"I wouldn't if you threaten me.
I wouldn't if you blackmail.
And I would never if you force me.
I may consider if you request with respect and love.
And if it is a challenge; then try me!"
-Elegiac_Damsel
_____________
24th October
Sampurnaa's pov:
It took me 45 minutes to reach the studio in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).
Senior was there as were the police. They had been called in for security purpose of course. The team included me, Asifa, Peter and Vinay. They would take turns to observe the workers at the pharmacy and then inform us. I was asked to go in at the end for questioning if anything came out of it.
We proceeded to go towards Malabar Hill. It is one of the wealthiest areas in Mumbai. The students there have chauffeur driven cars of there own and have enough money on their hands to purchase drugs if they have to.
For some reason though, the wealthiest are generally the most troubled... Which obviously instigates the youngsters to resort to drugs. No one's life is a bed of flowers I guess.
...
The pharmacy was located near the seashore. There were many mansions nearby.
It is weird that a pharmacy located in such a developed area does not have CCTV surveillance cameras.
The mic had been attached to my shirt from inside so people can't become suspicious. The camera was attached to the thin gold chain I always wear, like a pendant.
....
The first three went in and observed the shop. I got updates from the visuals team about what was there inside.
Asifa went there and asked for sleeping pills. She was given what she had asked for without a prescription. Peter asked for the drug named Ecstasy. He was asked to meet the man at the counter at the seashore at 6.00 p.m.
We decided to get the man there with the drugs and then catch him red-handed. Vinay was asked to enquire about the stock of medicines at the pharmacy. He would pretend to be a businessman who was interested in buying the pharmacy. He would ask about other drugs in between. This would also help us know something about the owner of the place.
...
It has been 3 hours and two of them have already entered and checked with the man at the cash counter.
Peter had been sent to the seashore at 6 p.m. and handed over drugs. The man who had delivered it to him was not someone from the pharmacy. The police were following him along with a member from our team with a camera and mic. The man in question was heading towards Pune.
It is close to 8.45 now. It is Vinay's turn to enter now. I wished him luck through the bluetooth speaker and he entered.
I was overlooking everything that was happening inside with the help of my phone which sent a live recording from Vinay's camera.
45 minutes passed with him being involved in a conversation with the man at the counter. I could hear everything through the Bluetooth speaker.
Vinay: "Is this pharmacy for sale?"
Man: "No. It isn't. What is it that you want?"
Vinay: "I wanted to buy a pharmacy. This one is located on a posh locality. I could have made more money here."
Man: (laughs at his deductions) "There are so many more professions and businesses that you can invest in. Why the medicine business?"
Vinay: "Nowadays there are more and more discounts available on home appliances than on medicines. Moreover, there are so many hospitals, doctors and patients everywhere. I think that the medicine business is one that will never face debt or loss!"
The other man laughed.
The conversation stopped momentarily as another customer entered the shop.
It was a student, aged around 21 years. He walked up to the counter and asked the man at the counter about some 'special medicine' that he had ordered.
The man at the counter told him that it had not been delivered on time. He assured the young guy that it would be available the next day.
The boy lost his cool temperament. He started to scream at the poor man about how all his efforts were going to go in vain.
What really made me curious was the reason for his unruly and overhyped behaviour.
I spoke to Vinay through the bluetooth and asked him to intervene and ask the boy what he wanted.
Vinay intervened just as the boy had caught hold of the helpless man's collar!
"What did you want, Sir?" I heard Vinay ask the boy as he freed the man from his grip.
The boy replied through gritted teeth.
"I got the girl I wanted after so many days! I gave sleeping pillsss....."
His voice slurred which suggested that he was highly intoxicated.
It was at this point that I decided to enter as there wasn't anyone else in there other than Vinay, the man at the counter and the young boy.
I entered pretending to be a customer. Vinay looked glad to see me! He is a sorted out guy in general who doesn't really have much to do with fights and such situations... Hence his relief was an anticipated reaction.
I walked upto the counter and asked him if he had any contraceptive pills. I really don't know why I asked for that anyways! I guess that was the only product that came to my mind at that time!
The man nodded and went to look for the medicine that I had asked for.
