Four Murders and a Funeral
Episode 3 of Paatal Lok season 2 begins with a look at Max Rizu, the Nagaland drug dealer, at home, arguing with his wife. He’s just got drugs out on the side and generally he’s a pretty awful dad. He’s in hot water with Thom’s men and needs to get a tie for the upcoming funeral, but it’s not looking good, especially when his son grabs the tray and ends up snorting cocaine,
Meanwhile, Chaudhary and Ansari arrive in Nagaland, with the former immediately in trouble given it’s a dry state and he’s smuggled alcohol in. After clearing up this sticky issue, the pair meet Isaac and Meghna, the two officers working the scene here. The pair immediately find themselves facing bureaucratic walls, and shut out the investigation. Given Thom died on their turf, it’s caused a lot of tensions between the two areas.
A lot of Nagaland are heading to the funeral and en-route, we learn that Max had gone underground and the police here are also looking for him. At the funeral, Reuben, Jonathan Thom’s son, shows up and there’s immediately hostilities as guns are pointed and Reuben is livid.
Uncle Ken shows and manages to calm him down, and this happens to be the same man from the board meeting we saw in episode 1, who calmed down his associates regarding the police investigation. As things simmer, we also meet Kapil Reddy, the Special Advisor to the Government of India.
Along with being in this pressure cooker of tension, things at home still aren’t great with Renu. She’s not happy with him, explaining that she’s irritable given the situation, and this kid keeps wetting the bed too. Although the child is obviously doing his best, Renu is frustrated and it’s putting a strain on their marriage.
Ansari and Chaudhary next head off to visit Rose’s parents. She’s not there, and apparently its been 8 years since she showed up. She hasn’t even rung them in all that time and there’s no love lost between her and her mother. When probed over the connection between Rose and Thom, her mum simply calls Thom a monster. However, this doesn’t add up given Rose’s father was crying at the funeral. As we soon learn, Rose’s dad actually worked for Thom for 14 years.
However, the guys do have an extra lead in the case, stemming from the fact that Rose used to work in a hotel called the Ruli for a few years. And the owner of that hotel? Kapil Reddy’s wife, Grace. Ansari speaks to Grace, who points out that the girl was a drug addict, fired for stealing from one of the rooms.
Ansari’s alarm bells immediately ring. It’s definitely not coincidence that Thom was murdered at the conference venue organized by Reddy, with the main suspect happening to be an ex-employee of his wife. Rose’s picture is all over the news too, so why hasn’t anyone there stepped forward before now?
Chaudhary meanwhile, learns that Rose actually rang a rehab doctor that night in a panic. The woman, Esther Shipong, explains that she was running away and needed a place to hide, Esther refused to give her lodging. Now, Rose was also having an affair with Thom.
When the officers leave, Meghna is not sure they can trust this intel, but Ansari and Chaudhary are clearly getting closer to the truth here.
Checking the phone records, they also learn that Max Rizu was the one who rang Jonathan Thom at the bar that night. However, as they talk, the pair realize they’re being tailed by the State Police. When Meghna rings, she reveals that they’ve found Max’s body, strung up by his tie and dead.
The Episode Review
So it seems like there’s further developments in the case as the Thom family are certainly not squeaky clean and their ties to drugs make them prime targets to being taken out. There’s definitely a political connection here too, given the Reddy’s just happen to be connected to all of this which definitely isn’t a coincidence!
This Uncle Ken character has been suspiciously passive and friendly to the degree of being everywhere but also going under the radar. Could he also be a potential target too? This could well be cause for concern going forward.
Meanwhile, Chaudhary and Ansari are starting to get closer to figuring out what’s happening and it seems like the Nagaland police may not be entirely forthright with them either. There’s definitely hostilities between the two groups and it’s throwing big question marks over exactly who can be trusted – and who’s telling lies. However, this is undoubtedly a really good episode for tightening that screw!
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