Hi!
The first trial is coming, I warn you beforehand this is a long read, forgive me if you find it slightly confusing. The facts revealed here will be discussed in detail in later updates. I hope you’d enjoy!

Swara
Had we met on the other side of the moon, visible to all and lit by the sunlight, I might have liked him or to be exact found him interesting, or worth of observation. He was a strange man, a man of shades and a man of colors. I am talking about the same person, pardon me, but he has that sort of contracting personality. Before I was thrown in to this maelstrom, I used to be proud of my perceptiveness. With the recent experience and the pains of betrayals I now hold on my conscious, I can claim of it no longer.
From outside, he is all glittery stuff.  Stylish, handsome, young and graceful would be some adjectives I would choose. What I remarked of his shades has nothing to do with those. He dresses like an icon, all branded stuff and expensive touches, his hair is spiked, irking my taste, the man certainly has a way with words and a charming smile. I would have dealt with and avoided all that. Inside, he is dark and guarded. His emotions are even unknown to him and easily changing.  No matter how approachable he looks from outside and how cheerful; he is equally disconnected and cold from inside. It is this broken side I seemed to be attracted to and I seemed unable to avoid. Had he been truly what he pretends to be, SK would no longer be my advocate.
I have been successful in managing my silence for the past few days, no matter how much I have annoyed him, he seems equally firm in his decision to represent me, that when I step out for my trial I know he would be there. I have effectively crushed any hopes of freedom and escape, still, the thought of having some help is kind of relieving.
However it was another who I met on my way. He introduced himself as Vikram, SK’s partner and I distinctly remembered seeing him with SK once. For some reason it seemed he was the one SK imitated in becoming a style icon and all that easy going manners came from this guy, I make a personal note to myself that my judgment had been correct. The SK world seems to know is nothing but a reflection of his partner; the true man is hidden in there somewhere.
‘Where is he?’ I ask him.
‘Thanks!’ He smirks at me and I raise my eyebrows. ‘Oh, we had a bet going on, I said you would ask where he is, he said you’d be glad he isn’t here. I won, fair and square!’ He adds in explanation. My heart dropped an inch or two, towards my stomach.
‘He’s not coming?’
‘You lost your winning mate,’ someone chuckles behind us as SK appears, grinning and tousling his hair. For some reason he looks different, I stare at him forgetting the pout Vikram was making. Perhaps because I was so used to his colorful clothing, the SK in black robes and perfect button up whites looks oddly mismatching to my mental image. He comes across as a different person, much more towering and intimidating. ‘I told you she’d be dejected that I finally ditched her.’ He adds nodding at Vikram and then turns his gaze upon me. ‘Don’t let us keep you halted,’ he looks at the lady officer escorting me and jerks his head. ‘Go on.’
He does not grin at me as he had grinned at Vikram, his eyes are dimmed and he looks rather serious.
‘Miss Gadodia, Go on.’ He repeats in the same unemotional tone.
I let myself to be led off towards the towering building ahead and try to catch some part of their conversation. They do not seem to be conversing; Vikram was making a rather muted remark as SK scanned through some file, utterly not interested in anything else. I had been ignoring him for weeks but his indifferent behavior hurts a little. It is my trial; still he neither offered me any assurance or any words of comfort or encouragement. I thought with some sudden knots in my stomach and a fear starting to build up, has he finally and seriously given up on me?
*
SK
‘Ah, here come the college friends,’ Vic adds in an undertone. He has that special gift, of muttering coherent words from the corner of his mouth. We had already assessed this risk; I jerk my head a little and watch the proceeding with no replies offered.
Lakshya Maheshwari is doing well, when you ignore the quantity of time he wastes throwing uneasy glances at me or scowling at his ex fiancee. He had gathered all the evidence that would effectively portray Miss. Gadodia a drug addict. The first image any defendant makes on the court matters, they set a course for the case to proceed hence forth, Lakshya is doing all he could at the moment to make sure the image he made of Miss Gadodia is a dark, blemished one. A fine tactic I must say.
There had been some events in the past, where she had behaved rather strangely; in a state of obvious intoxication. There is handful of witness to confirm this in the court. They all said the same thing, of how utterly embarrassing she behaved.
‘SK, at least you could object,’ Vic suggests again.
‘Nah,’ I say, enjoying the dejection in Miss Gadodia’s face. She deserves this, for making me stalk her for past weeks, for giving me sleepless nights thinking of how to break her stupid confession. ‘Let the kids play a little.’
