Kavitha knew for a month. Anil's internal memo (BNL/QA/2847/2025) had landed on her desk on 1 May. She did not respond. On 3 May, when Anil filed a preliminary complaint with DCGI directly, she had Sanjay Mehta handle it — Sanjay called the concerns "unfounded" and the regulator accepted it. DCGI approval was granted on 6 May. The IPO roadshow began the next morning. Kavitha believed the problem was contained.

Then Anil texted Priyanka Rao at 21:52 — "Can we talk? Lab C. Now." — and Kavitha understood she had days, not weeks. Anil had recruited a witness. He had the raw outcome forms. The complaint draft in his laptop was almost complete. By the time she saw his lab notebook entry that afternoon, or overheard his call to Priyanka, or simply did the arithmetic herself, she had made a decision.

At some point during the DCGI celebration — before the 21:00 group photo — she located Anil's scheduled route to Lab Block C and used her Siemens SENTRON Specialist Certification (cert. KN-SENT-19/0392, valid) to configure Workstation LN-07's PAC3200 energy monitoring board. The DIP switch firmware modification took between 22 and 38 minutes. She wore BioNexus lab-issue nitrile gloves (Size M) throughout. She wiped the surfaces. She left a trace on the drawer pull she did not catch.

At 21:12, her badge exited Lab Block B. She did not badge into Lab Block C. She used the service corridor BNL-SERV/B2C — a sub-ground utility passage connecting the two blocks, with push-bar exits and no card reader. Her Tesla remained in Bay B-14 until 22:31. Her phone was dark. She left campus at 22:35. Anil Reddy's body was found at 22:47 by night security guard Suresh Babu.

Priyanka Rao never made it to Lab Block C. She had Level 1 access — Block A only. She left campus at 22:20, not knowing that the man waiting for her was already dead.