Read the previous chapter- The Confession.
Previously, on Missing: After Inspetor Jayveer had two suspects and the hearing day one, Pranav Avasthi, the defence lawyer was also stuck on two suspects. After interrogating his own daughter, Ruhi, she confessed to her crimes. Pranav is now left with two options, either to give the court the true story, or a better story and save his daughter. What will he do?
11th Day since Inara’s return.
The court was full of people. Inara’s batch mates, her parents and the ones who knew her, sat to the lift of the judge. Yashwant sat on the right. He knew what had happened the previous day and awaited the proceedings to begin. On the last seat, sat Ruhi. She did not know what her father would say or do. With a lot of questions in her mind, she sat, fingers crossed.
On the left dock stood Vinay and behind the him, was Rajiv, both handcuffed. The witness box awaited new witnesses and the court; new evidences.
As soon as the judge entered, everyone rose as a formal respect and sat as she did. She took a while to reconsider the facts that were laid down in the previous hearing and started.
“So, Mr. Jayveer Pratap, I had asked to check for the credibility of both the suspects’ statements. Where are the reports?”
“The reports have been submitted to the court ma’am,” he said stepping forward. The judge’s assistant handed her the file. A hundred pair of curious eyes glared at him as he spoke.
“Ma’am, events partly occurred as Vinay described it.”
“Partly?”
“Yes, ma’am. After talking to Rajiv’s friends who were present that night, most of them didn’t remember the account, but, few of Rajiv’s friends did. Two of which are out of India, so they could only be contacted through calls. The recordings of their statements has been provided to the court.”
“Please play the recordings,” the judge requested.
A DVD player was brought and the first recording was played. The assistant had to bang the player a few times before it started off with a loud screech.
“That night, I don’t remember what exactly had happened, but, I do remember, there was some sort of squabble between Vinay and Rajiv after which Inara had hit Rajiv. I remember it because we had taunted and teased him for weeks on it. That is all I remember about the night,” the boy on the recording said as the record ended.
“Objection your honor, such recordings can’t be trusted in a high profile murder case as this. Anyone out there can record these statements and provide it to the court. There is no evidence to who this boy is and we do not even know whether he is telling the truth or everything is just a conspiracy to turn the case and shift the culprit from Vinay to Rajiv,” Mr. Sinha said, clearly agitated.
Before, Jayveer or the judge could speak, Mr. Avasthi rose from his chair and started.
“Mr. Sinha,” he said in a calm and gently voice, almost mocking him. “In the last hearing you have spoken a lot, it is time to listen a bit now. Please be seated, I will help you out with all your questions and I’m sure I will make things easy for you, if not difficult.”
Mr. Sinha, walked back to his seat angrily. “Your honor, the last few days have been quite astonishing for me. I’ve heard massive revelations many secrets have uncovered after the first hearing,” he said as Ruhi’s face flashed in front of his eyes but he didn’t look at her.
“The day before yesterday,” he continued, “when I went to the cops, asking them about the two statements, they said that Vinay’s account of events might be partly true. Since I had no leads to carry on with, I asked them to find the addresses of Rajiv’s friends who were present there. I paid visit to them, the same evening. Most people, did not remember any squabble while the others refused to have visited the party itself. After a lot of walking around and talking to Rajiv’s friends, I realized the ones who witnessed it, were out of country. But, there was a boy whom I came across with and I would like to call him on the witness box.”
“Proceed,” the judge said, nodding in a yes.
A skinny boy entered the witness box and poised himself to face the court.
“So, Tushar, will you please tell the court since how long do you know Rajiv.”
“It was after the party that we stated talking. Actually, what happened is, there were these friends of mine who were good friends with Rajiv and insisted me on going with them as I was home alone for the week. My parents had to visit my uncle in Tirupathi. I hesitated in the beginning as I did not know Rajiv well and we had never talked before then how can I go to his birthday party, right? So I decided against it. But, later, when I felt bored and lonely, I joined my friends.”
“Okay, after going there, what did you see? What did you notice?”
