The Present - Chapter 7

             Hellooooo!!! Your least favourite writter is back with another chapter to trouble you all! Ab link khol hi li hai toh padlo... See you at the end...

                                Chapter 7

*Next morning*

           Arya woke up early today... After getting fresh she started revising for her exam... She was sitting on her study table lost in her books when ACP sir asked from behind the door...

ACP - Beta andar aa jau?

Arya - Haa papa aaiye na (ACP sir came inside)... App puch kyu rahe hai!

ACP - Ab agar tum apne boyfriend se baat kar rahi hogi toh! Bich mai nahi ghus sakta na mai!

Arya - Kya papa! Apko lagta hai mera boyfriend hoga!?

ACP - Kyu nahi ho sakta! Young ho, beautiful ho, intelligent ho! Aur kya chahiye!

Arya - Acha aisa hai. Toh phir toh mera boyfriend hai!

ACP - Kon? (In shock)

Arya - Hai koi... (In dreamy tone) Smart, handsome, super intelligent! Pata hai criminals kapte hai unke naam se... He is the best person in this whole world!

ACP - (cutting her in between) Aree lekin hai kon yeh?

Arya - ACP Prayduman from CID mumbai! Mai pyar se unko papa bulati hu

ACP - Tum nahi sudhrogi na! (With a dejected smile)

Arya - Kyu? Dekho app boy bhi ho aur mere best friend bhi! Hue na mere boyfriend!

               Saying this she sweetly hugged her father from the same position... While ACP sir lovingly carcassed her head...

ACP - Acha baba i rest my case! World's best defense lawyer ke aage kaha yeh ACP case jitne wala hai... Tum jiti mai hara! Ab yeh batao preparation hogayi?

Arya - Hmm hogayi... Bas thoda sa revision baki hai. Woh breakfast ke baad kar lungi

ACP - Acha toh phir chalo breakfast karte hai!

              Arya got up closing her books and soon they were seated on the dining table... They were about to begin with their breakfast when doorbell rang disturbing them. Shyam opened the door to find duo waiting outside. Moving aside Shyam gave them way and they entered inside...

Duo - Good morning sir... Good morning Arya...

ACP - Good morning... Good morning! Kya baat hai ajj subah subah?

Arya - Good morning BHAI

Daya - S! Bhai's' it should be! Hum do hai na!

Arya - What a lame joke! Itne bure jokes maar kaise lete hai app?

Daya - Talent hai apna apna (with a proud smirk)

               Arya was about to reply Daya when ACP sir raised both his hands up in order to interrupt them...

ACP - Iske pehle ki tum log phir se shuru ho jao, aao Abhijeet Daya breakfast karlo!

Abhijeet - Aree nahi nahi sir... Hum logo ka hogaya. Hum toh bas Arya ko all the best wish karne aaye the. Ajj bar exam hai na iski...

ACP - Oh acha... Lekin phir bhi kamse kam hume company dene ke lene hi kuch lelo. Juice chalega?

Abhijeet - Ok sir...

             Duo settled on the dining table with a glass of juice that Shyam just brought for them. When Abhijeet remembered something and said...

Abhijeet - Jis kaam se aaya tha woh toh bhul hi gaya! (Taking out a small rectangular box from his pocket, he forwarded it towards Arya) Arya yeh lo! And all the very best for your exam...

Arya - Thank you so much bhai!

            And she gladly accepted the gift when Daya again jumped in between their conversation not missing a chance to trouble Arya

Daya - Aree! Aise thodi lete hai gift!

Arya - Matlab? (She confusingly looked towards her hand which was forwarded to accept the gift)

Daya - Matlab you know... Kuch dialogues bolte hai na... Ki like 'iski kya zarurat thi' and all! Tumne woh sab toh bole hi nahi.

Arya - Oh thank you so much bhai for reminding me! Mai toh bhul hi gayi thi!!! (To Abhijeet) Bhai iski kya zarurat thi! (Turning back to Daya) Ab theek hai?

Daya - Mujhe kyu puch rahi ho! Abhijeet laya hai tumhare liye. Lena hai lo, nahi lena mat lo. Mera kya jata hai!

Arya - Papaaaa! Dekho na... Daya bhai humesha mujhe pareshan karte rehte hai (with a baby face)

ACP - Who papa? Me? Nahi nahi mai yaha mere Abhijeet ko chod ke kisi ko nahi janta... So please don't disturb us

             Abhijeet burst out in laughter hearing ACP sir's comment but quickly controlled himself looking at the angry stare at him from Daya and Arya. He got back to his juice as if it was the most delicious cuisine ever. While after a silence of few minutes Arya again said to Daya...

Arya - Waise app kuch nahi laye mere liye? (With a naughty smirk)

Daya - Laya hu na!

Arya - Toh diya kyu nahi?

Daya - Aree diya toh sahi!

Arya - Kaha?

Daya - Yeh kya hai! (Indicating to the box that Abhijeet gave her)

Arya - Yeh toh Abhi bhai ne diya hai!

Daya - Ha toh usko kholna zara! Mera gift dikhata hu tumhe...

Arya - Hain?

             Confused Arya opened the gift wrapper to find inside a stylish pen with her name inscribed over it...

Arya - Wow bhai that's lovely! Thank you so much (she said with a sweet smile to Abhijeet) but isme apka gift kaha hai? (To daya)

Daya - Woh kya! Tumhare haat mai toh!