I have no qualms with this drug problem, which we had discussed days previously. What I am waiting for is the eyewitness.
*
Swara
‘Your witness,’ Lakshya says in a tone I had not heard before. He seems a little shaken up, a little furious and a little nervous. For some reason it seemed to me that SK had conjured all those emotions inside him. He glances briefly at Lakshya as he stands up and for some reason avoids my eye.
For revenge SK is the guy. I had been silent throughout the time he tried to make me talk and now, in court when the prosecutors were blemishing my image and bashing my character left, right, center, he was silent as a wall of the hall. I had seen Vikram muttering something once or twice, he simply narrowed his eyes, twisted his pen or gazed blankly with no response.
I see where this case is going. They were trying to prove I was a girl of no values, no morals and perfectly capable of killing a man in order to achieve what I desired. The words were logical, sharp and diplomatic, but coming from the mouth of the man I loved once, they sounded nothing but plain agony.
I knew this was coming, I was prepared for this. But as SK had rightly said at some point of our discussions, I was no longer ready to face it. My gaze shift to the pale god-like creature in the witness box opposite, it is my sister; Ragini.
Ragini and I stare at each other for a moment. We are a few feet apart, but suddenly it seems a huge chasm of circumstances is between us. We have lost each other forever. The memories of this day would darken the colorful days of our past, beyond recognition, for some reason Ragini doesn’t seem bothered by this realization.
‘So, Mrs. Maheshwari,’ SK says, in his casual polite tone. ‘How are you?’
‘Umm, I’m fine.’ Ragini says in a diplomatic yet a little nervous tone.
‘I’m so sorry I’m going to trouble you a little. You described you saw and what you saw on the crime scene at the time of the crime, I want you to tell me how you reached there.’
Ragini’s eyes shifts towards Lakshya, who nods slightly.
‘I took the car your honor, followed Di, from the house.’
‘Which car?’
‘My father’s.’
‘I take it, since it was the night before the wedding, there might have been a lot of other vehicles on the parking as well. Could you have taken another car as well?’
‘Umm no your honor, none of those cars would have their keys on them. I had no chance of taking any.’
‘So, am I right to assume that your sister did not take a car either?’
‘She took a taxi, which I followed.’
‘Why did she take a Taxi, when she could have taken your father’s car as you did to follow her?’
‘Objection my lord, we’re wasting the courts valuable time here.’ Lakshya snaps.’
‘My lord, I’m building a theory here, which I’m sure once cleared would interest the court highly. Please grant me a few more minutes.’ SK says with a slight curl of his lips.
‘Objection overruled.’
‘The question, Mrs. Maheshwari?’
‘Umm…I don’t know that for a certainty,’ Ragini stammers a little.
‘I propose you a theory here that she took the taxi because she was unable to drive. Would you agree with me?’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Pardon me, let me explain. You said you heard your sister on the phone with the victim, he asked her to meet him and she agreed. Your sister can drive, your father’s car is accessible to both of you, still went in a taxi. Now my theory is that she was unable to drive at the moment which is why she wanted a driver to take her.’ SK says patiently. ‘Would you agree Mrs. Maheshwari?’
‘Why would she be unable to drive my dear friend?’ Lakshya pops a question, with a sarcastic smile. ‘As you seemed to theorize?’
‘Ah,’ says SK. ‘Was counting on you to ask that, my dear friend, you proved to the court not a long time ago that there were certain incidents in the past where my client was intoxicated,’
‘She’s a drug addict you mean?’
‘I don’t use that term, for the obvious reasons my lord,’ SK adds calmly. ‘But however, my dear friend was right when he pointed out those incidents where my client was certainly under the influence of something intoxicating. So my theory is that, at the night of question, my client was intoxicated, hence she was unable to drive.’
‘But she was conscious enough to call a taxi?’ Lakshya retorted.
‘Well, Mrs. Maheshwari would answer that question. ‘Did you hear her calling a taxi Mrs. Maheshwari?’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘There’s no point of overhearing my lord. If she didn’t call the taxi, how did it come there right at that moment? The taxi driver has supernatural powers?’
‘I have submitted the call history of my client’s number, their home line and also the taxi agency my lord.’ SK continues, unaffected. ‘You might see that the call to the agency was not made by my client of their home, it was made by the victim himself.’
There is a pause as the judge examines the said documents.
