A suitable Man

Chapter 17

Sheena Nayak

Sheena was in his fifty's yet he was still the intimidating mountain of a man he had been in his youth. His brooding eyes never gave away the menace behind those orbs. He had climbed up his way through lot of thievery, loan sharking and bloodshed.
He was now the Corporator at Honnavar, a town near to Kumta, and it was all the more easier to carry out his businesses discreetly.
He had his hands in all the businesses in and around Kumta. The smuggling of Sandalwood was his special area of interest as the income was huge and it had demand all over the world. All these years he had carried out the business smoothly but now this Boy was becoming an eyesore. Sheena had successfully eliminated his grandpa and his father, but this chap seemed to be more resilient. With his influence in the government offices, he had created a lot of bureaucratic hurdles for Mahendra, but he was smarter than he thought.
The five acre Sandalwood forest created by Jagannatha was now almost deplete of the trees which were planted in hundreds back then. The rights to access this land and cultivate more trees was gained by Mahendra. He had erected wire compounds and restricted the area to any access, he had appointed security guards and with latest state of art security systems. Sheena was unable to carry out any activity there due to this. Mahendra had also now planted hundreds of saplings and in few years he planned to create an entire forest of the same. Sheena was not at all pleased with this development. He wanted to control the trade, and also keep the harvest. He needed to monitor Mahendra closely.

Sheena was now looking for an opportunity to get hold of Mahendra. There had to be a loophole. When he had torched their home, he presumed that the family might have perished in the fire. But he came to know that they had fled Kumta. He had seen to it that there were no witnesses for his crimes, he had wanted to strangle Karunakar too, but by stroke of luck he escaped with damaged
Vocal chords. That was also at an advantage as Karunakar could never speak again, never tell anyone what he witnessed. For the last twenty years Sheena had ruled the underbelly in the coastal area up to Goa very easily. Even the police connived with his gang.

Sheena's Story

He had been orphaned at thirteen due to an epidemic in his hometown at Mulki, a small town which is a couple of hours from Kumta. He had been subjected to tremendous physical abuse by the relatives he was fostered with. He was made to do all the menial jobs in the house and was fed leftovers, beaten at even the smallest of mistakes. He was once beaten badly for stealing an idli, so much that he was left hungry for two days locked inside a room next to the cowshed. That day he had decided he would avenge every single bad thing that had happened to him till date. He would make himself so strong that no one could hurt him mentally or physically. The two days he was locked, he concentrated his energy in defeating his hunger. The boy who came out of the room two days later was different, a boy who had a deep seeded hatred for people having everything in life, he was incapable of any kind of forgiveness and compromise. From that day onwards, he did not suffer even in the face of abject misery. He started building his body with whatever he had, he did odd jobs for anyone who gave him money. It did not matter to him whether it was legal or illegal, he could smuggle desi liqueur, he could trade opium, he would thieve on in crowded places. He would go to any lengths for the money he wanted.  His studies suffered due to all this. He somehow managed to finish his tenth standard. He had been waiting to be off his relatives till that time.

He started working as a punter for a local matka king. Slowly he started having his own matka den on the outskirts of Mulki. He was very good at his trade, his only goal was making money and only money. He didn't have any emotional connect. He lived his life recklessly, and without a single fear, neither of law nor the police. The years of workouts had done wonders on his body. At eighteen he was six feet three inches tall, burly and strong. His eyes showed no compassion, no emotion at all. He could easily bend a crowbar with his bare hands, his opponents in the matka business dared not come on his wrong side.