"Kumardada, to tum hi ho jisne mere husband ko.. Humara peecha kar rhe the haan, humare upar nazar rakhe hue the. Kyu.. Kyu kia tumne aisa.. kya bigada hai Mr. Bajaj ne tumhara.. kis baat ka badla le rhe ho .. boloo.." Prerna was screaming now, holding his collar with full force.
Prerna expected him to say something but he just gave her a wicked smile. His smile sent a chill down her body and Mehra pulled her away from this man who looked dangerous, even with two loaded guns pointed at his head.
Their moment of silence broke when he took her name “PRERNA BAJAJ”
"Mrs. Bajaj haan.. pr kisi zamane mein tum Prerna Sharma hua karti thi" he said smiling at her.
"Haan thi.. pr tum ye sab kyu bata rhe ho, ye sabko pata hai.” She bent a little to meet his eye; looking straight into his eyes, she said in a firm voice, “TUM SIRF ITNA BATAO TUMNE MERE HUSBAND PR ATTACK KYU KIA...WHYY????"
He moved his head ahead to close the distance between their faces and looking deep into Prerna's eyes, he tilted his head on his right and said the words that snatched away the ground under her feet. Grinding his teeth he said "MARNA TO TUJHE THA PRERNA SHARMA, pr tumhari jagah tumhara pati.." he gave her a smirk, as if mocking her for her helplessness and moved back into his chair leaving a stunned Prerna who stood still after hearing what he just said. She had zoned out.
"Kyu marna chahta tha tu Mrs. Bajaj ko" Prerna came out of her blank zone hearing the inspector's voice, who questioned him in a loud voice.
"2.5 saal pehle un Basus ne Vishnu Khattar ko jail bhijwa dia tha, wo bhi aise ki jail se bahar nikalna mushkil ho gaya tha. Tabse maine soch lia tha jo bhi zimmedar hai sabse badla lunga.”
“Basus, ne jo bhi kia usse Mrs. Bajaj ka kya lena dena hai, tum inhe kyu marna chahte the ye batao, baton ko ghumane ki koshish mat karo” asked the Inspector in an irritated tone now.
“Star and Kings naam ki ek company thi, jahan tum Basus ki secretary hua karti thi.. kuch yaad aya? 'Prerna Sharma'- suna tha iska naam bhi maine news mein. Wo Basus aur commissioner sab yahi keh kar tareef kr rhe the ki iska haath tha plan mein.. Vishnu Khattar ko jail bhijwane ka plan.. "
As soon she heard the name 'VISHNU KHATTAR' Prerna recalled the entire chain of events that took place in her office, ending with her losing her unborn child that day. Everything flashed right in front of her eyes.
Flashback begins
2.5 YEARS AGO @STAR AND KINGS Office
“Prerna, Moloy sir is calling you in Anurag sir’s cabin urgently” the receptionist informed Prerna in an urgent voice.
“Ohh.. Okay, I will be right there. Thanks” Prerna left her work station carefully cupping her pregnant belly.
“Good Morning, Sir. You called me?” asked Prerna upon reaching the cabin.
“Ohh yes Prerna, please come in and be careful” said Moloy and indicated to her to take a seat and join them.
“As we all know Star and Kings is our latest acquisition, but we have a feeling there is something fishy somewhere which we were not aware of at the time of buyout. It seems there were some illegal connections and threats because of which owner sold this firm to us on our terms and deliberately did not inform us about it.” explained Moloy who looked quite worked up.
“That could be dangerous sir, especially when we don’t know about the threat or its source” said Prerna trying to make sense of the situation.
“Prerna I have been told that there is a kind of a library in this office that has all old records of this firm. Why don’t you try and see if you can find something there and meanwhile we all try in our own ways. And, yes please take 1 or 2 office helpers to get you all the files from the record room. We want someone we can trust to work on this” suggested Anurag.
After a detailed study of all the files and huge piles of paper, Prerna was able to connect a few dots and drafted a note to discuss it with Basus in the next meeting.
Prerna's house, same evening
Veena came to know about the situation at Prerna’s workplace and she was terribly worried for her daughter, for what she was getting involved in. She tried to stop Prerna for any involvement in this matter but Prerna tried to convince her by telling her that she was only helping them with some research based on old records and nothing else, it was also a part of her job. Though not convinced, Veena reluctantly agreed, still worried for her daughter.
Prerna spent the next two days studying all the documents and ran her own research online and some old newspapers.
2 days later @ office
Early in the morning in the office, everyone was present for the meeting including Prerna. Taking out her notepad from her bag, Prerna said addressing everyone in the room “Sir, kal maine almost sare records check kie and it seems Star and Kings was originally owned by Mr. Vishnu Khattar and his brother Mr. Ajay Khattar who sold this company to us. Vishnu seems to have a dubious past and has been sent to jail many times. He also has strong political connections that always helped him get bailed out easily. That’s the reason their father transferred complete rights to Mr. Ajay Khattar, depriving Vishnu from any rights on any of their assets”
Prerna continued “I did a little more search on Vishnu and he is quite well known for his involvement in illegal land acquisitions for some of the politicians and business owner for money making projects like Malls, Hotels, etc at premium locations; it won’t be wrong if I say he is kinda part of land mafia. There has been a rift between Vishnu and Ajay Khattar for this office where we operate Star and Kings from, because of its location. Because of several cases against him and pressure from few of the opposition party leaders, he is on the run these days but functional under the wraps. His representatives have tried to snatch this place from Ajay Khattar but he sold it to us to escape the whole situation and got a really good deal from us in return”
“Vishnu Khattar is a very dangerous sir and I have gathered all this information from several newspapers and documents found in the record room. I also spoke to a few staff members associated with the company for more than 25 years now. I have compiled everything in this file.” Prerna ended sliding the file towards Moloy and Anurag.
“That’s very impressive Prerna, you got us such crucial information in such a small time. Thank you. Glad we involved you with this.” Said Moloy appreciating Prerna for her work.
“Alright gentlemen, now that we have some clue on what we are dealing with let's carve out a strategy to get us out of this mess.” Said Moloy.
“Sir, if I may make a suggestion. I feel if we share our situation with police and take their help, we would have a better chance of finding some solution” suggested Prerna.
“You know dad, this makes a lot of sense. We definitely are not equipped to deal with the Mafia and all on our own. Involving police will be extremely helpful” said Anurag agreeing fully with Prerna’s suggestion.
“I too agree with you two, let me schedule a meeting with the commissioner today only” Moloy said and dismissed the meeting.
YOU ARE READING
EPIPHANY- PreRish Short Story
FanfictionEPIPHANY- Short story inspired from the show "Kasauti Zindagi Kay". This one is based on the phase when Rishabh Bajaj left Prerna behind in Basu Badi, giving her the much needed freedom she needed in the name of Divorce Papers. The very same night s...
