New Arjun SS-They Say Its Destiny...-Part 5- Pg18 - Page 3

PART 2A

ETF OFFICE

A robbery had taken place at one of the leading jewellery stores of the city and its owner Ramesh Deshmukh happened to be the son-in-law of an MLA. Naturally, the team was under great pressure to solve the case as soon as possible. After a thorough investigation, the situation was this – Ramesh's younger brother cum manager cum right hand man, Vaibhav Deshmukh had turned out to be the main suspect. Apparently, he was the mastermind behind this and had paid a relatively unknown gang to do his dirty job in return for a share in the stolen goods. The prima facie reason for all this planning and plotting – a recent fallout with his brother over property matters and of course greed. But there was a problem – no solid proof. They had still not been able to trace the gang…the only basis for this hypothesis was the word of an ex – watchman who, as the ETF had discovered just a while ago, had been convicted for a minor theft from the same store and had been testified against by Vaibhav. So there was a chance that he might have been lying. The other witness happened to be a drunkard, who couldn't be trusted, despite his claims of having been sober at the time of incident.

To top it all, Rathore and Raute had been interrogating Vaibhav for almost four hours now and the man had not opened his mouth for anything except drinking water and as much as he hated it, Arjun had to admit that he was a tough nut to crack. His hands were itching to give him a few tight slaps and make him confess… but when you are sitting beside 'RULEBOOK' Rathore….well, you must learn to control your desires…

And now this despicable man was whining for his lawyer…he has a nerve…

"Dekhiye, ek phone allowed hota hai aur mujhe apni family lawyer se baat karni hai. Aap mujhse ye haq nahi cheen sakte. Aur vaise bhi, abhi tak aapko jo bhi proofs mile hai, voh purely circumstantial hain. Bina kisi conclusive saboot ke aap kuch nahi kar sakte."

OUTSIDE THE INTERROGATION ROOM:

Shree: Yaar…kya lagta hai tum logon ko…aur kitne ghante lagenge?

Chotu: Arre main toh yeh soch raha hun ki arjun sir ne abhi tak isse hospital bhejne ka intezaam kyu nahi kiya?

Aisha: Ab toh mujhe iss baat par bhi doubt hai ki humne sahi aadmi ko pakda bhi hai ya nahi? Uff…main toh pak gayi hun…samajh nahi aa raha ki itni der se kyu pakad kar rakha hai usse? Isse toh better hoga ki hum dobara investigate karein…

Shree: in dono ke chehre dekh kar lagta hai ki aaj ye vaibhav yahan se arthi par hi jaayega…mujhe toh yahaan par hi garmi lag rahi hai…socho andar ka temperature kitna high hoga…baap re….

INSIDE THE INTERROGATION ROOM:

Arjun, the master of disguise, was somehow managing to control his urge and keep his face impassive but Sameer…. He was visibly irritated by the fact that his prime suspect was sitting in front of him cool as a cucumber and more so by the fact that he was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

"Shree…" he yelled in frustration.

Shree had been involved in an animated discussion with Chotu and Aisha when he was startled by his boss' shouting. He was temporarily paralyzed with fear when he felt Chotu wishing him all the best and Aisha nudging him forward. He gulped and hesitantly entered the room all the while trying to strike a deal with his bhagwanji.

"Ye…Yes…Sss…Sir…"

"Isse bahar le jao aur phone karne do. Par sirf ek phone aur ek pal ke liye bhi iss par se apni nazar mat hatana. And then bring him back here. We are waiting. CLEAR?" Sameer said through gritted teeth.

"Yes sir." Shree said, thanking his stars and took the man out.

Then Sameer turned to his atom bomb of a subordinate. "DAMN IT Raute!!!! Yeh toh dead end hai…kya lagta hai tumhe?"

"lagna kya hai Rathore…" Arjun said disinterestedly"mujhe abhi bhi apni theory par poora bharosa hai…maine toh pehle hi kaha tha ki ye aise muh nahi kholega. Questioning se koi fayada nahi hai. Par aap meri baat sunte kaha hai SIR."

"Accha. Toh kya karna chahiye tha humein? Torture karna chahiye tha usse? Vo ek civilian hai… koi terrorist nahi…Rules naam ki bhi koi cheez hoti hai. Hamara kaam interrogate karna hai…hospital pahuchana nahi…Samjhe ya…Samjhaun?"

Arjun glared murderously at Sameer who stared back at him before shaking his head and saying"main bhi kisse samjha raha hun…deewar par sar patakne se dard sar mein hi hota hai…deewar ko koi farak nahi padta…"with this he glanced meaningfully at Arjun who chose to ignore this remark.

Twirling the pen in his hands, he said pensively, " kuch toh chut raha hai rathore….par "

Stopping abruptly, he got up and left, leaving behind a perplexed and very angry Rathore.

MEANWHILE IN SHREE'S CABIN:

Shree was standing on watch while Vaibhav spoke to the lawyer…

Vaibhav: "Hello…Mrs. Singh? Ji main Vaibhav Deshmukh…Ramesh Deshmukh ka chota bhai…"

And he went on to narrate the entire story…requesting her to come ASAP. He was then ushered back to the interrogation room only to be subjected to another round of fruitless questioning by Sameer and Aisha. Exhausted, Sameer muttered to himself, "Shayad Raute sahi hi keh raha tha…iska muh khulvaane ke liye 'RULEBOOK' Rathore ki nahi 'ROWDY' Rathore ki zaroorat hai…"

When he looked up, he found Aisha staring at him curiously…

"Kya?"

"Nahi kuch nahi sir…voh aap kuch keh rahe they…"

"nahi kuch nahi…vaise yeh Raute kaha hai?"

"pata nahi sir…" Shree and Chotu said in unision. They had just come in to give the file Rathore had asked for.

Their reply was his bursting point…

"DAMN IT!!!!!!" He shouted, banging the table and scaring everyone present in the interrogation room…

"Ek toh yeh yahaan mounvrat rakh kar baitha hua hai" he roared " aur upar se ye Raute agyaatvaas mein chala gaya hai…Shree phone karo usse aur jaldi aane ko kaho. Pata nahi kaha kisse kya samjha raha hai…saari duniya ko samjhata phirta hai par khud samajhne ka naam nahi leta. Yeh Raute toh meri samajh ke ekdum bahar hai."

And he left leaving behind four stunned people.

Aisha, Shree and Chotu looked at Vaibhav who was sweating out of nervousness.

Chotu: " Itni mehnat kyu ki sir ne…do chaar baar aise hi gurra dete toh apne aap yeh bheegi billi ki tarah muh khol deta…"

And Aisha and Shree burst out laughing…

P.S.: Forgive me for any mistakes...😊