Dedicated to LavinaFernandes1 you are the best teacher I could have ever asked for! Thank you for being patient with me, for guiding me and for giving me love. I can never thank you enough for helping me learn a language! Thank you ma'am for teaching me; not just French but so much more... Values and compassion, faith and goodness... Thank you ma'am for everything; especially the food😁

"A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker than any germ can."

-John Steinbeck
__________

2nd January

Sampurnaa's pov:

"Mrs. Karune, please answer this question honestly. Did you ever try to plan something for revenging the Minister?" Indrayan asked her in a gentle yet firm tone

There was a silence in the courtroom. No one spoke. I was sitting with my notepad open on my lap, gripping my pen tightly.

"I... Didn't... I mean... No" she replied at length

"Are you sure that you are speaking the truth, Ma'am? Speaking lies in a courtroom has dire consequences" Indrayan asked her again, a bit jeeringly

The witness looked at him wide-eyed... Almost in a frightened manner

"Objection! The prosecutor is trying to intimidate and threaten the witness." the defendant protested

"Objection sustained! The prosecutor is asked to remember that he is questioning a senior citizen and that it is necessary to maintain the protocol at the court." the justice replied

"I apologise, your honour. I'll rephrase that for you, please tell the court and his honour if you have ever tried to do anything to bring justice to your sister or to avenge her death?"

The witness stood still and silent. She opened her mouth once but then shut it again... She looked towards the Health Minister and then his brother.
She remained silent.

"Mrs. Karune, I request you to answer." Indrayan told her gently this time

"Yes. I wanted to avenge her death." she replied at length

"You wanted to or did you?" he asked her hurriedly

"Your honour, the prosecutor is pressing on the matter too far now." the defendant spoke out

Before the judge could reply to that, Indrayan addressed her, "Ma'am defendant, you are a lawyer who is senior to me with a lot more experience, isn't this how we are supposed to question, anyways?"
His tone was polite and so genuine that it sort of confused the defendant.

"Er... I guess... Yes." she replied and then took her seat, a bit embarrassed

I bit my lip to hide a smile that was urging to come on my face.
I turned my attention towards the proceedings again,
"Mrs. Karune, please answer the question." he repeated

She was looking here and there and then finally after the same question had been repeated thrice, she burst out.

"Yes! Yes!I did! I have already avenged my sister's death! That cheating manwhore is dead! He deserved to die! And Anya... Well she is on the streets anyways! Serves her right! She dared to be a slut... She recruited women whose profession was to sell their bodies... But she is so cheap that she did it for free!"

The interpreter translated it hesitantly.

The justice fumed.
"Mrs. Karune! Use of derogatory and foul language isn't permissible in the court!" he thundered

But the woman was so totally drowned in her own fury, that she had the audacity to answer back.
"If criminals can be punished here for their crimes... Then why can't victims vent out their anger?"

And that actually caused the entire courtroom including the justice, the prosecutor and the defendant to freeze in their places.
A dead silence greeted us while the reporters who were seated or standing near me, began scribbling down her statement.

The justice regained composure after very long.
"Prosecutor may proceed with the questioning. Mrs. Karune will have to spend a night in police custody for back answering the Justice."

Indrayan nodded and continued.

"Were you the one who killed him? If yes, then how?"

"I got one of the women from my village to be employed as the cook at his house. She would mix some amount of poison in the Minister's food everyday. It was a slow poison and was supposed to do its work in a year's time. But since the Minister was seldom home, the amount of poison that entered his body, daily would have actually taken 3 years for him to die. The woman started at his house as the cook, last year in January. She would mix a little amount of mercury waste into his food."

"It was a very detailed planning... Please tell the court how you got that woman employed there? As far as I know, the details of every employee is thoroughly checked." Indrayan asked her

The woman was silent.

"Okay, forget that question. Could you please tell the court if you know who ACTUALLY killed the minister?"

She looked baffled and bewildered.