“As soon as we reached, everyone took glasses of beer and wine and started drinking and dancing. I didn’t like to drink so I took a Coke and sat on the couch as everyone danced. All of a sudden the music stopped and Rajiv, announced that all of us shall sing, so that Vinay felt comfortable around us. By his voice and his eyes, I knew he was completely drunk. Something happened, I don’t exactly remember what, but Vinay got angry and walked to the courtyard, after a while Rajiv too went behind them. I did not bother, I had to throw my coke can and needed some fresh air so I walked out from the back door of his farmhouse, where the party was organized. As I walked, I heard Rajiv yelling. So I walked up to the courtyard and saw Inara, pushing Rajiv as she helped Vinay stand. Rajiv came close to Inara and just then she slapped him.”
Everyone drew cautious breaths and then you could hear a pin drop.
“She yelled at him and Inara and Vinay walked out of the place. I turned to find many eyes looking at Rajiv. And…”
“That will be all for now Tushar, thank you. I will call you back in a while,” Pranav said as he turned towards the judge. “That is what exactly happened. Rajiv has always hated Vinay and the statements given by Rajiv cannot be trusted.”
“So you say, Mr. Avasthi, that this boy can be trusted?” Mr. Sinha asked, walking towards Mr. Avasthi. “This boy, about whom we know nothing and have no evidence on…”
“No, no, no. Your honor, before Mr. Sinha questions the identity of my witness,” he said removing a piece of paper from the file on his desk. “Here is a certificate from NIFT that certifies him as a bonafide student, studying between the years, twenty-fifteen to twenty-nineteen.” He handed over the bonafide certificate to the judge.
“Any more evidence that you need Mr. Sinha? Perhaps, his Aadhar card? Or, maybe his bank account linked to the Aadhar card? I have it? Shall I…just…you know?” he said deridingly to Mr. Sinha.
Clearly outraged, Mr. Sinha said, “I would like to question the boy.” And the judge nodded.
“Please,” smiled Mr. Avasthi, beckoning him towards the witness box.
“You say you remember everything, but what happened between the fight and after Rajiv announced the singing. Please, explain, how is it possible?”
Tushar shrugged to the question.
“What? You must remember. How can you forget the key event that resulted in the argle-bargle between Vinay and Rajiv? And I am surprised to hear that after no contact with any of your college mates for all this time, you remember the evening with such precise detail and yet you seem the forget the key event? I don’t think that’s possible,” laughed Mr. Sinha. “Until Mr. Avasthi asked you to tell all this story. And…you know, just to assure everyone, asked you to not tell anything about what happened after Rajiv announced singing.”
Mr. Avasthi laughed to the allegation as he walked towards the prosecution.
“Mr. Sinha, why is it so, that you focus more on judging my nature and the things I could do, rather than trying to find the culprit? If not for yourself, at least think about your client,” he said pointing towards Inara’s parents. “They’ve lost a daughter, and if you please be a bit serious towards the case, that would help us a lot.”
The prosecution turned towards the judge. He was shivering in anger as he spoke.
“Your honor, it must not be forgotten that a knife was missing from Vinay’s place and that Inara had marks on her body that can only be created by a knife. We all saw what the CCTV footage showed and as per the ticket collectors statement Vinay…”
“Mr. Sinha,” Pranav interrupted. “A lot has happened since the ticket collector gave his statement. And, I just can’t believe, you are accusing my client, just because a knife is missing from his place? All this for a petty knife? And as you said, nowhere in the reports is it mentioned that Inara was stabbed with a knife.” He passed a copy of the reports to the assistant to be given to the judge. “It is clearly stated on page two paragraph two that the wounds on her body were made by a sharp object. And I don’t think a sharp object only means a knife, your honor.”
The court was silent except for the screeching fan and the tube-light that flickered above the judge.
“Mr. Sinha, do you have any other leads or evidences against Vinay, other than this knife theory?” the judge asked pointing a pen towards him.
Mr. Sinha shook his head and looked at the floor.
“Then please let Mr. Avasthi carry on with the case,” she said.