The young boy who was still restrained by Vinay looked at me and said in a cheap tone.
"You are hotter than that girl!"
He whistled like an uncultured vagabond.
I was stunned at his behaviour! He is literally around 4 years younger to me and seems to be from a wealthy family, judging from his clothes.
He looked me up and down just as the man at the counter gave me a pack of the pills I had asked for. I was paying when he opened his mouth again.
"You are more mature! You're not thin... You have curves!"
I turned around this time ready to slap the guy. I stopped myself abruptly as I got reminded that he isn't in his right senses.
I decided to take this opportunity in my favour and interrogate him. I gestured Vinay to hold that boy straight.
"What drug did you want?" I asked him
He looked at me and answered.
"Would some Ecstasy bring you to bed?"
I clenched my fist and counted to ten.
"Which drug did you pre-order here?"
He took time to understand the question asked as he was slipping into a stupor.
".... I... Wanted to... Use... Ecstasy, some morphine and some cocaine... On Jill! I wanted her!"
"Where is she? Why did you want to give these drugs to her?" I asked him next.
His eyes were shutting. I asked Vinay to slap the boy's cheeks slightly in order to keep him awake.
He did.
The boy woke up with a start and I repeated my question.
"I gave her sleeping pills! She is... Waiting... For me... Unconscious."
And with this the boy slumped forward and fell asleep almost instantly. I turned to look for the man who was at the counter.
He was nowhere to be seen!
I called up the police who were with us as security back up and asked them to come inside and search.
They entered and began searching. Meanwhile we also called up the ambulance for taking the young boy to the hospital. We suspected a drug overdose.
His name in his ID Card was given as Gabriel Godse. We contacted his parents and asked them to go to the hospital directly.
The police officers searched the pharmacy and found a trap door on the floor right behind the counter that led to some underground cellars.
The cellars had huge boxes with all sorts of drugs known to mankind!
I was waiting up. It was 10 pm! The perfect time to get this aired on television. I called my senior and asked him to halt the ongoing debate on television as there was exclusive footage coming up.
I immediately called the camera man and asked him to capture a footage of me and Vinay on camera. Once he was done shooting the basic scene, I stood in front of the pharmacy and began on-field reporting.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am reporting from Malabar Hill, Mumbai. As you all can see that India Today conducted string operations in order to discover and uncover drug rackets in and around the city. We came across this pharmacy in this elite locality where there are no CCTV cameras. Sometime ago, our teammembers along with the police discovered boxes full of drugs in the cellar of this place. Search operations are still on for the people associated with this heinous crime. With camera-journalist, Farouq Khan, this is Sampurnaa Roy reporting live for India Today."
...
I went back inside and called up senior. He told me that the man who had delivered drugs to Peter had finally been caught by the police. Their main hideout had been traced to Khopoli.
He was being taken to the police station.
I disconnected the call when one of the constables announced from the cellars that they had caught hold of the man who was at the counter.
He was brought up on ground in no time. His hands were cuffed and the constables held him in order to keep him from running away.
I went forward with the mic and asked him, "Who is the owner of this pharmacy?"
He looked at me jeeringly and said, "You'd never know!"
I looked at him with an equally challenging glare and told him, "If this is a challenge; then try me!"
The police led him away and the other teammembers and I left after we had taken photographs for social media, the newspapers and also for airing on television.
I wanted to go to the studio; but senior had arranged vehicles for us so we did not face any problem while travelling at night. He gave me clear orders to return home and I obliged.
It was a long and tiring day!
....
Indrayan's pov:
I returned home well after 9 p.m. tonight. After the court, I had gone to my office. There were several phone calls from people who claimed to know the late Minister's family. They all responded to my advertisement in the newspapers.
After around 25 calls to several people, one thing became clear:
The late minister's wife wasn't an only child and that she had a sibling. What we still couldn't find a clue about is the sibling's gender and age.
The possibility might be that the sibling knew about his/her brother in-law's disloyalty to his wife and took revenge; but then the question remains... Who was the second person who wanted to kill the minister?
Pushing these thoughts aside after reaching home; I decided to go in for a cool shower that would bring some peace and calm to my racing mind.
