{ "schemaVersion": 2, "meta": { "id": "case-001", "caseNumber": 1, "title": "The Last Peg", "subtitle": "A founder, a decanter, and four people lying about Friday night.", "difficulty": "medium", "parSeconds": 1200, "setting": "An architecture firm in Indiranagar, Bangalore — March 2026", "contentWarnings": [ "Poisoning", "Grief" ], "authoredBy": "hand", "cover": { "src": "assets/cover.webp", "alt": "The studio at night from across the street: a converted two-storey house with a glass upper floor, one window still lit.", "caption": "Malhotra + Vale Architects, Indiranagar." } }, "suspects": [ { "id": "s1", "name": "Priya Vale", "age": 49, "role": "Co-founding partner", "relation": "Business partner of the deceased for nineteen years; the firm carries both their names.", "portrait": { "src": "assets/s1.webp", "alt": "Identification photograph of Priya Vale, 49." } }, { "id": "s2", "name": "Arjun Nair", "age": 38, "role": "Senior associate, lead on the Riverfront bid", "relation": "Hired by the deceased nine years ago; widely seen as his protégé.", "portrait": { "src": "assets/s2.webp", "alt": "Identification photograph of Arjun Nair, 38." } }, { "id": "s3", "name": "Kavya Menon", "age": 27, "role": "Junior architect", "relation": "Two years at the firm; worked under the deceased on the Riverfront renders.", "portrait": { "src": "assets/s3.webp", "alt": "Identification photograph of Kavya Menon, 27." } }, { "id": "s4", "name": "Suresh Kamath", "age": 51, "role": "Office manager and accountant", "relation": "With the firm since its founding; discovered the body on Saturday morning.", "portrait": { "src": "assets/s4.webp", "alt": "Identification photograph of Suresh Kamath, 51." } }, { "id": "s5", "name": "Vikram Shetty", "age": 46, "role": "Head of contracts and business development", "relation": "Brother-in-law of the deceased; married to his late sister.", "portrait": { "src": "assets/s5.webp", "alt": "Identification photograph of Vikram Shetty, 46." } } ], "documents": [ { "id": "brief", "type": "prose", "title": "Case Brief — Death of Dev Malhotra", "source": "Indiranagar Police Station, Crime Branch", "date": "Saturday, 14 March 2026", "body": "Dev Malhotra, 54, founder and managing partner of **Malhotra + Vale Architects**, was found dead at his desk at 07:05 on Saturday, 14 March, by the firm's office manager, Suresh Kamath. Emergency services were called at 07:09.\n\nThe deceased had remained in the office on Friday evening to review submissions for the **Kanmani Riverfront** project — a public tender the firm had spent eight months preparing and which, by all accounts, it could not afford to lose. Preliminary examination places the time of death between **21:30 and 22:30 on Friday, 13 March**.\n\nThe second-floor office was locked from the inside on the main entrance. Five members of staff are known to have been in the building on Friday evening. All five have given statements. Their accounts do not agree.\n\nAn unfinished document was open on the deceased's screen: a formal complaint addressed to the Council of Architecture. It names no one. It was never sent.\n\nOne detail for the investigating officer's attention: the whisky decanter on the bar cart had been wiped clean of fingerprints. The glass beside the deceased had not.", "exhibits": [ { "src": "assets/victim.webp", "alt": "Dev Malhotra, 54: silver-haired, rimless spectacles, photographed for the firm's website — confident verging on impatient.", "caption": "The deceased. Photograph supplied by the firm." } ] }, { "id": "roster", "type": "roster", "title": "Persons of Interest — Staff Present Friday Evening", "source": "Indiranagar Police Station, Crime Branch", "date": "Saturday, 14 March 2026", "body": "**Priya Vale, 49** — Co-founding partner. Nineteen years alongside the deceased. States she left for a client dinner.\n\n**Arjun Nair, 38** — Senior associate and lead on the Riverfront bid. The deceased's protégé. States he left at 20:15.\n\n**Kavya Menon, 27** — Junior architect on the Riverfront renders. States she logged off at 19:30.