Posted by 
Police Sub-Inspector Murali and Constable Narayanan are in a patrol one night in Chennai (India), while Murali has an escalating situation back in his home town of Thoothukudi ( a southern city). His wayward son is missing late at night.
The patrol comes upon an accident – a man on a motorbike has fallen into a drainage ditch carelessly left open by the municipality. The patrol finds that another man, Arun, has called an ambulance.
Murali talks to Arun and finds he has a strange belief – he thinks that there is a fixed set of deaths that happen during a government’s term, caused by police brutality or incompetent acts such as leaving drainage ditches open. These numbers do not change when another government comes to power. He calls this “the rule” and that it is driven by fate.
Over the next few minutes, Murali comes to buy into these beliefs himself, and becomes worried about the fate of his son, who he learns is in custody of Thoothukudi police. Arun says there are forty deaths under police custody in “the rule” and thirty nine have already happened this cycle.
Increasingly worried that his son would be the fortieth death, Murali tries to kill Arun and complete the cycle himself.
Written by Ramiah Ariya (India)