...
It was 10 p.m. when I went down to the dining room for dinner. The food was on the dining table and from what I could see, Maa and Dad had already eaten.
I served myself and walked to the living room with the plate in hand.
A heated debate was going on on India Today and Dad was totally hooked to it. Maa was doing some calculations with the calculator in hand, a pen and a notebook on her lap. I went and sat next to her.
She was calculating the wedding expenses.
I had suggested hiring event managers... But they decided on arranging and doing everything by themselves. They refers to Dida, my parents, Sampurnaa's parents, Abhimanyu and Adrija.
I began eating my food while helping maa with the expenses.
There were gifts, decorations, caterers, jewellery and also transportation for easy mobility.
All of a sudden, the debate on the Television was stopped abruptly.
The senior journalist appeared on the screen. He apologised for interrupting the programme and then announced that there was some exclusive footage that had just come in.
Maa, Dad and I, we sat straight as we were curious about what was going on.
A while later, Sampurnaa and Vinay appeared on the screen. The man on the camera first took a shot of every corner of the pharmacy which they were in. The police could be seen busy in searching something. A trap door was shown on the floor which apparently led to some cellar or basement.
The camera finally went and stopped on Sampurnaa. She had a reporting mic in her hand this time and she looked straight at the camera and began speaking.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am reporting from Malabar Hill, Mumbai. As you all can see that India Today conducted string operations in order to discover and uncover drug rackets in and around the city. We came across this pharmacy in this elite locality where there are no CCTV cameras. Sometime ago, our teammembers along with the police discovered boxes full of drugs in the cellar of this place. Search operations are still on for the people associated with this heinous crime. With camera-journalist, Farouq Khan, this is Sampurnaa Roy reporting live for India Today."
The senior journalist returned back on screen and he gave a small introduction about the string operations.
The next videos that were shown appeared to be from today's expedition. There was another female reporter who asked for sleeping pills, another male reporter asking for drugs, Vinay questioning the man about the pharmacy. And then came some youth who was undoubtedly intoxicated. His speech was slurred and unclear. He was misbehaving with Sampurnaa when she entered.
I could see from the video and her body language, how much patience and effort must have been taken by her to resist slapping that youngster!
Another photograph of some other man came up on the screen with the caption:
"Man who supplied drugs to one of our reporters today, caught. Head quarters of drug racket traced to Khopoli."
After this, the camera went live again as Sampurnaa reappeared. The camera focused on the man who was handcuffed by the police.
Sampurnaa asked the man about the owner of the pharmacy and about the mastermind of the racket.
The man's reply came in the form of an open challenge.
She again impressed me with her confident and sassy reply, "If this is a challenge; then try me!"
Once all this had been shown, the debate resumed. I wasn't the least interested in the debate, so I kept my plate in the kitchen and then returned back to my room.
...
It is around 11 p.m. now. I decided to call Sampurnaa once.
She picked up the call in 3 rings.
"Hello?" she spoke tiredly into the phone
"Are you fine?" I asked her
She yawned. "Yes. I am fine. I am a bit tired I guess."
I smiled when she said 'a bit'.
"You are way more than 'a bit' tired. You haven't slept properly in days! You need proper sleep."
She hummed in reply.
"You on your way home?" I asked her.
She again hummed in reply.
"I know that you are going jewellery shopping tomorrow. You need energy if you are going with my mother and yours! Better get some sleep when you get home. And take care of yourself."
"I will. You take care too. I know what task you have been assigned. So sleep well. Good night." she spoke on the phone and then we both disconnected the call.
For a change, instead of viewing files tonight, I decided to sleep just as Sampurnaa had asked me to.
We had another phase in our lives that was coming up... Yet we seldom had the chance to think about it as the case was all we had on our minds.
For the first time in days, I rested my ead against the pillow and thought at length about our impending wedding; and not of the court, the case or suspects and witnesses.
I gradually drifted to sleep.
.........
25th October. Happy Dhanteras.
Sampurnaa's pov:
I woke up at 9.30 a.m. today! I literally had the best sleep that I have had in days.
It took me half an hour to freshen up and when I went to the living room, everyone was seated and seemed engrossed in some important discussion.