\n\n**Suresh Kamath, 51** — Office manager and accountant since the firm's founding. Discovered the body. States he left at 19:00.\n\n**Vikram Shetty, 46** — Head of contracts. Brother-in-law of the deceased. States he was at the Whitefield site office all evening." }, { "id": "scene", "type": "scene", "title": "Preliminary Scene Report — 14 March, 08:40", "source": "Scene of Crime Unit, Bengaluru City Police", "date": "Saturday, 14 March 2026", "body": "The deceased was found seated at his desk in the partner's office, second floor. No signs of struggle. No forced entry.\n\n**Points of access.** The main entrance opens from the lift lobby into reception and the open studio. A second access exists: a street door on Residency Road opening onto an internal stairwell that comes up **directly beside the partner's office**, bypassing the studio floor entirely. Both doors are badge-controlled.\n\n**The bar cart** stands outside the partner's office door. On it: one crystal decanter, approximately one-third full, and four glasses. One used glass was on the deceased's desk. The decanter body and stopper carry **no fingerprints of any kind**; the used glass carries only the deceased's.\n\n**The plotter** in the studio's far corner held a stack of A3 sheets: elevation drawings of the Kanmani Riverfront scheme. The job header reads **sent 20:31 from workstation K.MENON**.\n\n**Lower floors.** The first floor is a tenanted showroom, closed Friday. The basement holds the firm's storeroom and archives.\n\nOn the deceased's screen: an unsent draft complaint to the Council of Architecture. On the desk beside the glass: a closed fountain pen and his desk diary, from which the Friday page has been removed and recovered separately (see seized records).", "image": { "src": "assets/floor-plan.svg", "alt": "Floor plan of the second-floor studio. The main entrance opens through reception into the open studio, with the plotter in the far corner. The partner's office sits at the opposite end, beside the bar cart. A side stairwell from the Residency Road street door comes up directly beside the partner's office, bypassing the studio entirely. The basement, two floors down, holds the storeroom.", "caption": "Second floor, Malhotra + Vale Architects. Side stairwell highlighted." }, "exhibits": [ { "src": "assets/scene-01.webp", "alt": "The bar cart outside the partner's office: a cut-crystal decanter about one third full, and four matching glasses.", "caption": "Bar cart, second floor landing." }, { "src": "assets/scene-02.webp", "alt": "The internal stairwell from the Residency Road street door, rising to a steel door left slightly ajar.", "caption": "Side stairwell, ground to second floor." }, { "src": "assets/scene-03.webp", "alt": "The partner's desk the following morning: drawings, a closed pen and desk diary, and a leather chair pushed back and turned.", "caption": "Partner's office, 14 March." }, { "src": "assets/scene-04.webp", "alt": "The studio plotter, its tray holding a fresh stack of A3 elevation drawings — the print run sent at 20:31.", "caption": "Plotter, studio far corner." }, { "src": "assets/scene-05.webp", "alt": "The Residency Road street door: a plain steel door onto the pavement, a badge reader beside the frame.", "caption": "Street door, Residency Road side." }, { "src": "assets/scene-06.webp", "alt": "The partner's office from the doorway on Saturday morning: the deceased at his desk, face turned away, one arm beside the empty glass. No sign of struggle.", "caption": "Partner's office, as found. 14 March, 07:20." } ] }, { "id": "forensics", "type": "prose", "title": "Post-Mortem & Laboratory Findings (Extract)", "source": "Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Victoria Hospital", "date": "Monday, 16 March 2026", "body": "**Cause of death:** Acute zolpidem toxicity in combination with alcohol. Blood concentration of zolpidem approximately **ten times the upper therapeutic level**. Death consistent with respiratory depression during sleep or unconsciousness. Estimated time of death **21:30–22:30, Friday 13 March**.