"Actually?" she asked unsure

Indrayan turned to the justice.
"Your honour! The post mortem report of the Minister's mortal remains suggest that there was slow poison in his body... But the cause of his death was a bullet wound. He had been shot straight near his heart. A copy of the report has been submitted to you and to the defense. I have also mentioned in my affidavit that it has come to the notice of the police that there were two attempts at murdering the Minister."

The justice nodded and checked the reports.
"Well, the reports are in order. The cause of the Minister's death is a bullet wound and loss of too much blood as the Aorta of the deceased had been ruptured. Does the defense have anything to say?" he asked

The defendant stood up and asked, "How do you guarantee the Verisimilitude of the reports, Prosecutor?"

Indrayan smirked and answered, "This is the same report that had been submitted by the CBI. Since the minister died on duty, his death was obviously analysed and investigated according to the norms."

The defendant resumed her seat and the questioning continued.

"Mrs. Karune, it is quite perceptible and understandable that you couldn't have done this alone. In order to plan an assassination, that too one that involved the woman who was giving poison to stay in the Minister's house, requires help. Like I said, all the employees' profiles are thoroughly checked and verified. Someone must have helped you to get that woman inside the Minister's house as the kitchen staff... Would you please tell the court who it was?"

"No... No one... No one helped me... I did it... I did it myself." she spoke

The interpreter translated her statement.
Indrayan turned to the justice, "Your honour, even if I want to believe her statement, it somehow strikes me odd that a woman who requires at interpreter to converse with anyone who doesn't speak Marathi, did all this by herself. First things first, she doesn't own a gun! Secondly, she doesn't have the physical resources or the ability to shadow the minister and shoot him herself.
But what is really very odd is that she waited for around 24 years in order to get back at the Minister! Why and how did the flame of revenge re-ignite?"

He turned to the woman again and told her, "Mrs. Karune, please reveal the truth. There is no use lying in the court. No matter how much elaborately you plan, you couldn't have done all this without proper connections."

She chose to remain silent.
"Your honour, it seems that the witness isn't willing to answer. With your permission, I would like to apply for a Narco test in her case. Maybe that would help us ascertain the truth." Indrayan addressed the judge

Arpita Karune's face screamed sheer horror.
She immediately spoke up in protest,
"No your honour. Please don't permit that. I will speak the truth."

...

Indrayan's pov:

I was left with no other option when she remained silent. She is just wasting the court's time! It is now close to 6 months that the case has been dragging on... It is high time that she reveals things so that the victims finally get justice.

"Your honour, it seems that the witness isn't willing to answer. With your permission, I would like to apply for a Narco test in her case. Maybe that would help us ascertain the truth." I addressed the judge

The woman was quick to react,
"No your honour. Please don't permit that. I will speak the truth."

I smirked satisfied. Finally, we are on track!

"Very well then Mrs. Karune. Please answer the prosecutor's questions." the justice told her

She nodded and began.
"I had been meaning to get back at the Minister and also at Anya. That day when my sister died, she kept repeating these lines, 'Tai! (older sister in Marathi) she has destroyed me and my life. She has literally snatched away everything! She is carrying the child which I should have been carrying!' I was deeply hurt. And then the catastrophe took place. She died and left me. I had become unconscious due to smoke from the fire. When I woke up in the hospital, they told me that my sister had died and that her last rites had also been carried out.  I went to meet that bastard... He told me that he had to hide the actual cause of Sanchi's death as it wouldn't have been good for his 'image'. I was furious with him and just as I told you, I did try to take things through the lawfully correct path... But he ensured that things remain under cover. When I had been released from house arrest,  I went to meet Anya. She was happy to see me. When I saw that baby in her arms, I wanted nothing more than fitting vengeance! I gave up on things for a few years... The next time I met Anya, the girls in my village started disappearing one by one. At first I, like everyone else thought that they were either running away or doing something on their own accord... But then one day, I overheard her speaking to someone using my landline. It was in the late '90s, so not everyone had mobile phones then. She was speaking about some girls and that she had found someone who could be 'good for the brothel'. I realised then that she was involved in a serious business. For the first few days, she only talked about girls and women... And then one day, someone called her over the landline. I picked it up. I pretended that I was Anya and spoke on the phone. The man was asking about some drugs. I told him to come and meet me at the village well at 3 in the afternoon. He agreed and came to meet me. It was Aadesh Tripathi."