‘So I would like to draw your attention back to my theory my lord, my client who was intoxicated at the moment attended the call made by the victim, agreed to meet him. A decision I presume taken under intoxication, so there is no point of discussing her logic there.’
‘Other than the fact that she killed the man a few minutes later…’
‘Which is your assumption,’ SK sounds slightly annoyed. ‘So my assumption is that she went in the taxi arranged by the victim himself, again under the influence of intoxication and Mrs. Maheshwari followed her. Do you agree Mrs. Maheshwari.’
‘It is possible,’ said Ragini. ‘Although I don’t know for certain.’
‘I beg to stop you here for a moment Mrs. Maheshwari. My lord with the court’s permission I would like to call upon the taxi driver of the question, so that he could tally his own version of that night’s events with Mrs. Maheshwari’s account.’
‘Permission granted.’
The taxi driver, whom I hardly recall comes to the witness box next to Ragini’s. SK gives him the same polite smile, he had offered Ragini earlier.
‘So, Mr. Ramdas,’ He says after the initial proceeding was over. ‘I have four questions for you. First I would like you to narrate the tale till my client sat in your taxi.’
Which is exactly what the driver does then. He mentions the agency he works for and how, he was summoned to my house that night by a call made to his agency a few moments former to that event.
‘Thank you, now you took my client to her destination. How was her behavior throughout the journey?’
‘She smiled a lot sir, looked very tipsy. I asked her once or twice if she was alright or not and she kept saying she will be soon.’
‘That’s because she was going to end all her problems.’ Lakshya jumps in.
‘Yes she did say that with almost a choking broody voice,’ Ramdas nods and SK grins.
‘When I say my problems end today, I would mean that I have no appointments in the evening and I am going to sleep early,’ he says with the same sarcastic tone. ‘There’s no predetermination on saying it would mean I’m going to kill my problem off. So the third question Mr. Ramdas, was she carrying a weapon?’
‘No, sir, she came floating through the door and sat on the taxi, I saw no weapons with her.’
‘And once you reached there, what happened?’
‘A young man was waiting for her. I honestly thought they were going to elope or something, so I waited for another moment…thinking they might ask for a ride. But they did not. The boy asked me to leave after settling the accounts and I left.’
‘Very well, your witness,’ SK says, gleefully to Lakshya, who is frowning at him as if trying to work out his strategy.
‘No questions my lord,’ he says after a moment.
‘Thank you,’ SK turns back to Ragini, who takes an accidental intake of air, as she finds his eyes on her once more.
‘Fine, let’s follow Mr. Ramdas’ account from there Mrs. Maheshwari. Then you parked your car somewhere near-by and went to see what happened to your sister, tell me what exactly you saw then.’
‘Objection my lord,’ Lakshya was back. ‘We have already covered that point.’
‘I want to fit her story in to a different angle my lord, if you would allow me,’ SK is back on his polite notes.
‘Objection overruled.’
‘I saw Swara stabbing him.’
‘Ah,’ SK smiles. ‘May I repeat the question Mrs. Maheshwari, what exactly did you see?’
‘I saw Swara stabbing Vansh,’ Ragini repeats a little firmly.
‘I see you didn’t understand,’ SK says compassionately and walks to Vikram who was sitting with their notes, watching the progress with almost dozing expression. He picks up a paperweight from there.
‘What am I doing Mrs. Maheshwari?’
‘You’re picking up a paperweight.’
‘Of cause,’ says SK, putting it back almost instantly. ‘What am I doing now?’ He asks his fingers still clasped around the little glass ball.
‘You’re putting it back.’
He picks it up again.
‘Now?’
‘You picked it up.’
‘Are you sure I’m not in the middle of the process of putting it back?’
‘Uh,’ says Ragini, her eyes shifts to Lakshya once more, who springs to his feet immediately.
‘Objection my lord, he’s wasting the valuable time of the court as well as puzzling the witness.’
‘Objection sustained,’ the judge says with a stern expression. ‘Please get to the point quickly Mr. SK.’
‘Well my lord, the point is simple.’ SK smiles as Lakshya sits down with a muted ‘thank you my lord’
‘Just because I am holding the paperweight in my hand Mrs. Maheshwari can’t decide whether I’m picking it up or putting it back, similarly she can’t say whether my client was stabbing or pulling the knife out, as long as she didn’t see the precise action. Tell me Mrs. Maheshwari did you see the moment when the knife punctured the victim?’
‘Yes,’ Ragini snaps, almost irked with his questioning.