Arya - Aree kaha hai?

Daya - Woh pen ka cap! Wohi toh hai mera gift! Abhijeet ne pen diya... Ab bina cap ke pen ka kya fayeda! So that pen ka cap is sponsored by me!

                Arya picked up the fork from her dish and showed Daya that saying

Arya - Mai apka khoon kar dungi ab!!!

Daya - Tum do - do CID officers ke samne tesre CID officer ka khoon karne ki dhamki de rahi ho! Pata bhi hai tumhe iska kya anjam ho sakta hai?

Arya - Mr. CID officer... Am also a lawyer! Achi tarah se pata hai mujhe kya anjam ho sakta hai!

ACP - Abhijeet please chalo yaha se! Aur 5 minute bhi agar mai yaha par raha na toh pakka pagal ho jauga!

          Hearing him Daya closed his mouth which he had opened to reply Arya while Arya concentrated on her breakfast again. Soon they were done with it and arya left from the house for her exam obviously not without taking her gift from Daya which Daya had actually brought for her. Also trio left for beauro to fulfill their duties as cops.
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              Arya was done with her exam by noon. And now she was no more a naughty, full of life girl and was back in her form of a lawyer who would go to any extent to serve justice. As she had decided yesterday she left for pune to visit the local police station of that area. She had to dig out the truth of the case that took lives of her biological parents! After a long drive of about three and a half hours she had reached her destination i.e. the police station.
             The police station was a small building in middle of a big open muddy ground. At a distance some residential buildings were to be seen. Arya first analysed the outer area and then started waiting for someone to arrive. Soon a man in his early thirties arrived. He was wearing a torn sky blue kurta with a white payajama. He looked very poor by his appearance.

Arya - Pata hai na kya karna hai?

Man - Ji madam... Mai kar lega sab.

Arya - Hmm... Theek hai jao tum andar.

               The man walked inside while Arya started waiting besides her car. She found this man on her way to the police station, near by. He was really hungry and hence was stealing food from a road side stall. But people caught him and started beating him... They would have almost killed the man when Arya saved him and then brought him food. Later she realized that this man could help her in the task today... If he could go inside the police station and create a scene, taking all the attention on himself she could sneak into the record room and find the file of the case that took life if her biological parents. She asked him to do this favour for some money and he agreed easily.

                  And now she when waiting outside for him to create a scene as by now she had already taken a round of the small building of the police station... To know the exact situation and the perfect place from where she could go inside. She suddenly heard some noises from inside the police station and she understood that the man had started with his part and it was the right time for her to go inside. She went in through the back door and silently searched for the record room. It was situated in a distant corner and before anyone could notice her she was already inside there.

               The room was a small one and was stinking a bit. The walls were damp due to sepage of rain water making the files and papers kept besides them moist. It gave the room a stinking smell. There was hardly any way for sunlight to enter inside and this made the problem worse. There was a grill on top of one wall that faced the main area of the police station. It was covered with transparent acrylic sheets which had now turned yellowish with time. The room had only one small window and all the walls were covered with shelfs... Shelfs with innumerable files over them. Lights were switched off making this small room dark. Window did illuminate to the extent it could but there still wasn't enough light to find what she wanted to. Switching on the lights ment alerting the cops outside as the light would be seen through the grill over the wall. So she took out her mobile and switching on the flashlight started looking around for her desired file. The case files were arranged in shelfs according to the years. The shelfs with the year written on them helped in division and identification of the thousands of files kept here. Moving in between them all she looked for the shelf that indicated the year 1991. The year she was born and the year her biological parents died. She found it quick and then started searching for the desired file. She didn't have the case no. She didn't know the name of the investigating officer! She didn't know anything about the case expect for it was a police encounter and the names of the two victims (her biological parents) who were later proved to be innocent. She had to look into every file and read at least some detail of the case to understand if this was file she was looking for or not! Time consuming job and it was only time she did not have as she did not know until when the man would be able to keep the cops engaged with him! She looked through maybe around 12 to 13 files finding nothing... It was making her frustrated! She knew she didn't have much time remaining with her now! But she had no other way and had to search this way only! She picked up the next file and went through the initial information about the case. Again a disappointment! She picked up the next the one when some other file fell down from the shelf with it! She read the one in her hand first and kept it back as it was of no use. Next she picked up the file that had fallen down. She opened it and using the light from her phone started reading. The case was indeed a police encounter one. She looked at the names of the people who died... And it did contain the names of Arun and Gayatri Malhotra. So this was the file she was looking for. She was about to close it and take it away with her when something caught her attention. It was a name! The name that ment the world to her! It was Insp. Prayduman... She wondered how even was he related to this case? Her brain told her to get out of here now. She could look at this later... But her heart had almost stopped with the fear of what followed this! She kept reading it without even blinking her eyes. And as she finished reading a tear slipped down her left eye.

Arya - (in disbelief) Papa!! Papa ne! Lekin aisa kaise... (She couldn't say any further as tears choked her voice)

              The police records said that her father, ACP Prayduman (then inspector) was the head of the team that led that encounter. It was his bullets that had taken life of her biological parents! They weren't criminals yet died at his hands! He killed them!

To be continued...

            What!? It was ACP sir who killed Arya's parents! But why? They weren't criminals!!! Maybe a trap? Maybe the truth! But what was this case about! What exactly happened 27 years ago? Arya and you will both know soon! Keep reading and reviewing...