The Forgery - The Detective Boys - Short Story 2

 

Vimal Babu was an ecstatic man when he returned home that evening. It was the first Monday of 1998 and winter was at its peak. Light evening fog had engulfed the lanes of Dhakuria. But all these didn’t matter to Vimal Babu. “What happened grandfather?” asked Ritwick with utmost interest. Vimal Babu had a wooden box in his hand which had a royal appearance.

“You know what this is, Ritwick?” Vimal Babu showed the box in his hand to Ritwick

“Ahh, don’t bother thinking. I will tell you”

“These are vintage Indian One-rupee coins. I got it from an antique collector. I had been looking out for these for a long time.” Vimal Babu opened the box and showed them to Ritwick. They seemed extremely antique and historical. A mere look at those gave goose bumps to Ritwick.

“Can I touch them?” asked Ritwick.

Ritwick took some of the coins in his own hand and observed carefully. He observed that the coins were made of Silver. The reverse of the coins had “East India Company” engraved upon them.

“To which period do these belong, grandfather?”

Vimal Babu took out a piece of paper and looked into it.

“In between 1835 and 1862.”

Ritwick was in awe of the coins. For the next few days, Ritwick would often ask Vimal Babu for the coins to see them. He had even invited Deep Das to his house to show the collection.

“These are terrific, Ritwick!”  Deep Das had remarked upon first seeing them.

 Ritwick  asked his grandfather about the person who had sold him the antiques. Vimal Babu informed that the person had been an antique trader who had a shop in the nearby Gol Park locality.

His name was Roy. People often referred to him as Mr. Roy. Roy was quite famous in and around the Gol Park, Dhakuria and Gariahaat localities for his antique collection as he had regular customers from these areas.

Ritwick couldn’t resist his excitement. He along with Deep Das visited Mr Roy that evening. On arrival at the shop, Ritwick was fascinated looking at Roy’s collections at his small shop.

“Do you have more ancient Indian coins like the ones which you had given to Vimal Babu?”

“Yes, I surely have.” Roy had been happy as it seemed he had more customers.

He showed them some. Ritwick and Deep Das looked at them with outmost of interest.

“To which period do these belong, uncle?” asked Deep Das.

“These belong to the period 1936 to 1938.”

“Ohh, and whose face’s image is engraved on the reverse of this coin?”

Roy looked at it. “Ahh, this is King Edward VIII.”

Ritwick looked at it closely.

“Interesting!” remarked Ritwick casually.

That evening when back home, Ritwick looked at Vimal Babu's coins again. He looked closely at them with the help of his grandfather’s reading lens.

In the night he performed an experiment on the coin which brought Ritwick’s suspicion to reality. He informed about it to Vimal Babu after which Vimal Babu himself was surprised.

Next morning, Vimal Babu, Ritwick and Deep Das went to Mr Roy’s shop.

“I want to return these coins” remarked Vimal Babu to Roy.

“May I ask you, sir, what made you conclude upon this action?”

“These are all fake. These are not the actual antique ones. These are only the forged ones.” Answered Vimal Babu.

“And what makes you say that sir?”

Ritwick couldn’t control more. “I will let you know, uncle.” All this while Deep Das couldn’t really understand anything that had been taking place.

“You see, first of all, the coins which you gave to my grandfather are not the actual ones. Now you would want to know how? You had informed my grandfather that these coins belonged to the period in between 1835 and 1862. Right?”

“Right!” answered Roy.

“It cannot be, Uncle. Do you know about the coinage act of 1835 that was brought in by the East India Company?”

“I have some idea about it,” said Roy.

“Then you will also know that the coins which had been minted from 1835 onwards weighed approximately 11.66 grams.”

Roy was stumped out.

“And your coin weighs 13.50 grams, Mr Roy.”

Deep Das looked at Ritwick in shock. He couldn’t actually believe that the coins were fake ones.

Roy knew he was caught.

All this while, a stranger was standing near Ritwick in the disguise of looking at the collections. He was actually one among the local police. Vimal Babu returned the coins and took back his money. The local police representative took over the questioning as Vimal Babu, Ritwick and Deep Das left. They had brought the local police representative along with them to the shop.

As they walked back, Deep Das looked at Ritwick in confusion.

“How did you know that he was fake?”

Ritwick looked back at Deep Das. “Remember that day when we had gone to that shop and Mr Roy had shown us some coins.”

“Yes, but everything was fine that day, wasn’t it?”

“Mr Roy had said that the face which was engraved on reverse of that coin was of King Edward VIII.”

“Yeah, so?”

“My dear innocent Deep, unlike others, King Edward VIII had never been engraved on any Indian coins minted by British. He had bluffed and thank God I had done my homework before I went to his shop. That bluff made me cautious against Mr Roy, that’s why I checked the coins that night.”

As they walked by the Dhakuria Bridge, Deep Das, like always was  awe struck by his friend, Ritwick.