Untold Secrets!!! ~Thread 2~ Chap 20 UPTD PG 126 27th Jan!!! - Page 93

Jodha's eyes widened in surprise as she noticed the tiger was lying dead on the ground, a few seconds here and there would mean that they would have to pay off with their own lives.

Swallowing a lump in her throat she said, "What was that? You took away my breath, hope you are all right?"Jalal heaved a deep sigh and nodded. Jodha looked at him in marvel.

Checking in for the bullets if any, jalal shrugged his shoulder, "My dear jodha, the tiger was a threat and I had to react swiftly otherwise by now we would have been attacked by that animal".

She quirked her brow at him, "Would you have acted in the same way if it would be a man?"

Jalal barely inches from her, studied her enticing face with mocking eyes whilst his lips twisted in a humorless smile, "Yes, I would certainly act the same way if he would have been my enemy... or yours" and winked at her.

Having waited for another hour or two they hardly could try their luck again. At this juncture, they had choice but to retreat back to the palace.

He could sense that Jodha was upset and dissatisfied about not able to keep up her excitement going on and so jalal assured her, taking in with those beautiful large eyes, promising her that he would take her on hunting grounds once they were back to their Capital. A satisfied smile lit up her face.

...

Imperial City Delhi...

At the time of departure, Guru was rewarded with one lakh ashrafis at the hands of Mirza and not to forget the very farman which the emperor had promised to give issuing the declaration of his beloved son Shehzaade jalal's succession to the throne after the emperor's demise was also handed over to Guru having the emperor's seal on it, as a proof.

Guru was overwhelmed with this gift, the farman was something he was looking forward to and that in real sense had given him more gratification and pleasure rather than the gift of ashrafis for his own talent.

Furthermore the emperor announced Mansabadari for Guru.

Guru in a humble voice said, "Your Highness, I have no phantasm for the power or any position".

The emperor demanded, "What will you do with such a huge amount of money that you have been given in honor?"

Guru said, "Your Highness, I would like to gift this ashrafis to someone special".

Leaning back in his throne, the emperor questioned, "Who is that person whom you want to gift this?"

"He is only a young boy".

"Who is he?" inquired Mirza.

"Badri is his name, Your Majesty, whatever I have got as my token of honor I shall be giving it to him".

"Where is he now?"

"I cannot surely tell where he could be as of now but he is on the way to Palampur and so if my job is done then I do not want to wait here anymore so kindly allow me to go, Your Highness".

The emperor nor Mirza were in no mood to let him just go off just like that, "No, Guru you cannot go anywhere as I would like you to take charge as one of my Mansabdar".

"Your Highness, its your greatness that I am bestowed with such a great post but to tell you the truth I am a man with absolutely no literate knowledge and I am the son of a milkman, moreover I have grown old to handle any responsibilities of anything related to politics and last but not the least, I have decided to renounce this world and spend my life in the devotion of Almighty" was the prompt reply.

After a small interlude, the emperor replied, "It is you and only you who could manage that task and so end the task and leave, I shall give you the letter of appreciation for your performance".

Guru was in a fix. He couldn't think of any alternative nor could he go against the wishes or be the orders of the emperor and so letting out a long sigh, "Your wish is my command".

"Very good, as expected from you and I am pleased that you dint let me down and readily accepted my offer, anyways you might have heard about the notorious murders at Agra?"

"Yes, Your Highness, I have heard about it".

"I have been investigating on this matter since so long but to my avail I haven't got success to reach the conclusive part of this mystery and I have hopes from you that you shall be able to throw some light on this?"

Gurur bowed again and humbly said, "Your Highness, I will try all my level best to get the accurate information in solving this murder mystery".

The emperor got up from his seat and walked up to Guru and grabbing his shoulders, he stared down at him, "I have full confidence on you since I know you have all the intelligence, prudence and shrewdness that is what perfectly makes you suitable in handling this matter.

You bring the murderers to my disposal and you owe another one lakh ashrafis in your name and I am sure Mirza my brother will be of the same opinion".

Saying so, the emperor turned towards his brother, his eyes fixed upon Mirza, "Most certainly".

"Go to Agra; go wherever you want to but not before completing this task, I want this mystery to be solved at any cost".

"As you wish My Lord!"

"One more thing, you will also have to let me know who murdered my son Nazim, whatever help you need my minister would arrange everything you need to so leave at once for Agra".

