''Love, Lust… Deception''

‘’Deceit: Comrade of Lust,

 Lust: Adversary of Love’’ -------- Soham Paul

~ 4:00 pm.

The rain was persistent. It was twanging on the roof. Suddenly she felt very thirsty.

As the weather went on to be worse than bad, Anjali was trying to remember the sequence of the events that occurred at a hackneyed speed since morning….err… last night!!

~ 6:00 pm.

‘’ Hello Commissioner, Park Street-Mr. Bhattacharya,’’ – an anxious yet composed female voice on the other side of the phone.

‘’Yes, Bhattacharya speaking.’’-replied the experienced man who was trying to grasp the veracity of the sophisticated voice.

‘’I am Ramika Sen, MD-Glucovita Industries. Want to speak with you for a minute. May I?’’-she said after pausing for a few seconds.

‘’ Yeah Mam, good evening. Plz go on’’-replied Bhattacharya.

‘’Mr. Bhattacharya, my daughter Anjali is not traceable since morning. I am pretty much worried. My secretary gave me your no. I have tried every possible means to reach her but failed. Please help me.’’-The last words of her were shrouded in deep sorrow & helplessness.

‘’Mrs. Sen, don’t worry. I am sending my best officer to your place right now & personally I’ll be looking over the case. Hope, very soon, will be able to bring back your daughter to you.’’ Bhattacharya tried to comfort her.

~ 7:30 pm.

It was raining cats & dogs!! A young sturdy police officer Samudra Chatterjee entered Sen Villa with his team of 4 sepoys.

‘’ Mrs. Sen, I am S.I. Samudra Chatterjee. Bhattacharya Sir had briefed me a little bit about the disappearance of your daughter’’-accounted Samudra.

‘’Yes, Mr. Chatterjee, I am pretty worried about my daughter. She is a little bit reckless & restless since childhood but this has hardly happened before that she is not at all traceable.’’- replied Ramika Sen.

‘’Mrs. Sen, plz provide me the phn no.of your daughter, the list of her friends, acquaintances. We will be searching for her room, request you to provide all information about your daughter to us.’’ Said Samudra.

~ 9:00 pm.

A 50+ aged man was engulfed in deep thought in a corner table in a small pub. He was a regular customer in this bar in Park Street. As he tried to light up a cigarette, he was forbidden by the young waiter & requested him to go outside for the same with a smile on his face.

He was in the corridor & was thinking why he hadn’t yet received any call. A strong wind was blowing. It was clearly communicated to Abdul by Manik Paul, to give him a call from the landline after the work was done.

‘’Has Abdul failed to expedite? Where is he now? He should have communicated’’-Manik Paul was speaking to himself.

He was still holding the cigarette in his hand & perhaps had forgotten to light up & enjoy the smoke.

~ 9:30 pm.

Anjali’s hands were tightly tied. A young boy (face covered with mask) had come with a bowl of Maggie. ‘’Plz untie me, wanna have some food. Where are the other guys? They were three, I can remember when I was chloroformed’’- accounted Anjali.

‘’I don’t have the order to untie you. I’ll feed you’’-hoarsely came the reply.

‘’ No, I want to meet them who have brought me here. I want to see them first’’- Anjali was shouting at the top of her voice.

‘’Don’t shout we are here’’-suddenly three shadows appeared in front of her. The light was pretty dim. Their faces were also covered.

‘’Who are you, people? Where is John?’’- screamed Anjali.

~10:30 pm.

Samudra was busy in his chamber. He was engrossed in trying to fix a jigsaw puzzle. He was scribbling:

Anjali - Daughter of a noted industrialist -Ramika Sen.Character: highly reckless. Rich spoilt girl.Hobbies: partying, drooling with other rich friends. Hardly seen in college.

N.B: Condom packets were recovered while searching her room. She was sexually active.

Ramika Sen- MD of Glucovita Industries-Rs 300 Crore empire. Daughter of late Pradyut Sen noted industrialist. Had a brief marriage with a piano player. Little is known about her husband.

N.B: Currently in a relationship with J.N.Sarkar, prop. of Sarkar Industries. J.N., as he is popularly known, is a playboy. 

Samudra was thinking, how a dignified lady could have a relationship with a guy like J.N.

Anjali was last seen by Raju, the head servant, while she was leaving for college. Samudra had checked today, Anjali was not seen in college. On the way, she was kidnapped. But the disturbing thing was that not a single call was received by Mrs.Sen from the kidnapper.zzzzzzzzz-his mobile was on vibrating mode.

‘’ Samudra, what is the progress?’’-Bhattacharya on the line.

Samudra updated him & told him that no call was still received asking for ransom.

~12: 30 am.

‘’What is the condition?’’-rang a voice.

‘’Ok. Everything is fine. No complaint’’-replied the receiver.

