My Wanderings - 61. Short Story No. 41. The Mystery behind the House Burglary

This story is of long ago,  when I was small child of five or six years old. My father was posted as a Doctor in Pattan, a small hemlet then, situated  on the national highway leading from Srinagar to Baramulla.  My father had shifted his family to Srinagar for some time  and he was living  there alone .
Once during my school holidays, I accompanied him  to visit the village for few days. My father was a very  busy person , after hospital hours  , he used to visit far off patients on a Tonga or horse back , whatever the transport facility the villagers could provide him. Most of the time I used to play in Hospital compound and when my father had to visit some patient I remained at home alone playing with empty injection bottles and their packages. My  Father was living as a tenant  in  newly constructed bungalow of  village head located on main road. He  after arriving home , used to enquire from me daily whether somebody had visited the house in his absence . I usually replied him in negative  after shaking my head . One day a prank cropped in my mind and I nodded my head in affirmation.
"Who was it" ?
"Kaen tchoor, the thief", I replied with confidence.
"What for he had come here, had he touched anything here."
"Yes he touched it, "replied I , pointing towards some furniture items .
Had I anticipated the enormity  of its consequences , I would not have ventured to play such a prank . 
Here I feel obliged  to reader for giving the details of burglar . The' Ahad tchoor' and 'Kaen tchoor'  , the two burglars were actually real brothers . They were living with their mother in a newly constructed two story house on the outskirts of village. They were very notorious burglars . 'Ahad tchoor 'was elder brother and 'Kaen tchoor 'was younger one. They had vowed never to burgle any house of their native village. Their area of operation was a  big city or  or town  like Srinagar or Baramulla. Elder brother was more  professional and remained mostly in jails . Their modus operandi of burglary was unique . They would mostly accomplish their job in broad day light . Once they entered a house clad in burqa , a veil usually worn by Muslim ladies, no body took much notice of them as there were two families living in the house. One housewife washing clothes on the gate  thought that they must be the guests of other dweller of house . In the mean time they started collecting the goods , when some body noticed them . They took the collected goods and jumped from the window. But due to bad luck they fell on Iron wire fence and cut their legs  . They were caught and Police was called . The Police escorted them to the Police station . While in handcuffs and blood oozing out  from the wounds of  their legs , they called a grape vendor  in the way and snatched a bunch of grapes from him.  They finally reached the Police station while  enjoying the taste of grapes .
Once I had seen the  elder brother 'Ahad Tchoor 'wearing a grey suit and a goggle , handcuffed,  surrounded by two police men  taken in a police vehicle  from Srinagar  to Baramulla for court attendance . He stopped the vehicle near his native village , waved at the people and bought goods and clothes from a shop  for his mother , who apperead from somewhere in the crowd to collect them.
Now reverting to the incident I was referring to ....
My father immediately rushed to the police station and reported the matter to Police  SHO , who earnestly believed my theory because elder brother was in jail and only younger brother was moving around in the village .Had I mentioned about the elder brother,  he would not have believed.    The SHO was my father's friend and therefore , with out loosing any time,  he   deputed two police men for the job. They first visited our residence and asked me few questions . After satisfying themselves they left for the tirade. It was hardly after a gap of an hour 'Kaen Tchoor 'was apprehended. He was caught playing cards with his accomplices in the backyard of his house . He was unaware of the developments which destiny had planned   against him. Therefore,  he was taken by a surprise. But the two policemen caught hold of him and began to remand him in the police custody .
In the meantime sun had set and our land lord, who was a village head also  , called a meeting of village elders  on the main road in front of our  house. He looked very furious and was saying something in a very loud voice while stretching both his hands often,  which I could hardly understand at that age but whatever I comprehended  was that my prank had taken a very serious turn , which can not be retrieved by me at any cost. Therefore , I have to remain sticked to my version of events.
Next day I accompanied my father to the hospital . Every shopkeeper in the way was looking curiously at me as the news had spread like fire in the whole village . I was walking  on the street,  accompanied by my father,  expanding my chest to the enormous proportions like Don Quixote with out much conscious of the implications and gravity of the situation.
In the mean time my father advised Police SHO to release the Burglar  as he had not stolen anything from our  house.  The burglar was released after detaining him for  one night in the police custody  and his head was shaved as a punishment. 
After releasing from the Police station, the burglar came directly to meet my father and asked for his  apology and subsequently  pleaded  his innocence.
He also interviewed me. He said , how you can say it was me only and not any one  else. I remain sticked to my point and never retreated from it as that was  only safe for me.
He said to me, " what I was wearing when I entered the house."?
I looked at his dress , which i still remember , it was a dark coloured pathani dress with a green  embroidered waist coat .
I told him that it was the same pointing towards his dress.
It was  only after a very long time  when I had grown up , I disclosed the secret behind the mystery of burglary to my father , for which  he reprimanded me seriously .