"Your Highness, when you have made me feel worthy of this task then I shall go on to add that I do not need to go so long as to Agra" came a quick reply from Guru.

"Why? Now what went wrong?" perplexed at what he just heard.

Guru said, "Your Highness, that is because there has been no murder attempt in Agra so what is the use of going there so long?"

Both, the emperor and Mirza exclaimed in chorus, "Then where have the murder taken place?"

"Here in Delhi" came a quick reply.

"What where here in Delhi?" both looked in utter bewilderment towards Guru.

"Yes, Your Highness, within this fort".

Hearing this news the emperor stared at Guru with piercing gaze whilst Mirza questioned, "But the dead bodies were found at the main gate of Agra".

Guru said, "Your Highness, I would like to reveal everything in details".

"Go, ahead Guru" the emperor's voice echoed the walls of the Court.

"Who could dare act against the orders of His Majesty, the respected Ganga was working her as a bandi in your harem and being her companion I had always kept a close watch on the fort, this was the very reason I could save the life of Gangaji when she had poisoned herself and I am sure Your Highness knows about it.

It was this constant alertness in and around the fort as well as the presence of betel shop at the Chowk owned by my wife Vimla that made me know a lot of things that remained buried within the walls of this majestic fort.

The person involved in this conspiracy is a frequent visitor of this fort, he is truly a devil but then at the same time one cannot underestimate his shrewdness and he was the one who had found out the fact that Shehzaade had been residing in disguise in the ruined city".

"But where is he now?" the emperor interrogated in a loud voice.

Guru now gave a detailed revelation of everything to the emperor including what had happened with him in the valley, how he was captured by Mahajan, then his persecution lastly he added all the prevailing information which Guru knew about Mahajan to the emperor.

He continued further, "I had no intentions to kill him and so let him go. He might have been easily freed himself from the danger but surely one day he would come to this palace as he cannot stay away from this fort".

"Who is the person behind this murder mystery?"

"Pasha, working as Baksi of this Mughal Sultanate, through his favor, this fellow Mahajan got access into this fort, from day one I grew suspicious of this man and so I had been up to my toes as well as kept Badri as a spy to keep a close vigilant on this person".

"One day I found him near the Chowk (square) talking with few of his men first I ignored him but few days later I saw him meeting those men at the same place but in disguise of an old man.

Later on, I got to know when I started following him that the house he used to visit was occupied by an old crone who used to be on search of especially young men as she used to be friendly with them and once they were fallen into her trap, she would kill them and take off whatever valuables they had with them. Once her work was done the bodies would be disposed off to a lonely place.

Needless to say, I had become more and more doubtful on this whole process and so I purposely made Badri to be on keen look out on this Mahajan and that old crone".

"Each day lots and lots of people travel to and fro the towns and cities and these two used to be alert on such young men, I was told by Badri that once a stranger had accompanied with this old lady into her house but never returned back.

When any person from distant town of places disappear, there is none to inquire about them or their whereabouts since, everyone would tend to forget thinking that the person might have left the place and gone to some other town and it was the exact case with this young stranger who went missing since then, none knew what went wrong with this young man".

"Badri's facts made me more hawk eyed. A few more days passed by, the same old lady invited another young man and this Mahajan too had reached this place.

Badri and I both had followed him. We waited outside the house hiding behind the tree and after few a while, Mahajan had come out with that young man where he too had mounted on Mahajan's horse and were heading somewhere".

"I immediately mounted on my horse and instantly followed them. They had arrived at a desolate place on the banks of the river. I could find that a boat had been waiting for them to take them to their destination.

They entered into the boat and it took off, as I too began to trail along them along the coast of the river.

It was past midnight you could say, when the boat had touched the lonely shores near Agra. Mahajan came out along with that young man whilst I tied the horse to a nearby tree and chased them yet again. I travelled through a great distance.

The town which otherwise filled with hustle and bustle during daytime had now looked like a haunted town at midnight with no humans to see anywhere only what could be heard off was the stridulating of crickets. All the city gates were closed.

I took the shelter concealing myself behind some bushes at a far distance as I observed to my disconcert, that this Mahajan along with a few of his men arriving near the city gate along with a gunny bag and placed it near the gate wall where he quickly untied the gunny bag, whilst one of his men kept a tab if they were being observed by someone, what I saw had sent shivers through my spine, they placed a dead body against the gate wall and had scurried off".