\n\n**No injuries.** No trauma, no injection marks, no signs of restraint.\n\n**Stomach contents:** whisky, partially digested evening snack. Zolpidem present in the stomach in **dissolved form — no intact tablet material** — indicating the drug was ingested already dissolved in liquid.\n\n**The decanter:** laboratory analysis of the remaining whisky found zolpidem in suspension at high concentration, with fine sediment at the base consistent with **crushed tablets**, not capsules. The drug was introduced into the decanter itself, prior to pouring — not into the glass.\n\n**The glass:** residue matches the decanter mixture.\n\nA fatal dose at the measured concentration corresponds to roughly **25–30 crushed 10 mg tablets** of a standard zolpidem preparation (commonly retailed as Zolfresh 10).", "footnote": "Zolpidem is a Schedule H1 prescription hypnotic. Retail sale is recorded against prescription. Onset of effect when taken with alcohol: typically under thirty minutes.", "exhibits": [ { "src": "assets/lab-01.webp", "alt": "The decanter on the laboratory bench beside its stopper and a photo scale, one third full, a fine pale sediment settled at its base.", "caption": "Item 1: decanter, as received. Dept. of Forensic Medicine." }, { "src": "assets/lab-02.webp", "alt": "Fine white residue filtered from the decanter whisky, in a watch dish beside the stained filter; the used glass bagged behind it.", "caption": "Filtered sediment, Item 1 — consistent with crushed tablets." } ] }, { "id": "statement_a", "type": "statement", "title": "Statement — Priya Vale", "source": "Recorded at Indiranagar PS, 14 March, 15:20", "speaker": "s1", "preamble": "You are asking me to account for an ordinary Friday, so I will. Dev and I built this firm from a two-table office in Domlur. Whatever you have heard about the state of our order book, this firm carries both our names.", "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "I left the office just after seven; the badge log will show it." }, { "id": "c2", "text": "I was at dinner with the Ferro Homes client at Karavalli until half past ten." }, { "id": "c3", "text": "Dev and I spoke in the afternoon about the Riverfront submission; he seemed distracted, short with me." }, { "id": "c4", "text": "I did not speak to him again after that afternoon." } ] }, { "id": "statement_b", "type": "statement", "title": "Statement — Arjun Nair", "source": "Recorded at Indiranagar PS, 14 March, 16:05", "speaker": "s2", "preamble": "Dev hired me out of my first job and taught me everything I know about this profession. I want whoever did this found. Ask me anything.", "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "I said goodnight at a quarter past eight and drove straight home. Whatever happened after that, he was alone." }, { "id": "c2", "text": "He messaged me around seven asking me to stay back; I replied that Monday would be better." }, { "id": "c3", "text": "I stopped for petrol at the HP pump on 100 Feet Road around half past eight; there will be a record of it." }, { "id": "c4", "text": "I have trouble sleeping. The tablets Dr. Prasad prescribes are mine, for me, and I take them every night." }, { "id": "c5", "text": "I have been with the firm nine years, since Dev hired me straight out of my first job." } ] }, { "id": "statement_c", "type": "statement", "title": "Statement — Kavya Menon", "source": "Recorded at Indiranagar PS, 14 March, 17:10", "speaker": "s3", "preamble": "I mostly kept my head down and did the renders. Mr. Malhotra was demanding but he was fair to me. I don't know what I can tell you that the seniors can't.", "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "I logged off at 19:30 and did not touch my workstation after that." }, { "id": "c2", "text": "I left through the main door; the badge log will have my exit time." }, { "id": "c3", "text": "His office door was shut when I left, and the light was on." }, { "id": "c4", "text": "I have never been prescribed sleeping tablets in my life. You can check." } ] }, { "id": "statement_d", "type": "statement", "title": "Statement — Suresh Kamath", "source": "Recorded at Indiranagar PS, 14 March, 11:30", "speaker": "s4", "preamble": "Twenty-two years I kept that office running for him. I was the one who found him. Please understand if I am not entirely composed.", "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "I left at seven and was home in Malleshwaram by eight." }, { "id": "c2", "text": "I came up a little after seven on Saturday, found him at his desk, and called the police at once." }, { "id": "c3", "text": "The decanter was Dev's own evening habit. One peg, every evening, never more." }, { "id": "c4", "text": "Nobody else in that office would have touched his whisky. Everyone knew it was his." } ] }, { "id": "statement_e", "type": "statement", "title": "Statement — Vikram Shetty", "source": "Recorded at Indiranagar PS, 14 March, 18:25", "speaker": "s5", "preamble": "Dev was my sister's husband. After she passed he kept me on, kept me close. Whatever the firm's troubles, I owed him more than I can say.", "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "I was at the Whitefield site office from six in the evening and did not return to Indiranagar." }, { "id": "c2", "text": "I have known Dev for twenty-two years, since before the firm existed." }, { "id": "c3", "text": "The Riverfront bid would have saved the firm. Dev knew better than anyone how tight the numbers were." }, { "id": "c4", "text": "I keep the petty cash box. Besides me, only Suresh has a key." } ] }, { "id": "comms_log", "type": "table", "title": "Communications Record — D. Malhotra & Staff (Extract)", "source": "Obtained under warrant; provider records", "date": "Friday 13 March 2026, unless marked", "columns": [ "Time", "From", "To", "Type", "Detail" ], "rows": [ [ "17:58", "080 4361 1180 (unregistered)", "D. Malhotra", "Call", "2 min" ], [ "18:40", "D. Malhotra", "Vantage Studio (board line)", "Call", "11 min" ], [ "18:52", "R. Ferro (Ferro Homes)", "P. Vale", "SMS", "Have to cancel tonight — Anita's flight got moved. Reschedule?" ], [ "19:05", "D. Malhotra", "A. Nair", "Message", "Stay after the others leave. We need to talk before Monday." ], [ "19:07", "A. Nair", "D. Malhotra", "Message", "Monday is better. I have plans tonight." ], [ "19:58", "V. Shetty", "S. Kamath", "Call", "Missed" ], [ "20:58", "Unknown (spam-flagged)", "P. Vale", "Call", "Missed" ], [ "21:12", "Meera Malhotra", "D. Malhotra", "Call", "4 min" ], [ "Sat 07:09", "S. Kamath", "100 (Control Room)", "Call", "3 min" ] ], "footnote": "Extract limited to numbers associated with the deceased and listed staff. The 17:58 caller could not be identified; the number is an unregistered fixed line." }, { "id": "access_log", "type": "table", "title": "Badge Access Log — 13/14 March", "source": "Building controller, exported 14 March 09:12", "date": "Friday 13 March 2026, unless marked", "columns": [ "Time", "Badge", "Door", "Event" ], "rows": [ [ "08:47", "D. MALHOTRA", "Main", "Entry" ], [ "08:58", "S. KAMATH", "Main", "Entry" ], [ "19:12", "P. VALE", "Main", "Exit" ], [ "20:05", "V. SHETTY", "Main", "Entry" ], [ "20:15", "A. NAIR", "Main", "Exit" ], [ "20:20", "V. SHETTY", "Main", "Exit" ], [ "20:47", "K. MENON", "Main", "Exit" ], [ "21:02", "A. NAIR", "Side (Residency Rd)", "Entry" ], [ "21:26", "A. NAIR", "Side (Residency Rd)", "Exit" ] ], "footnote": "Controller clock verified against network time, drift under one minute. Note for file: no exit event exists for badge S. KAMATH after the 08:58 entry, and no entry event exists for that badge on Saturday morning prior to the discovery.", "exhibits": [ { "src": "assets/access-01.webp", "alt": "The badge reader beside the street-door frame — unbranded, tap area worn smooth, asset tag MV-02 — the steel door slightly ajar.", "caption": "Reader MV-02, Residency Road door." } ] }, { "id": "records", "type": "table", "title": "Seized Records — Financial & Personal (Extracts)", "source": "Exhibits register, Indiranagar PS", "date": "Catalogued 15 March 2026", "columns": [ "Date", "Register", "Entry", "Amount" ], "rows": [ [ "27 Feb", "Medical reimbursement", "A. Nair — Zolfresh 10 mg × 30, Apollo Pharmacy, Indiranagar", "₹540" ], [ "03 Mar", "Medical reimbursement", "S. Kamath — BP medication refill", "₹310" ], [ "06 Mar", "Petty cash", "Courier charges, tender documents", "₹1,150" ], [ "13 Mar 20:10", "Petty cash", "Advance — site expenses (slip signed V.S.)", "₹6,000" ], [ "13 Mar", "Medical reimbursement", "A. Nair — Zolfresh 10 mg × 30, Apollo Pharmacy, Indiranagar", "₹540" ] ], "body": "**Exhibit R-4 — desk diary page, Friday 13 March**, recovered folded inside the deceased's jacket pocket. Written in the deceased's hand:\n\n> *\"A.N. — Vantage. Numbers match line for line. Council, Monday.\"*\n\n**Exhibit R-6 — petty cash slip**, timestamped Friday 20:10, signed **V.S.**, for ₹6,000 against \"site expenses.\" No supporting site requisition attached.\n\n**Note on the firm's accounts:** the practice's overdraft facility is fully drawn. The Kanmani Riverfront tender is the only submission of consequence on the firm's books for the coming year.", "footnote": "Two Zolfresh purchases of thirty tablets each were reimbursed to the same employee within fifteen days. The second purchase is dated the day of death.", "exhibits": [ { "src": "assets/records-r4.webp", "alt": "Exhibit R-4: the torn Friday diary page, creased from being folded small — four hurried fountain-pen lines, the last underlined twice — beside the diary it came from.", "caption": "Exhibit R-4, as recovered from the deceased's jacket." }, { "src": "assets/records-r6.webp", "alt": "Exhibit R-6: a petty cash voucher for ₹6,000 against site expenses, initialled V.S., timestamped Friday 20:10. No requisition attached.", "caption": "Exhibit R-6, exhibits register." } ] } ], "options": { "method": [ { "id": "me1", "text": "A sedative, crushed and dissolved into the whisky decanter before it was poured" }, { "id": "me2", "text": "A blow to the head, staged afterwards to look like natural collapse" }, { "id": "me3", "text": "Heart failure — natural causes, and no crime at all" }, { "id": "me4", "text": "An insulin injection, hidden between the fingers" }, { "id": "me5", "text": "Carbon monoxide drawn from the generator room below the office" } ], "motive": [ { "id": "mo1", "text": "He had discovered the firm's bid had been leaked to a rival, and meant to report the person who sold it" }, { "id": "mo2", "text": "His death releases the partnership insurance to the surviving partner" }, { "id": "mo3", "text": "He was about to dissolve the firm and ruin everyone in it" }, { "id": "mo4", "text": "A relationship he had ended, badly, with someone in the office" }, { "id": "mo5", "text": "The petty cash thefts were about to come to light" } ] }, "reconstruction": { "beats": [ { "time": "18:40", "text": "Dev Malhotra called Vantage Studio and kept them on the line for eleven minutes. By the end of the call he knew: their rival's numbers matched his firm's confidential bid, line for line. Someone inside had sold it.", "evidence": "comms_log", "provenBy": { "kind": "citation", "part": "why" } }, { "time": "19:05", "text": "He messaged Arjun Nair — the man who had assembled those numbers — to stay behind after the others left. Arjun replied that Monday would be better. He had already begun building his evening.", "evidence": "comms_log", "provenBy": { "kind": "citation", "part": "why" } }, { "time": "20:47", "text": "One by one the floor emptied, each of them carrying a small secret out the door. By quarter to nine the studio was dark. Suresh Kamath was asleep in the basement storeroom, two floors down, and never heard a thing.", "evidence": "access_log", "provenBy": { "kind": "lie", "suspect": "s4" } }, { "time": "21:02", "text": "Arjun's badge opened the Residency Road side door. The stairwell brought him up directly beside the partner's office. He never crossed the studio floor.", "evidence": "access_log", "provenBy": { "kind": "lie", "suspect": "s2" } }, { "time": "21:12", "text": "Dev's wife called. He took it standing at the window, his back to the room, for four