‘Ah, then we have something interesting.’ SK walks back to her and leans against the bars of the witness box.
‘You saw Miss Gadodia stabbing the victim. That’s very fascinating; tell me Mrs. Maheshwari…how did that happen?’
‘She took the knife in her hand-‘
‘Which hand, left or right?’
‘Right.’
‘Uh, do continue.’
‘And stabbed him.’
‘How many times and on which part of the body?’
‘Once…on the abdomen.’
‘And the victim, did he scream, fight, tried to defend himself?’
‘Yes he, he stumbled backwards…’
‘Mrs. Maheshwari, have you ever thought of a career as a script writer? With the ideas flowing like this, you’d earn good money. However I propose you another theory here, you made that up, like right now. What would you say, agree or disagree…?’
‘I…’
‘Wait, let me tell you the reasons for that assumption first, who knows it might trigger your memory.’
‘In your first statement you said you never heard any of the words exchanged between your sister and the victim…is that correct Mrs. Maheshwari?’
‘Yes.’
‘So you happened to walk in the precise moment when she stabbed the victim. On the post mortem report it is stated that the victim was stabbed by a left hander, which Miss Gadodia is, but…you say she was holding the knife in her right hand, now either you’re lying or she might not make this deep a wound had she used her right hand.’
Ragini opens her mouth again.
‘And the victim was stabbed twice Mrs. Maheshwari, once on the abdomen and once on the shoulder. Now…forgetting your excellent skills in on the spot fabrication I ask you the former question again, did you see the moment when Miss Gadodia stabbed the victim?’ SK’s voice is no longer pleasant, instead he sounded firm and slightly threatening.
‘No,’ Ragini says in a shaking tone. Her eyes fill with tears. ‘When I went there he was already lying on the ground, stabbed, Swara was gripping the hilt of the knife, that’s what I saw.’
SK’s lips curl in to pleasant curve once more. His eyes twinkle a little.
‘I must add Mrs. Maheshwari your practice is perfect if you were a little more confident,’ He throws a look at Lakshya. ‘I was messing around about the post mortem report before, your facts were absolutely correct even though you had not seen any of them. Now that we have broken that spell let’s go back to the original truth, what did you do then Mrs. Maheshwari?’
‘I called the police.’
‘And your sister? Did she try to escape? Run? Stop you from calling the cops?’
‘No,’ said Ragini, frowning in concentration. ‘She, she stood there watching.’
‘Firmly or stumbling?’
‘Stumbling.’
SK smiles again.
‘So I propose a theory again, Mrs. Maheshwari that when your sister reached the place the victim was already stabbed, she in her intoxicated state, tried to pull the knife out, panicked perhaps and that was when you found her, do you agree?’
Ragini nods a little.
‘I want a verbal answer Mrs. Maheshwari.
‘It is possible.’
Suddenly my eyes shifts to Lakshya, he looks shaken, stunned and at loss for a moment.
‘My objective was to raise this possibility my lord,’ SK continues pleasantly. ‘That the picture we have in front of us, made of the current evidence is incomplete. To back this theory I have a few more witnesses including the taxi driver who had confirmed the intoxicated state of my client. The outcomes of this theory are, firstly my client who was intoxicated, may not have a clear account of the incidents of that night. She might confess what she thinks happened based on what her sister and everyone around said, but she is in no condition to make that confession. Secondly, what Mrs. Maheshwari saw and what she thought she saw are two different things, so Mrs. Maheshwari might not have seen the actual murder taking place, Miss Gadodia, might have seen the real murderer, but she does not recall it. It is said so in her first statement also, before she made her serious confession; that she does not remember anything from the night. I think I have proved she was telling the truth on the first occasion, not the second, where she confessed to whatever her sister claimed. Thirdly, in the same theory I have an explanation how Miss Gadodia’s finger prints came to the murder weapon, which our witness Mrs. Maheshwari agreed to as well. I’ve read in the forensic report…which is on your table my lord, that there were a set of other finger prints…Unidentified, on the murder weapon as well. I think it is time for us to think more deeply about those fingerprints.’ He stops and exhales deeply.
‘All the current evidence which everyone of us believed pointed at my client are incomplete and short in term of proving her guilt, therefore, I request her to be granted bail my lord, on the grounds of not having strong, justifiable evidence against her.’
*
Thanks for reading!
Your thoughts are welcome and keenly awaited.
I’m sorry if I disappointed you at all….