"I stood still as it was hard to believe my eyes what I just was witnessed to. After getting the much needed confirmation I gave up the act of chasing them.

My horse already looked wearied and so I took up the further journey on foot, having taken short breaks at intervals somehow I could manage to reach Delhi the next day".

"Once I had reached Delhi I observed that the same boat had been back to its initial place. Your Highness, from this entire narration you could easily guess that I had for long known the murder mystery of Agra".

After Guru had narrated the events, both the emperor and Mirza were gripped off by shock and terror.

They couldn't imagine even in their wildest of the dreams that there might could be such angle to this murder.

Unable to function from shock, the emperor as if in haze, "Does anybody know about it?"

"Your Highness, I can surely assure you that none knows about this mystery".

"Not even Badri for sure?" the emperor questioned.

"No, Your Highness I haven't told him anything not a single word about it".

Having rested back atop his throne, the emperor asked to be reassured, "So, I can take it as a confirmation from you that none know about this incident?"

"No, I wholeheartedly assure you Your Highness that nobody means absolutely none know about this".

"Good then, I have already declared that once your job is done you would receive a lakh ashrafis and now its yours and you shall receive them".

The emperor looked lost in his thoughts for some more time; he seemed to be staring at the floor below and lost in deep contemplation.

After a brief pause he stirred from his stupor and asked, "Well, do you have anything to say on my eldest son Shehzaade Nazim's murder?"

"No, not at all Your Highness, I am totally in darkness regarding this matter" came an immediate reply.

"Okay, then, you may go wherever you feel like I give you full permission and access for you to go anywhere" the emperor ordered straightening his posture. Guru left with paying due respect to both, the emperor and Mirza.

...

Guru had made up his mind to leave this city and once taking leave from the emperor, he spent that entire night tossing and turning since the sleep seemed unlikely to him. He got up the next day morning, his eyes lids being heavy due to devoid of sleep the previous night, having finished with his daily routine and prayers, he took with him the money which he had got as a token of reward and left the town never to return back.

He went not knowing which course of path he would take in and where this would lead him. He reached at the bank of the river where, he did manage to see a few of those familiar faces who were none other than the fishermen and knew him too well.

They had harbored a great respect for him, seeing him approaching towards them, they exchanged greetings, one of them requested him that he would take him wherever he wanted to go.

Guru had left the Mughal Court, the Imperial Capital, but the fire that was lit in the hearts and minds of the brothers couldn't be extinguished but on the contrary it took to the next level.

Their peace of mind was totally lost. Given a chance the emperor could have without any efforts executed Pasha and Mahajan, since the emperor was above all the public laws but then he chose not to give into his impulsiveness and decided to buy some more time.

Mahajan along with few of his henchmen were still at large and if he would sense Pasha getting his due punishment at the hands of the emperor he would try all his level best to prove himself innocent or if not the least he would do is scoot off from this town.

They had no option but to wait till the culprit falls in their trap and Mahajan would same day or the other return to this palace to meet Pasha. Hardly a week or two had passed and Mahajan was seen in the Delhi fort to meet Pasha.

The murder mystery was concealed from everyone not a single soul was aware of this incident and so both the culprits, Pasha and Mahajan neither of them were aware of the Damocles sword hanging over their heads since they never dreamt of living upto this day when all their evil deeds would be unveiled.

They were happily plotting and planning for their next conspiracy which is when to their horror and dismay, the Daroga with his guards appeared before them.

The Daroga ordered the guards to arrest them immediately and within few seconds both were captured in iron chains and taken inside.

Both stood there in hopelessness whilst their facial expressions bore the marks of grim and disgrace.

They had no strength to utter a word and stared with widened eyes utterly nonplussed since they couldn't come to a conclusion in the given state they were put in.

It took them a lot while to regain their conscious back and after which both realized in what position they were placed in.

Pasha who lost his temper screamed and screeched out trying to free himself from the clutches of the iron chains but to his discontent, he gained no success and finally getting exhausted sank back frenzied and with eyes shot red and gritting his teeth, he tried to threaten the Daroga.

The Daroga dint pay any heed to his threatening, folding his hands behind his back, he ordered the guards and said, "Put these offenders into the darkest dungeon of the palace and adhere no threatening of these. Send them quickly and let them wait till their fate is sealed in that dungeon".

The Daroga's orders were followed in a trice and the criminals were dragged by the guards and put into the dungeon not knowing what waited in their fate.

waiting fr ur responses...😃