There were murmurs in the court at once! Aadesh Tripathi immediately stood up and said angrily, "I don't know what this woman is talking about! She is lying!"

The justice banged his gavel and demanded order in the courtroom.

"Mr. Tripathi, you will be given the chance to speak soon enough. For now, please maintain silence and decorum in the court. Mrs. Karune, you may proceed." the justice said

The woman nodded and wiped the sweat beads and tears that had appeared on her forehead and eyes respectively.
She resumed speaking,
"It was Aadesh Tripathi. He was beyond shocked to see me there instead of Anya... But then I told him what happened. I told him nothing about Vijay though... I simply revealed that I wanted to avenge Sanchi's death. He asked me to go away as he didn't want to get involved in anything like that... But I promised to give away my ancestral house, the house I currently occupy and all the land that my father and husband owned to him as payment. He couldn't resist that and assured me that he would get back to me.
Since that day, he was in regular touch with me... But he never revealed anything about his drugs business. I tried to coax him into revealing something... But nothing worked. This was sometime in the year 2002 that Aadesh's brother started climbing up the steps in the political system. Aadesh had just revealed this to me that his brother was the one who originally began dealing with drugs. He was a representative of the opposition when Rajguru Desai was elected as the State Finance Minister. I reached out to Ramlal Tripathi through Aadesh. Minister Tripathi and Minister Desai were rivals as they both came from the same village and constituency. In the year 2005, they both had a tremendous fight which got Ramlal Tripathi suspended from the cabinet. That was when I took advantage of his anger and instigated him further against Rajguru Desai. We hatched a plan that would defame Desai... But it failed. Then Ramlal Tripathi, decided to play politics.
He issued a public apology to Desai and then changed parties. They both now were in the same party. In 2007, Desai was elected as an MP. When he shifted base to New Delhi, Ramlal Tripathi started devising plans that would win him the people's favour and get him to the national capital as well. It took 4 years more, but in 2011, he also got elected as the MP. Desai was appointed as the Union HRD Minister. That is when it all began! Ramlal Tripathi took advantage of the unemployment in rural areas and kept tabs on the new schemes and employment programmes. He stole information from the HRD office through bribing staff. Ramlal Tripathi got many people into dealing with drugs by taking advantage of their economic conditions and offering them more money. It was then that I knew I had to play my card. I asked Raj to send in an application for a job through NREGA. He did, but did not get a job. All this continued till 2014. In 2014, Ramlal Tripathi was appointed as the Union Health Minister and Desai was re-appointed as the HRD Minister. It was sometime then that Aadesh Tripathi also entered politics and got elected as the sarpanch. I got Raj Matthews to send in another job application and even spoke to Aadesh Tripathi about it all. They gave him a job at the pharmacy. Raj would often tell his wife about the job... They both were good people... Alas, poverty and unemployment pushed him into illegal work. Leena, his wife was well acquainted with me, so I usually received all the information about Anya and Ibrahim. In 2016, I decided to tell Ramlal Tripathi about Vijay being Anya and Desai's son. He felt that he had been double crossed and betrayed by Anya. That is when he began blackmailing the Minister. Later, I sent a woman to work as a part of the kitchen staff, but she did not get recruited. It was only towards the end of 2017, that she got recruitment. Like I said, she was the one who was assigned the job of giving the minister slow poison. At the same time, I had planned on destroying Anya with the help of Aadesh Tripathi. We didn't get to do much for around 1.5 years. It was only recently, that I had planned on harming Vijay, so that the truth about Desai came out... But then a lot of unexpected things took place! First, that boy's unexpected death, then the media's involvement and so much more. And all of a sudden, I heard that Rajguru Desai had been shot dead! When the case had begun, I had purposely got in contact with the prosecution as I had to know what happened. Naturally, I was not on the suspects' list... People would have thought that a 60 year old woman... Must be innocent! While the case was going on, I took help from the Minister to tap the prosecutor's phone."

