Baptism by Fire: Death on the Table Mountain

By Saumya Chaki

Baptism by Fire is a collection of five investigative stories of an enterprising new-age detective duo – Samrat Sanyal and Aveek Gupta. Samrat is an ex-government sleuth turned private eye, while Aveek is cyber-security professional turned detective.
Set in different locales, our new age detective duo crack some complex and nerve-wracking cases. From being called upon to solve the disappearance of a labour leader in the tea gardens near Darjeeling to the mysterious death of a regular hiker in the Table Mountains of Cape Town, or searching for a missing island in the exotic Andaman and Nicobar, to investigating the murder of a management school student – they’ve done it all.
Death on the Table Mountain is centered around the mysterious death of a hiker and travel blog writer on the Table Mountains in Cape Town, South Africa. Samrat and Aveek land up in Cape Town as part of a trip to South Africa and get involved in a most intriguing case involving narcotics and crime networks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Srishti Publishers
• Release date: Aug 6, 2018

Book preview

2018

Introduction

He has a piercing glance and an elephant’s memory. If you saw him in a public place, he would stand out in a crowd. He was born as Samrat Sanyal. Standing at over six feet, his lean frame made him look taller. We studied Geology in college together (Presidency College, Kolkata) and became good friends. Little did we know what life had in store for us. Samrat was talented and excelled in college at both academics and sports. He was a natural leader, when it came to organising student activities or the annual excursions. What set him apart from an early age, was his voracious reading and keen sense of observation about almost everything around him.

Samrat joined the Central Bureau of Investigation after completing his master’s degree in Geology. I went to study computer applications as my master major. After completing my masters, I joined IT Security Consultants, a security consulting firm and moved to the US.

Ten years later we met at our annual alumni steamer party. We connected and promised to be in touch. In the meantime I moved back to India to work with a small start-up firm in Bangalore. Samrat had also chucked his government job to work with a travel magazine in Kolkata. He was bored of investigating corruption cases in state governments and public sector enterprises. He wanted to be self-employed and a master of his own will. He was toying with the idea of doing part time work as a private investigator. I was bored of my consulting career and wanted to be a full-time writer. I had a passion for writing since college and my career as a consultant left me with little time to write. So we decided to take a month’s break and explore the hills of North Bengal and Sikkim for a month. I know it sounds escapist but that’s what we did that summer in 1999. I had already decided that I would quit my job and write about my experiences in the hills once I was back to Kolkata.

It almost slipped my mind to tell you who I am. My name is Aveek Gupta. I finished my schooling in the Mussorie hills, before moving to Kolkata for my graduation. I love the outdoors and as you already know my passion is to write about the places I visit. I edited my department magazine ‘Bhoo Vidya’ during graduation. Now that we are done with the introductions let me take you on a journey of our adventures in the following years. Little do we know how our friendship and past experiences would define the course of our lives in the coming years. So here is our story that starts in the hot summer month of May 1999.

Ancient and modern mariners often see the sandstone cliff tops standing out in the mist that surrounds the mountains from the Atlantic Ocean. The impressive mountain range that stands guard in front of Cape Town, goes by the name of The Table Mountains. The Table Top Mountains stand at an impressive 1100 metres above mean sea level and tower over the city. The quartzite sandstone cliffs stand out as they are resistant to erosion, and form steep gray crags. The Table Mountains are part of the Table Mountain National park and represent the north eastern end of Cape Fold Mountains that run for over 50 kilometres. The Table Mountains are also rich in flora and fauna. This makes it an ideal place to hike and explore.

James Botha was one such hiker who loved hiking in these mountains. Every Saturday, he would drive down from Woodstock to the Table Mountain National Park from where he would hike up to the Devil’s Peak. He liked this part as there were lesser tourists and liked the solitude and the calmness of the hills as well as the breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean during the hike. Sometimes it got very windy and he would have to abandon the prospect of reaching the top. Needless of what happened the previous week, he would be back the next Saturday on his regular jaunt. James was around thirty-five and he loved the outdoors. He had served with the South African Railways for nearly a decade. He had worked