Blind Love

Rajan Sharma lives with his eight years elder Sister Kavita Sharma in Kolkata. Their parents died in an unfortunate car accident when Kavita was only 14 years of age and since then they had been each other’s strength and support.

Though by blood relations, they were just siblings; their relation was much deeper and profound than that. Kavita loved and cared him like a mother and he also loved and respected her like a son.

Kavita was now 29 years old, who worked in a multinational software manufacturing corporate with a quite good pay scale and Rajan was now in his final year of graduation from a reputed college in the city.

Kavita was a tall, pretty and curvaceous girl with a good job and secured future. She has got ample of marriage proposals but she rejected all of them. It was not due to the fact that she did not like the grooms but because she did not want her love to get divided between her husband and her brother. To her, Rajan was her world and Rajan’s happiness is her happiness.

It was a Sunday morning when Rajan was still in his bed, procrastinating to wake up. His sleep was over but not his laziness to get up. He did not have college on Saturday and Sunday and his exams were also 2 months away. So he remained lying over the bed in spite of the fact that the clock had already rung the 9A.M. bell.

Rajan could hear his sister doing something in the kitchen, presumably preparing their breakfast, when suddenly Rajan’s mobile rang.

Rajan picked up the phone and suddenly his facial expression changed. Tension and fear gulped his face and he quickly got down from his bed and rushed downstairs. Without even changing his clothes, he just put on his pair of slippers and shouted to his sister, “Didi! I won’t be having my breakfast. I have got to go somewhere.”

Without even listening to what Kavita answered, he opened the main door of the house and before he could have gone, Kavita came running from the kitchen and said, “Hold on Mr. Fast and The Furious! At least have your breakfast and then you can go. By the way, where are you going?”

“No time for it” said Rajan panting and this time Kavita guessed something to be wrong. So, she asked strongly, “What happened?”

“Please let me go. I will tell you everything after I return” said Rajan quickly and before Kavita could have stopped him to ask anything, he rushed outside and went away.

Kavita had a feeling that something had been terribly wrong. He had never seen Rajan so tensed and worried, even during his examinations.

She just prayed in her mind to god for the well-being of her brother, like she did every time. Rajan walked out of the door and then shutting the door went to finish her cooking in the kitchen.

 

II

Rajan did not wait for the lift as the tension that he was going through was not allowing him to stand at one place. He, therefore, ran through the stairs to the fifth floor and without waiting for his breath to resume to normal, he knocked the door three times. The door was opened by a lady of approximately 50 years.

Her face was equally covered in tension and worry and as soon as she saw Rajan, she embraced him in a tight hug. After that, Rajan came inside and sat on the chair, while, on the other hand, she sat on the sofa besides her husband.

“So, what happened?” asked Rajan looking at the both of them.

Before the man could have said anything, the woman said, “Sritoma didn’t come home since last night. She has never done that before. I am really worried about her.”

“What?” asked Rajan out of unexpectedness and then said, “Well, did you call her?”

“Of course, we called her. But she isn’t picking up the call” said the man.

“That means her phone is on, not switched off” concluded Rajan, the very obvious. After that, there was a moment’s silence.

The man however asked, “Well, the last thing that we knew was that she went to watch a movie with you. What happened after that?”

Rajan looked up and both the man and woman were looking at him with their eyes full of suspicion and Rajan was well aware of the fact that he was being doubted. Rajan therefore, said quickly, “Yes, well, we went to watch the movie and after that I went home and I thought that so was she.”

Both of them remained looking calmly at Rajan and he could tell from their face that they were not satisfied by Rajan’s justification. They were still worried. After all, Sritoma is their only child and Rajan is her first and best friend.

Therefore, just in order to diffuse their tension, Rajan said, “Do not worry. She must have stayed at some friend’s house and her mobile might be on silent mode. Let me just go and check some of our friend’s house and I will let you know as soon as I come to know of her. Do not worry. She will be all right.”

After that he by hugging the lady and assuring the man through a simple eye contact, he left the flat. This time, he took the lift to go down.

He came out of the building and started walking on the road to reach the main road. While he was walking, he was pretty sure of the fact that he was being watched by Sritoma’s parents through the house balcony. As soon as Rajan went out of the reaches of their eyesight, he took out his mobile phone and made a call to some unknown number. The phone kept ringing but there was no one at the receiving end. The tension doubled in Rajan’s mind.

 

III

Rajan came back to his house. As soon as he came back, Kavita came and asked him angrily, “Well, now do you care to tell me as to what happened or will I be still kept in the dark?”

Rajan’s face was covered in exhaustion but the tension still did not abate from his face. He said, “I will tell you everything but at first let me take a bathe. I am really feeling very exhausted.” By saying this, he slowly walked towards the bathroom.

As soon as he came out of the bathroom, the doorbell rang. Her sister was in the study room and therefore, Rajan went and opened the door. As soon as he opened the door, four police officers were standing. Rajan got nervous.

“Are you Mr. Rajan Sharma?” asked a police officer.

“Yes” answered Rajan and as soon as he answered that, the police officer caught hold of his arm and forcibly dragged him through the road. Before he could have understood anything, he was handcuffed and was taken into the police jeep. After half an hour, Rajan found himself in wooden chair in an isolated prison.

The prison gate was opened and a police officer walked in. Rajan quickly stood up and before he could have said anything, the police officer said calmly with a suppressed anger in his voice, “Sit down or I will break the bones of your legs.”

Rajan sat down quickly but requested the police officer in an earnest voice, “Please sir! I do not understand as to what is going on but I am sure that there must have been some mistake. I am innocent. Please let me go.”