My eyes widened in surprise and a loud 'What!' was heard.
I turned back and sure enough, it was Sampurnaa!

She shook her head and closed her eyes in order to regain composure. I faced the witness again as she continued to speak.

"Unfortunately, he wasn't someone who would talk on the phone much, about the case or any evidence. I know that he was getting acquainted with Ms. Reporter... So I got a man to follow them to a café once. He came to know that the two of them were going to go to some factory for snooping around. The same night, I reached the factory much before the two of them did. The Health Minister had given me clear instructions to burn down the factory as he was positive that a few of the stolen drugs had been stored there. I tried to do that but I guess they informed the fire brigade. I was able to escape on time.
The next day, I came to know that Anya had been arrested and then whatever has happened at the court is all I know."

Once she had finished and the interpreter had translated, I asked her,
"So, you have no clue as to who shot the Minister?"

"No. I truly haven't." she informed

I turned to the justice, "Your honour, that is all that I have to ask her. If the defense doesn't ask her anything, I would like to call upon Mr. Ramlal Tripathi to the witness box next."

The justice asked the defendant bit she declined asking Arpita Karune anything.

The minister cane to the witness box and was sworn in.

"Minister Tripathi, what would you say to all that Mrs. Karune revealed in the court?" I asked him sternly

He was silent for a moment, but then he spoke, "There is no evidence to anything that she said. How can you believe all that she said?"

I smirked.
"I do believe that a question is supposed to be answered with an answer, Minister. And not another question."

He glared at me and then told me in a low voice, "You are doing a huge mistake, Prosecutor. You can't convict me... I am far more powerful than you are... Your wife and you have already committed a series of blunders... This is a warning!"

I answered him with all the anger I felt at that moment, "I am not afraid of Criminals, minister, for what I do is not a crime... And for someone who hasn't committed a crime, criminals aren't exactly a huge threat."

The justice asked the two of us,
"Prosecutor! What is going on between you and the witness?"

I replied, "Your honour, the minister was trying to threaten me and my family."

"Minister, you are being warned... Refrain from doing anything that could be fatal for you." the justice warned him sternly

I turned to the minister and asked him to answer my question.

"She is lying your honour. Ask her if she has any proof of correspondence from my end." he replied casually

"Actually, I do have proof." Arpita Karune's voice stunned the courtroom

The justice spoke immediately, "Interpreter, kindly translate what she said."

"What proof do you have?" she was asked

"I have letters and old telegrams. I even have a few documents that I stole from his house. They contain the requisite information." she said and produced the papers from her bag

Looks like she had been prepared all day!

The defendant immediately stood up.
"Objection! The papers that she is producing as evidence may not be bona-fide. Moreover, no affidavit or advanced notice had been served to the court! I strongly oppose this, your honour!"

The justice looked at the defendant and answered, "You are the defense, you are obviously going to oppose. However, I beg to differ today. I would like the proofs to be submitted now and Mr. Ramlal Tripathi's statement should also be recorded!"

His thundering voice prompted the defendant to sit down without much resistance. Maybe she realised that the truth is going to get revealed whether or not she liked!

...

The papers were presented to the justice. He went through each of them and then asked me to go ahead.
"Prosecutor, please proceed with the questioning."

I nodded.
"Mr. Tripathi, do you confess to the crimes that Mrs. Karune told the court about?"

He remained silent.
He was sweating and looking down with his gaze fixated on the ground. I have been a criminal lawyer long enough to know what this posture means. And also what I need to do in order to get him talk.

