Raghav continued, his eyes locked on hers.
"There was a little girl, all innocent and naive. The only child of parents who had bestowed the best values to her in the world. She stepped out of her cocoon in this big bad world for a job. She came to this city, away from her parents, with a job in a MNC that anyone would like to die for"
She smiled bitterly. I miss my parents. They should have been here. All this wouldn't have happened.
"She was a hard worker, a straight forward honest person. She trusted everyone around her, made friends, gave more than expecting anything in return...and made the usual mistakes. Learner's stuff and all that!"
"Raghav, Please..." She didnt prefer to be reminded about them.
"The world around her wasn't exactly the straight forward forgiving world. Her boss, Madhusudan, shielded her from the impact of those mistakes, which would have otherwise costed her her job and of course the reputation. She started idolizing him as a mentor. He too encouraged her to grow further. And she grew..."
A lone tear trickled down her cheek. Raghav threw another stone in the sea.
"She never knew the real reason for his support...And one day she stumbled upon something...that shattered all her dreams, her self-confidence..."
Riya leaned against the stone and thought about the incidence that changed her life forever.
FLASHBACK
Riya, I am expecting a mail from headquarters. Please open it in my absence. I am going for a washroom trip..
And the mail had come when she had been alone in the cabin. And it had not been from the headquarters either. The subject matter was quite peculiar. Throwing caution to the winds, she opened the mail and froze at its contents.
Hi Kishenlal...
Ok, Kishenlal, see the attached snaps. By the way, the new girl Riya is a bomb!
Riya couldn't hold herself back anymore. It was a collection of girls in various degrees of nudity, a few of them she could recognize as her colleagues. She froze to the core with the last one. It was herself taken while she was in the shower.
When was this taken? Blank at first, the dress lying at the floor gave her the clue. There was a business meeting in one of the posh hotels. Drinks had been served. She recollected nothing after that.
She scrolled down with trembling fingers.
No, She wont even think of squealing to anyone. She wraps herself around my little finger. She will eat from my hand anyday...
Whatever it was...it was too hideous. She had decided to investigate a little bit, hoping against hopes that it would turn out to be a prank.
Her acute sense of hearing caught on the outer door opening and she had hurriedly marked the mail as UNREAD. Madhusudan had returned shortly and it had taken her entire willpower to feign complete ignorance of the matter.
Who were the other girls? A few she knew. Her colleagues from the office. And the others...
And then she remembered it. A few weeks back, an instance wherein a teary eyed girl was sitting in his office. Was she pleading with him? He was calm and relaxed whereas she was agitated to the hilt. The cabin was soundproof, and though nobody heard a single word of the exchange, the girl's gestures left little to doubt. And then the security had dragged her away, not before the office caught a couple of words.
You ruined my life, my career...may you rot in hell!'
Was the girl's face familiar? Of course. She was one of the girls in the folder. Madhusudan had walked out after a while explaining casually to everyone that the girl was sacked because of poor performance.
Poor performance? My foot. Riya thought bitterly to herself. If that was the case, why was the HR not involved? There was nobody in the cabin other than the girl and Madhusudan. Was it only because of poor performance? A bit of quiet investigation uncovered something hideous, totally unbelievable. The girl's words, as they had coffee in a local cafe a few days later, echoed in her mind.
Take care, Riya. I too was naive, like you. I too worked hard, and rose to this position. One day I made a major blunder, that costed the company a lot. Much more than my paycheck. Had my manager known, it would have costed me my job and of course, my reputation as well. Something that I couldn't afford to lose. At any cost...'
And then?'
Somehow this reached Madhusudan. He reassured me. And then rescued me out, saying a sum like that he could write it off. It was nothing compared to my value to the company. I started idolizing him, looking upto him as my mentor. And then I discovered his true face, his true intentions behind all this. When he asked me to meet someone at a hotel to discuss something professional. Drinks were served and I blacked out...'
Riya had squeezed her eyes shut at that. Exactly a repeat of what had happened with her. And many more.
I told the HR. And the result...you know! And I dare not approach the police. Madhusudan is such a well known person in the society, has plenty of political connections...'
Madhusudan, her boss, the sauve charmer, was a person with a double face. A threat to the society.
