Shiv Shankar switched off his phone before leaving Surat. He was 26 years old, had a plan and, according to Indian police, a film to guide him.
He had watched ‘Drishyam 3’ at a cinema in the city, where he lived and worked with his wife. He was drawn to the logic of a planned crime, with an alibi and no digital trace. He then set off on a journey of nearly 2.000 kilometers to his village in the Samastipur district of Bihar. He passed through Patna and Hajipur, got off at Patori station, took an auto-rickshaw and walked another four kilometers. He entered through the back door and attacked his father, Raghuveer Sahni, 50, with an axe while he was sleeping. Sources cite a dispute over family land and a tense relationship between the two.
The trap lay in a single gesture. In Patori, he switched his phone back on for a few seconds to call his wife, then switched it off again. That was enough: the call gave investigators the lead they needed to track him down and arrest him in Surat.
Everything known about the case comes from the police account, and there has been no conviction.