“Please be seated, let me continue with the proceedings. And I will soon come to the knife as well Mr. Sinha.” Pranav smiled at the prosecution before turning towards the judge. “Since now we know, Vinay was right about whatever had happened at Rajiv’s farmhouse that night and that Rajiv had lied about Vinay, I would like to continue with the same lead. But, before I continue with the proceedings, I would like you to see these.” He handed an envelope to the judge.
She opened the envelope and her expressions changed from an intrigued to a stupefied one. “What are these, Mr. Avasthi?” She asked, wide eyed, moving a few photographs in her hand.
“These your honor,” Pranav said in a soft voice, “are adult toys which people use while,” he cleared his throat before continuing, “intercourse. And…all of these were found in Rajiv’s farmhouse.”
Every questioning eye in the court widened to the revelation. Ruhi placed a hand on her mouth, wide eyed.
“What?” the judge yelled.
“Let me explain. The day before yesterday, after questioning Tushar I realized that Rajiv had wronged there by hitting Vinay and that he loathed Vinay to his last breath. As soon as I was certain about it, I remembered Vinay’s statement.
“Inara knew something about Rajiv that everyone had to know if they were to know his true nature.”
“So, I asked the investigating officer, Inspector Jayveer Pratap to make a detailed search of Rajiv’s as well as Vinay’s place. To further talk on this, I would like to call Inspector Jayveer to the witness box.”
Before the judged could respond, Inspector Jayveer willingly walked towards the witness box.
“Inspector Jayveer, please tell the court whatever has happened in the last two days.”
“The day before yesterday, Mr. Avasthi had questioned Tushar and had run down with all the facts that lay in front of him in the police station. He asked me whether I had searched both the suspect’s houses properly. I had checked everything thoroughly before preparing the file, so I provided Mr. Avasthi with a copy of all the photographs that were taken at both the houses and he left from the police station. It was late into the night, somewhere around eleven, when Mr. Avasthi called me. He asked whether I had searched Rajiv’s farmhouse and then it dawned upon me that I hadn’t. It was too late for everyone to conduct the search operation. So, the next day, that is, yesterday morning, we went there. We didn’t find anything at first, until my stupid head constable Gandhari had dropped a bottle of wine from their mini-bar between the kitchen and the hall. While cleaning the mess, he went for the dustbin in the kitchen, but it was already overflowing, so he searched for another and found one, in the one and only room on the ground floor.
“As he pressed the lever to open the dustbin, a tile from one of the walls hissed and came out. At once we rushed to the room when Gandhari yelled. I tried to remove the tile, but it won’t come out. But, I found it tilted slightly towards one of the sides, so I rotated it to a full turn, it clicked, but nothing happened. We scattered and walked around to search for something. We did not know what might show up, but something was definitely fishy there. As a walked on the rear end of the room, a tile under my foot made a hollow sound and I understood. I moved the tile and it shifted without an effort. Under it, was a passage, leading to an underground room.”
“And then your honor,” Pranav continued. “What Inspector Jayveer found there will send chills down each and every soul in the room. The room was filled with these adult toys and within a drawer were these papers,” he handed the bundle to the assistant.
The judge scanned the papers and shot Rajiv a cold stare.
“This boy, your honor, would lure girls into his trap and make them sign on this agreement that whatever he did in there, was with the girl’s own consent and none of it was forced. None of the cops had meddled with anything in the room as everything in there was an evidence. Only photographs were clicked and these papers were taken. Rest all lay as it is.
“Also, this knife was retrieved from one of the drawers,” Pranav added, flashing a transparent bag with a knife in it.
“What is this your honor? After arguing so much on the missing knife, Mr. Avasthi has miraculously fond the knife again. What bullshit is this!”
“Mr. Sinha please control your tongue,” the judge shouted.
“I’m sorry your honor. But, none of this makes sense. Everything Mr. Avasthi said is preposterous and just a futile effort to shift the blame and deflect the case.”
“Everything will make sense when we think of all the events one by one in the order everything happened,” said Mr. Avasthi.
The court was silent. Everyone waited with bated breath so that Mr. Avasthi could be clearly heard by everyone.
