A STUDY IN THE SCARLET

THE CLIPPING

The clipping below is the newspaper clipping from which my detective career had started and my first case proves to be so mysterious but as a common rule "THE COMPLEX ONE'S ARE PROVED TO BE THE SIMPLEST ONE".  So, here's the clipping:

"A MAN OF ABOUT SIXTY IS MURDERED.  WHERE IS THE 

WOMAN?

Dated the 29th August 2018.

Extracts from Dinamalar

 The police are searching for a Thiruvallikani woman who had murdered a man of about sixty by throwing an easily inflammable chemical on him.

The name of the victim deceased was Mr. Sayed Passruddin, who lives in a complex opposite to the Big Mosque in Vannarapet, Pencil Nagar, 4th street for about 40 years.  He works in that Big Mosque for forty years too.

 At the day of the crime, i.e. on 27th of August 2018, a woman wearing a Purdha  came to him at the Mosque and suddenly she throwed an easily inflammable chemical on Mr. Sayed and the woman had escaped from the place.  After a few seconds, Mr. Sayed started to burn suddenly.  The frightened people rescued him and admitted him in the Kilpauk Hospital but in vain.  He died.  The Thiruvallikani Police had lodged a complaint and are searching for the flooded woman."

THE CASE WAS NOT SOLVED YET BY THE 

POLICE

SO, ABOVE WAS THE EXTRACT WHICH HAD BAFFLED ME IN TO THIS CRIME WORLD AND NOW I WELCOME TO MY ADVENTURES.

WELCOME TO THE CASE,

"A STUDY IN THE SCARLET" 

THE SOLVING OF THE CRIME

I followed the exact methods below, I mentioned to near the suspect.

The crime was on 27th of August 2018 at night and that is an important point.

According to my research the acid that can burn easily is ClF₃, and I have a reason to believe that know other chemical is used because the properties of the chemical in the case and the properties of this acid are similar and there is no other acid in the world with that properties except ClF₃.  And hence there is a high probability of using this acid.

 This discovery reduces the field of investigation and baffled me on the dark side of the case.

The cost of 50g of vial of this acid is $400 which is roughly Rs. 30,000.

vial- a glass container to store acids.

BURNING THE UNBURNABLE

CHLORINE TRIFLUORIDE

ClF₃

     The acid which can burn easily is Chloride trifluoride (ClF₃).

     The most flammable chemical probably is Chlorine trifluoride, ClF₃.  This is a colourless, toxic, corrosive gas or pale greenish-yellow liquid that is so reactive that it initiates combustion of just about any material you can name and it doesn’t even require an ignition source to get the fire started.  The reactions are vigorous and often violent to the point of explosivity.

BURNING THE UNBURNABLE:

     ClF₃ fluorination and oxidation power surpases the oxidizing power of oxygen, which allows the chemical to ignite materials normally considered fire-safe, such as oxides.  ClF₃ burns asbestos, sand, glass, concrete and flame retardants.  Most fire control and suppression systems are ineffective or else actually worsen the resulting fire.  Of course, the chemical also ignites human skin and other tissue on contact, producing hydrochloric acid and hydro fluoric acid.  Both acids burn human tissue.  Hydrofluoric acid selectively activates pain centres and attacks bone, causing potentially lethal poisoning.

Density: 1.830g/cc

Freezing point: -76 C

Boiling point: 12C

Sweet and pungent smell, similar to Chlorine or Mustard.

PREPARATION, STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES

It was first reported in 1930 by Ruff and Krug who prepared it by fluorination of chlorine; this also produced ClF and the mixture was separated by distillation.

3F₂+Cl_{2  GIVES} 2ClF₃

ClF₃ is approximately T-shaped, with one short bond (1.598A⁰ ) and two long bonds (1.698A⁰ ).  This structure agrees with the prediction of VSEPR theory, which predicts lone pairs of electrons as occupying two equatorial positions of a hypothetic trigonal bipyramid.  The elongated Cl-F axial bonds are consistent with hypervalent bonding.

Pure ClF₃  is stable to 180 C in quartz vessels; above this temperature it decomposes by a free radical mechanism to its constituent elements.        

      THE QUESTIONS

So, the questions that arise to your mind when you have read all the above informations are,

1. Who is Mr. Sayed?
2. Why the criminal should spend such a large sum to kill him?     

The woman, however is just an arrow which should be understood easily.  Because a person who spends such a large amount of money will not involve directly.  So, there is a bigger man or woman involved in this but my preference is a man.  Someone, who is rich, a chemist is behind this.  Because according to human psychology every one thinks according to their interest or profession and from that we can deduce that the mastermind is a chemist who is rich.

What danger would a ordinary man who works in a mosque can poses to this rich guy?

What Sayed could have known about this man?

The important fact is he had lived in the same place for 40 years.

"THE GAME IS ON"

"THE COMPLEX CRIMES ARE PROVED TO BE THE SIMPLER ONES"

So, how to solve it?

Go through the history of Mr. Sayed, his travel history, contact history etc.

Collect the list of the richest chemists and check their histories too.

This should definitely minimise the field.

Atleast, try to find the woman.

Correlate all this and the suspect will be caught.

And also check the history of the woman too.

Probably, the assignment given to the woman should be of huge money.