"Your honour, I would request for a Narco test, if the witness chooses to be silent." I turned to the justice

"Mr. Tripathi, please speak up. You are anyways getting jailed for the female foeticide fiasco. If you do not cooperate with the court, then I am afraid that you'd have to be asked questions in a semi- conscious state!" the justice told the Minister

He took a deep breath and began, "Yes. I did help Arpita tai with what she wanted. I did deal with drugs. I was involved with Anya and I was totally aware of the sale of drugs and adulterated medicines at the pharmacies. I was the one who issued all that! I just wanted people to die because India's population is growing at an alarming rate! If I could have done something about it during my tenure as the Health Minister, then the people would have re-elected me. I have always been a supporter of selective birthing. When I had come to know about Anya's brothel and human trafficking business, I had asked her to ensure that all the women got tubectomy operations done. That was all I wanted. Unfortunately, the HRD Minister came to know that I was recruiting people who applied for jobs through the NREGA. He threatened to expose me. We both were in Mumbai then... In order to inaugarate a couple of government schools and hospitals. He and I got involved in a verbal tussle and eventually I had to shoot him because he would have exposed me."

There were surprised gasps that went around the courtroom but I had one final question to ask,
"What was your brother's role in all this?"

"He didn't know anything about Vijay Desai... Or even about Minister Desai's death! He knew about the drugs business and the new government run pharmacies..." the Minister replied

The judge looked at the clock on the wall just as I turned to face him.
It was 6.00 p.m.

"Your honour, I am done with the questioning. I do not wish to call upon any new witness." I told him so and went and took my place

The justice looked at the defendant, "Defense! Your witness!"

She stood up and said, "Your honour, I'd just like to give my closing statement."

The justice nodded.
"You may proceed."

The defendant stood at the centre, facing the judge,
"Your honour, the defense would like to request the High Court of Justice to kindly convict Ms. Sridha Ranjan, for the murder of Mr. Vijay Desai. The defense would further request the court to convict the murderer of the late HRD Minister, Mr. Rajguru Desai who happened to be my client. I would also like to request you to consider all angles of the case and then decide on the sentences for Mr. Md. Ibrahim Siddiqui, Mr. Ramlal Tripathi, Mr. Aadesh Tripathi, Ms. Anya Siddiqui, Mrs. Arpita Karune, Mr. Anubhav Suryavanshi, Mr. Paul Isaac, Mr. Imad Qureshi, Mr. Jay Vamana, Mr. Janak Kar, Mr. Arvind Jena, Mr. Raj Matthews, Ms. Rani and the others who have been accused in the case. That's all I have to say, Your honour. I now rest my case."

The justice now addressed me, "Prosecution, your closing statement."

I stood up and took a deep breath,
"The prosecution would like to request the High Court of Justice to kindly declare Ms. Sridha Ranjan not guilty of murder, as Mr. Vijay Desai's death was accidental. The prosecution would also like to request the court to give appropriate sentences to the fugitives accused of murder. I would like to request the court on behalf of Ms. Sridha Ranjan, Mrs. Sampurnaa Roy Chakraborty, Mrs. Ruqaiyya, the deceased Mrs. Zeenat, the other wives of Mr. Siddiqui and the other women at the brothel who had been forced, raped and abused in the brothel, to kindly convict Ms. Anya Siddiqui and Mr. Md. Ibrahim Siddiqui and the other accused. The prosecution would also like those involved in the trading of drugs, adulterated medicines and in human trafficking to get maximum punishment that may be permitted by the law. The prosecution requests the court to take appropriate action against Minister Ramlal for permitting the practise of female foeticide. It was not just a violation of law but it was the outrageous and unacceptable denial of giving someone the right to live. That is all, your honour. I would like to rest my case."

I acknowledged the judge and returned back to my seat.

He looked at the clock. The time was now 6.15 p.m.

"The court will give the verdict after a break of 15 minutes."

The justice rose from his seat and most of the people sitting in the audience dispersed.
__________

To be continued...