“Everything started two years before, when Inara started talking to Vinay. Inara was best friends with Rajiv. Through the course of time, Rajiv had fallen head over heels for Inara, but she never had anything from her side. Rajiv kept his feelings to himself. Meanwhile, the bond between Inara and Vinay strengthened. Inara shared with Rajiv everything Vinay would say. Rajiv knew that they were getting closer by the day so he might have decided to confess his feelings to Inara and when she did not respond, he coaxed her in getting Vinay to his party only to humiliate him.
“After Rajiv saw Inara, kissing Vinay, he hit him. Everything that happened after that is evident by what Vinay said. Throughout the week and the months that followed, Rajiv was taunted by his friends for being hit by a girl. Between that time, he tried to talk to Inara, but she ignored. Well, I’m not sure how she came to know about everything Rajiv did in his farmhouse, but she definitely knew about it. That is what she was angry about when Vinay and Inara had a fight. Rajiv didn’t want this to happen. So he abducted her and took her in that room, under his farmhouse…”
“Lies! Everything is a lie! I never took her. Yes, I did want to stop her from telling it to everyone, I only wanted to talk. I can never think of hurting her. He’s lying!” Rajiv cried.
“There’s no use of lying anymore, son,” Pranav said. “Your honor, he held her captive, used all that he could from hunters and belts to everything worse you can imagine. I don’t know if you have noticed, the papers are dated only until Inara’s disappearance. That means he didn’t take anyone there after Inara went missing and he couldn’t as he kept Inara there. He raped her for two long years your honor! Two long years!”
Pranav took a deep breath as Rajiv howled.
“After everything, your honor, that poor girl had the will to fight, so somehow she broke free and went to Vinay as it was the closest place she had. Rajiv knew she had only one place to go so that night he went at Vinay’s place.”
Pranav started pacing from the dock to the witness box. “If the court remembers, Vinay was attacked that night and that is when Rajiv attacked him and as soon as he was unconscious, he took a knife from Vinay’s place so that whatever he did, would shift the blame on Vinay. He took her to a cliff, and that I judge, your honor, by the dirt that was seen on Inara’s body when her body was found. He tore the clothes and hit her as hard as he could with the belt he wore and stabbed her multiple times with the knife before she might have fought back and run from there. The forensics report confirm that fingerprints were tried to be erased and that the same knife was used as the murder weapon.”
He glanced at Ruhi, and saw her crying. He turned towards the judge.
“Inara was intelligent enough to run towards the sky walk so that cameras captured her and the one who followed her. She found Vinay on the other end and stopped dead in her tracks. She was horrified by the trauma of the last two years. She was depressed your honor and wanted to end everything. Even though she had a ray of hope in front of her, she didn’t have the guts to go for it, so she jumped. Everything ended for her.”
Silence buzzed in each ear, the fan, the tube-light, even the yelling of Rajiv’s voice seemed to be muted. Everyone, took their time to recover from everything that had been said. The judge was the first to recover and asked the prosecution whether he had anything to add as his closing argument, but, he shook his head. The court didn’t pay any attention to Rajiv’s cry of innocence and the court sentenced him to life imprisonment, under the act of torture, rape, causing mental trauma, hurting women by luring them into his traps and many others under many sections of the law. The first three years of his imprisonment was to be spent in solitary confinement.
Vinay was released from all the charges and the case was shut.
Later that night, Vinay received a text message on his phone from an unknown number.
There are things you need to know before you leave the town. Things about...Inara. Reach at the below address by tomorrow noon.
And below, was an address to Alibaug.
Read the next chapter: THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE.
Final Chapter - Things We Do For Love - on 22nd June 2019.
Although Rajiv has been punished for Ruhi's crimes, things don't fit in properly. How did Pranav get hands on the knife? Where did he find it? After all these weeks of stress, how will Vinay's life change? And what is tha catch with the Alibaug address now? What will he do now? Find out in the final chapter.
Poster credits:
Picture credits: Pinterest.
Edited by: Rohan Basak.
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