the base of his bookshelf in his corner office on the 14th floor. His skull is fractured. His glass paperweight is missing from its usual position on the desk. A half-overturned side table and a scattered sheaf of case files suggest an accidental fall.
The forensics team disagrees with that story.
Five people were in the building or had recent access. The firm's internal files contain secrets worth destroying a career over — or worse. Your team has been called in before the police complete their first sweep.
| Scene | Room 1401, Desai & Associates, ICC Trade Tower, Pune |
|---|---|
| Body Found By | Prakash Thorat — Security Guard — 9:15 PM |
| Cause of Death | Pending post-mortem — preliminary: closed head injury |
| Weapon | Not yet established — glass paperweight missing from scene |
| TOD Estimate | 20:30 – 21:10 hrs (medical examiner preliminary) |
| Scene Status | 14th floor sealed — ICC Tower building management cooperating |
| # | Name | Role | Known Conflict with Victim |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | Reena Mehrotra, 44 | Junior Partner | Passed over for senior partner elevation January 2025; trusted colleague for 11 years; received a call from Vikram at 3:30 PM on the day of death |
| S2 | Siddharth Kapoor, 38 | Real Estate Client | ₹40cr land acquisition case going badly — adverse affidavit filed last week; signed into building at 19:45; three charged calls with Vikram in preceding fortnight |
| S3 | Priya Desai, 35 | Victim's Daughter | Estranged for years; will revised four months ago — ₹2.2cr inheritance stake altered; informed of change February 2025; two calls to Vikram in the preceding month |
| S4 | Arjun Nair, 29 | Junior Associate | Formal HR warning issued by Vikram six weeks prior over alleged conduct; submitted written rebuttal; no direct contact with Vikram since |
| S5 | Lata Krishnan, 52 | Office Manager | Promotion and regrading request declined in writing by Vikram, February 2025, after 18 years of service; holds master key access to all 14th floor administrative areas |