‘’When the work will be finished?’’- the voice was a little bit nervous & anxious.

‘’ By tomorrow evening’’-pat came the reply.

‘’Parcel will be provided once the work is done. Be extremely cautious’’-the voice became shrill & worried.

 

~ 9 am.

 

‘’ Samudra Sir, you have a visitor’’- a sepoy informed him.

~2:30 pm.

Samudra with a team of 10 sepoys was rushing towards the airport. Another team that has gone to the hide-out had rescued Anjali. They had confirmed over the wireless. Samudra had already informed the airline authorities that this person should not be allowed to check-in & requested the airline people to bake excuses so that the police could get some time.

~ 3:15 pm.

‘’ Hello, good afternoon!!

You will not be able to board. You will have to land at the police station & here is the warrant’’-declared resilient Samudra Chatterjee.

‘’ Come Mrs. Sen!!! Let’s go’’- told Samudra in a commanding tone.

Instantly it became the headline in Media:

‘’Mrs.Ramika Sen, got arrested in the Airport on charges of getting her daughter Anjali kidnapped. Further reports are awaited.’’

~ 7:20 pm.

Bhattacharya’s Chamber

‘’ Samudra, Mrs.Sen is in police custody. Tomorrow, the court is closed because of the day. You are required to prepare the charge sheet.’’-informed Bhattacharya.

‘’Yes Sir. Everything will be done’’-Samudra.

‘’ I know the story in bits & pieces. Let me know the whole’’- Bhattacharya was anxious & excited.

‘’Sir, the day, I went to meet Mrs.Sen, I found that her face was frozen but there was not a drop of tear. thought she might be petrified. When I started asking her questions, it seemed the answers were pretty rehearsed & she was not making due eye-contacts & her lips were trembling. Her body language was strong enough to raise eyebrows. But at that moment I didn’t have any proof. Last night constable Ram nabbed a local goon called Abdul who was provided the task of kidnapping the daughter of an industrialist. This daughter is Anjali & Abdul was given the task by Manik Paul, the pianist, biological father of Anjali’’-Samudra stopped for a moment.

‘’ Why Abdul failed?’’ asked Bhattacharya.

‘’ Because before Abdul could reach Anjali, she was already kidnapped. We were not aware of this conspiracy. Constable Ram nabbed Abdul when police raided a whore-house near the ala area. Abdul was hiding there as Manik Paul was looking for him who had already paid Abdul Rs 22,000 for the task. When we met Manik Paul, he confessed. He repented that he was high on debts & thought in that fashion he would be able to extract money from Ramika Sen’’ – Samudra.

‘’Ok, go ahead.’’- Bhattacharya.

‘’ Sir, today morning I had a visitor., Raju, head servant. He used to love & care Anjali like his own child. Raju provided me the Will of late Pradyut Sen. This is an exhibit. There it is written that when Anjali will be 23 years old, she will be the single heir of Glucovita Industries. Raju also gave me a secret no. which was in the name of Pradyut Sen & only Ramika Sen used this no. I requested my team to look into the details. We found that for the last two months from this no. dreaded criminal/kidnapper- Sharad Pujary was being contacted. The team followed Pujary’s mobile location & our underworld insiders provided information about this history-sheeter. There we found Anjali.

She told us another fascinating story. She was in deep love with J.N.Sarkar-John.N. Sarkar. It was Sarkar’s plan to get her kidnapped. We nabbed him. His men failed to succeed as they couldn’t reach in time.

Sir, this is a classic case of Man proposes, God disposes. Sarkar wanted to make some quick money as he had lost fortunes in gambling & Anjali had taken to drugs thanks to John Sarkar & Anjali needed money to pay the peddlers’’- Samudra paused to have smoke & forwarded the packet to Bhattacharya.

‘’Now the hog-light is on the heroine-Ramika Sen.Go on my boy’’-Bhattacharya.

‘’Sir, Ramika Sen was a wild lass. She was madly in love with a piano player & got married. Her father deserted her. She returned within a year, heavily pregnant, entreating for shelter. By then the piano player-Manik Paul had lost his job & resorted to heavy drinking.

Pradyut Sen received his daughter. Anjali was born. He made his Will in the name of Anjali. Ramika was very sad but somehow, she managed herself. She was always in search of love, care, affection. She met John Sarkar at a 5-star hotel in Central Kolkata & fell for the wrong guy. But one day caught Anjali & John red-handed. Then she hatched a plot’’-Samudra.

‘’But how she became aware that you have cracked the riddle? ‘’asked Bhattacharya.

‘’She had always hated Raju & when she found that Will was missing. She understood everything’’ Samudra replied.

‘’Has she confessed?’’ Bhattacharya.

‘’Yes, she narrated the story regarding her marriage, Anjali’s birth, etc.’’-Samudra.

‘’My boy, the city is always stranger than fiction’’- Bhattacharya signed off.