And then she had planned it well.
Her first step was to purchase another SIM and create another email account with a couple of standing instructions. The SIM had been inserted into Madhusudan's mobile at a suitable occasion when he wasn't looking. And a police complaint had followed in due course to ensure authenticity of the whole issue. Next she had created a sound clip of a frequency that could cause substantial brain damage, the know-how provided by the internet. The sound clip was also designed to destroy the SIM that carried it.
Something like a suicide bomb?
The stage was set.
She had further inflicted a small cut on her finger and smeared the knife with the blood that oozed out. This had earned her two things: One, it convinced Ms Wagle that the sender was insane, and second, it ensured police presence around her on the crucial day.
Riya smiled bitterly as she recollected the day: During the call, she had quietly keyed in a code that had sent the clip, amplified many times over, to the receiver. The spike had done its job; it had blown off Madhusudan's eardrum and induced a fatal insult to the brain. And all this was achieved right under the nose of the astute Ms Wagle, who had continued her monologue on the investigation.
FLASHBACK ENDS
"Riya...are you alright?" Raghav was shaking her shoulder. She never knew when she slipped into a deep slumber. Was it due to the emotional drain? It had been too easy. To plan and then execute a cold blooded murder right under the nose of police...and leave no evidence behind! From a momentary triumph, somewhere she also felt disgusted with herself. This is what revenge had turned her into? And now that it was all out, she felt as if a huge burden had been lifted off her soul.
How would Raghav react? He might be on leave, but he was still a keeper of the law. She quietly wiped her tears and raised her hands to him.
"So now...that you know everything. Would you be arresting me? And charging me with a first degree murder?"
He smiled sadly.
"The case is closed. In case you have forgotten?"
*****
One week later, CBI Headquarters, New Delhi.
Raghav was lost in thoughts. Riya's innocent face kept flashing everywhere. The way she had transformed from a naive girl to a murderer. And then was living the regret somewhere. And yet a small part of her justified her actions.
Madhusudan was no more. The police had attributed his death to cerebral hemorrhage.
The SIM which had been the weapon of death had been destroyed as the cellphone blew up in pieces. Analysis of the other SIM didnt yield much information. Except the fact that the phone had been reformatted, which was probably when Riya had inserted the second sim. And the fact that Riya had been miles away at the time of death. This was corroborated by the police. Along with the cellphone, the incriminating photographs and the video clips also had been destroyed.
Riya had resigned from her job and shifted to her hometown. Eventually she would get over this experience, given time and company of her loved ones. And then get married and settle down.
"Raghav? Lost in dreams?" Trisha's otherwise booming voice intruded softly in his world. Gosh! Had he been so lost? How could he miss the signature clicking of heels?
She settled herself in a chair opposite and he straightened himself with a grin.
"Any new case?"
She ignored the query.
"How was your vacation? Did you go to Mumbai?"
"My vacation was fine. But what makes you assume that I went to Mumbai?" A question was best answered with a counter-question.
"Well, I assumed as such when you showed blatant interest in Ms Riya Awasthi. By the way, how is she?"
"Must be fine. How would I know?"
Now this one was not going to confess that readily. Trisha decided to go for the jugular.
"Ohh come on. I know that you went to Mumbai. I also know that you met her. Not just met her, you had dinner together, went on long walks, night outs by the sea shore and endless cups of coffee..."
Raghav jerked up at that. Trisha raised a hand halting him.
"Relax. Nothing wrong in that. So you know something more about the case than what I know?"
Raghav turned away from her nodding vaguely. "It's best that you don't know. Not as my boss, but as a woman..."
"Raghav!" She turned him around and was shocked to see subtle film of moisture in his eyes. He wiped his face immediately and schooled his expression.
"Trisha, the world outside is not exactly a good one. Nor is it bad. Its just the circumstances that make it that way. I am prepared to be philosophical about this. But believe me, if you are in Riya's place and if someone does that same things to you, I will personally murder that person. Even before you come to know. Or even before I find my father's murderer, I will hunt for that pervert!"
She sushed him with a finger on his lips.
"I know. You will be there for me always!"
Cricket
Kumkum Bhagya
Tum Se Tum Tak
Sampoorna
Jhanak