minutes. Four minutes was enough.", "evidence": "comms_log" }, { "time": "21:15", "text": "Thirty tablets, crushed at home into a fold of paper, went into the decanter. The lab would later find the sediment at its base — the drug was in the whisky before it was ever poured.", "evidence": "forensics", "provenBy": { "kind": "citation", "part": "how" } }, { "time": "21:26", "text": "Arjun left the way he had come, wiping the decanter on his way out. He had said goodnight an hour earlier, in front of witnesses, and stopped for petrol to prove he was elsewhere.", "evidence": "access_log", "provenBy": { "kind": "citation", "part": "who" } }, { "time": "21:45", "text": "Some time before half past ten, Dev Malhotra poured himself his usual peg and sat down to finish the complaint on his screen. It names no one. It was never sent.", "evidence": "forensics" } ], "closingLine": { "suspect": "s2", "text": "I said goodnight at a quarter past eight and drove straight home. Whatever happened after that, he was alone." } }, "coldThread": { "label": "An unregistered Bangalore landline — 080 4361 1180", "glyph": "🧵" }, "answerKey": { "sealed": true, "salt": "1852d28b6b28314b239d1e12a0ff94c5", "who": { "answer": "beb60d433c98b5e9c9cdff1186c999f4e1c8e2667ad68c88a54886590b825d42", "acceptedCitations": [ "dcd5a72070eea6c0e6a7cee19ab89e8ec793e18f52b6e136650edd9ddbba3aca", "109315fec62c18745c8a76d4308a17b9b7baa5d0fc03ccb9965b9fd18da5b797" ] }, "how": { "answer": "9eb4cedf22eff547e315f79f8ffaf10df5bd7e91ba16b2940eaf9c9bc9374b16", "acceptedCitations": [ "b0bd39a0315c531bf454e87224de528b0d7ba402ce92dc27ae848b9fc2542db1", "a3081bd4f9f71074de9fe11d4eaa19869afb5bac90cff043ab0fb21ace7c2367" ] }, "why": { "answer": "be0ddebdee627c9eebe90c6ebf3a75e2d4d862442a23a19a11559b1ab57ca0a4", "acceptedCitations": [ "a3081bd4f9f71074de9fe11d4eaa19869afb5bac90cff043ab0fb21ace7c2367", "fe37a3018820863cbe9cba2d769811311c248b68035fc22f5a66e63ed5f60413" ] }, "lies": [ { "suspect": "s1", "claim": "4b31ba66d2954f7c048aa9e2e6087ac1fb46fe6129e4d64cf2595b23efcd7867", "disprovedBy": [ "fe37a3018820863cbe9cba2d769811311c248b68035fc22f5a66e63ed5f60413" ], "reveal": "The client cancelled at 18:52. Priya spent the evening with an insolvency lawyer — she had personally guaranteed the firm's drawn-down overdraft, and was preparing to dissolve the partnership before it ruined her." }, { "suspect": "s2", "claim": "f059057dc11434419ffed0b003776a904d48dd97e1c9839efe670d35c1ca4724", "disprovedBy": [ "dcd5a72070eea6c0e6a7cee19ab89e8ec793e18f52b6e136650edd9ddbba3aca" ], "reveal": "He sold the bid to Vantage Studio for a partner-track offer. When Dev found out and began drafting the complaint, Arjun came back through the side door with thirty crushed tablets folded into a sheet of paper." }, { "suspect": "s3", "claim": "f059057dc11434419ffed0b003776a904d48dd97e1c9839efe670d35c1ca4724", "disprovedBy": [ "dbe4377479d7293502d3acfdce914126136e48c93502151934bb15e72313170b" ], "reveal": "The 20:31 plotter job was hers: she was printing the Riverfront elevations for her portfolio. She has been quietly interviewing at another firm for a month." }, { "suspect": "s4", "claim": "f059057dc11434419ffed0b003776a904d48dd97e1c9839efe670d35c1ca4724", "disprovedBy": [ "dcd5a72070eea6c0e6a7cee19ab89e8ec793e18f52b6e136650edd9ddbba3aca" ], "reveal": "He never left. Since his wife died eight months ago he has been sleeping some nights on a cot in the basement storeroom, unable to face the empty flat. He was two floors down all night and heard nothing." }, { "suspect": "s5", "claim": "f059057dc11434419ffed0b003776a904d48dd97e1c9839efe670d35c1ca4724", "disprovedBy": [ "a3081bd4f9f71074de9fe11d4eaa19869afb5bac90cff043ab0fb21ace7c2367", "dcd5a72070eea6c0e6a7cee19ab89e8ec793e18f52b6e136650edd9ddbba3aca" ], "reveal": "He came back at 20:05 to take ₹6,000 from petty cash — betting debts. He has been borrowing small amounts against signed slips and returning them when he wins. He did not go near the second floor." } ], "coldThreadDoc": "fe37a3018820863cbe9cba2d769811311c248b68035fc22f5a66e63ed5f60413" } }