I barged in and greeted them. They were discussing the wedding and the expenses. Dada wanted to speak to some lawyer for the legal marriage and Baba wanted to go to the Bengali association to contact a priest who would conduct the wedding ceremony.
The discussion continued till the dining table and I remained a silent spectator.
It was around 12 p.m. when Maa, Baba and I began driving to P.C. Chandra Jewellers in Bandra near Linking Road. Dada and Boudi had to speak to the decorators who would be home, so they would join us later. It took us 1.5 hours to reach Bandra.
I was feeling quite overwhelmed at the showroom where so many people were present.
The salesmen there were asked by Baba to get the wedding collection sets for us to see and choose. The amount of gold each piece of jewellery had and the price tags could easily lower my Blood pressure and send me to hospital! I refrained from commenting on anything and remained mum.
Manabi Aunty arrived at the showroom a quarter of an hour later. She saw my parents sitting helplessly and me sitting silently and assessed the situation.
"It is your wedding child. Wearing jewellery is a tradition and you will look beautiful in it! Your parents will tell you if you choose something that would be difficult for them to afford. Don't worry! Just take a look at everything once and decide." she explained gently and calmly
I took a deep breath and nodded. Maa and Baba brightened up instantly and the salesmen began showing us jewellery sets very enthusiastically.
Dada and Boudi arrived half an hour later and we selected the jewellery for the wedding in no time.
The jewellery worn by the bride on Bou-Bhaat is generally from her in-laws, so I wasn't allowed to see the jewellery they selected for me.
The wedding jewellery that were selected:
Maang-tikka
Necklace
Earrings
Nath (Nose ring)
Bracelet
Mukut/ crown for the bride
Maa-Baba were very happy with the selection. Dada-Boudi paid for the bracelet and the mukut. When Baba asked them to not worry, Dada shushed him with one sentence, "I am not letting my sister marry anyone, unless she has at least one piece of jewellery that was gifted by me and Adrija."
I smiled and those two men became emotional.
We returned home after that and Dada asked me to speak to Indrayan about our legal wedding for the marriage certificate once.
I decided to call him later in the evening.
.......
Indrayan's pov:
It has been such a tiring day today! Even though I had taken leave today, there was nothing called rest in my entire day's agenda.
Maa instructed me and Dad to go and meet the decorators who would decorate our house for the days of the wedding. We also went to meet the caterers and fixed the menu for the guests.
Maa also wanted Dad and I to clean the house thoroughly as Diwali was day after tomorrow. We do have a maidservant who does the work; but she is very irregular which is why Dad and I were assigned the task to vacuum clean the entire house, water the plants in the balcony and garden, change the curtains, change the bedsheets and bedcovers and also clean the kitchen!
Talk about equality and equal rights! Our household does try and maintain that....
I hope Sampurnaa finds it easy to live here.
A month is still there for our wedding... There are numerous hearings at the court and unsolved, overlapping and criss-crossing mysteries that we have to solve before that.
My thoughts were just returning back to the courtroom and the case, when someone called me.
It was Sampurnaa.
"Hello?" she spoke on the phone
"Ha. Bolo!" (yes. Tell me.) I told her
"Dada asked me to call you once and ask about the marriage certificate and the legal marriage. He wanted me to ask you when we will be signing the papers."
I sighed.
Of course we had more work than just playing with clothes, jewellery, vermillion and relatives to get the marriage recognized by the government!
"I'll ask Zakir to prepare the papers. He has a B.A. LLB. degree and will be able to do that. As for the witnesses are concerned, we have our parents and Abhimanyu-Adrija. And you can decide when we are going to sign the papers." I told her after thinking once
She was silent awhile on the phone.
"Let's sign it on 27th November, after our Aashirbad ceremony. Since it is Dida's birthday, she will be thrilled. In fact, we'll ask her to be the first witness who would sign. That would make her happy... Tai na?"
(right?)
She asked me.
I replied in the affirmative and then after we discussed the case for sometime, we disconnected the call.
I smiled to myself as I kept my phone away.
"I have made the right choice." I told myself as I rested my head against the headboard of my bed.
..................................................................................
To be continued...