The police officer laughed out and said, “Innocent? That is a strong word. Innocence needs to be proved. It is never an assumption.”

Rajan kept looking at him, his heartbeat now running at an abnormally fast rate. The police officer took out a photograph from his pocket and showing him, asked, “Do you know this person?”

Rajan looked at the photograph and it was of Sritoma’s. Rajan gulped a breath and said, “Yes. This is my friend Sritoma Mukherjee.”

"Good to know that your brains are not affected” said the police officer and took out another photograph and showed it to him and asked him that if he knew the person.

As soon as he saw the photograph, Rajan got flustered but quickly recovering, he said looking at the police officer, “Yes. His name is Javed Khan, another friend of mine. But what happened, sir? Are they all right?”

The police officer put the photographs in his pocket and said, “Their dead bodies were found floating in the local lake in the morning. The matter came to us before 2 hours and according to the forensic experts, the deaths were hounded last night.”

“DEAD? Sritoma and Javed are dead?” asked Rajan in a high pitched tone and unconsciously standing up.

“Yes. They are dead. Someone had sliced their throats and stabbed them in the heart for about 20 times before throwing the corpses into the lake. We found their mobiles and the last call that was made in their phone was from your number” said the police officer.

Rajan sat down and he felt as if he was falling from a multi-storeyed building. The police officer however, looked at him and asked, “So, my question to you is where you were last night?”

Rajan had still not recovered from the shock that Sritoma and Javed are dead and therefore, he looked at him and asked, “Sorry sir, I beg your pardon.”

The police officer again asked him the same question. Rajan however said, “Well, last night I went with her to the movie theatre to watch a movie. After watching the movie, I went home and I thought that she also went home.”

“What movie and in which theatre?” asked the police officer.

“BEN in the Club theatre” answered Rajan instantly.

“Where is the ticket?” asked the police officer.

“I do not have the tickets. After watching the movie, why would I keep the tickets?” asked Rajan.

“Fair enough. But if you have seen the movie, then you must know the story of the movie. So, what is the plot of the movie?” asked the police officer.

Rajan got nervous and he flustered and gulped a breath. He gave a small thought, being fully aware of the fact, that the suspicious eyes of the police officer were now fixed on him, and said, “Well, it is a suspense thriller movie.”

“I know that. Anyone like me, who have seen the trailer of the movie in television can say that. I need the detailed plot” said the police officer.

Rajan rubbed the sweat on his forehead with panting hands and before he could have said anything, the police officer smiled and said, “I know that you haven’t seen the movie and now you are trying to make a story in your mind. So, I would suggest you to stick to the truth because if you do not tell the truth, I have other techniques to bring it out of you” said the police officer.

Finally, Rajan panicked and he thought that it would be no more appropriate for him to hide the truth. So he finally, decided to disclose everything truthfully.

 

IV

“Javed is not my friend. He is actually the boyfriend of Sritoma. But Sritoma does not want to introduce him to her parents.”

“Why?” asked the police officer.

“Well, actually, her parents are very conservative. They don’t want their child to mix with Muslims” he said and after saying that his eyes fell on the police officer’s batch where it was shining with his name Abdul Ahmed Khan. Rajan got a bit embarrassed and disconcerted at that moment but said quickly, “Which I think is obviously very stupid.” The police officer however, did not say anything and therefore Rajan continued.

“I am her best friend and her parents also like me very much. If there is one man in the planet with whom they can trust with their daughter is me. But Sritoma and Javed loved each other very much and therefore, Sritoma requested me to arrange their meeting without the knowledge of her parents.”

“She told me that she wants to spend some quality time with him but her parents won’t allow her to do so. So, she requested me to help her out in the matter. So, I went to her parents and lied that we were going to watch a movie and her parents allowed her, as she expected. After that, I walked her to Javed and both of them left. That was the last time, I saw her. I have no idea as to what happened to her or him after that.”

The police officer remained looking calmly at him and then asked, “After that, did you come back home?”

“No” answered Rajan truthfully, “After that I wandered around the streets for an hour or two and then I went home.”

“Why did you wandered around the streets and not straight headed to home?” asked the police officer.

“Well, that is my discretion. I don’t think that’s a crime” said Rajan and looked at him.

The police officer gave a sarcastic smile and said, “Of course. Wandering around the streets is not a crime but concealing facts from the police, especially, in a crucial matter like murder, is definitely a crime.”

“Concealing facts? What have I concealed?” asked Rajan with wrinkled forehead.

“You consumed alcohol last night and don’t try to deny it because we have found alcohol in your blood” said the police officer sternly.

Rajan remained looking calmly at the police officer but the police officer continued. He asked, “So, it is obvious that you consumed alcohol last night and what I want to ask you is that are you a regular drinker?”

“No” said Rajan looking straight into his eye.

“So why did you consume alcohol last night? It wasn’t a Christmas or New Year, isn’t it?”

“Because I was depressed” said Rajan now trying to suppress his approaching anger.

“Why were you depressed?” asked the police officer.

Rajan took a deep breath and said breaking his eye contact with the police, “Because I loved her and seeing her with someone else upset me. So, I took the help of alcohol that night.”

The police officer suddenly said, “And here’s the motive of the murder.”

“Motive?” panicked Rajan and said quickly, “There is no motive here in this case, officer. I am a lover not some crazy psychopath killer.”

“There is a very small and fine line between a failed lover and a psychopath killer” said the police officer with another sarcastic smile. “I can site ample of examples to support my comment.”

“Please sir! Help me out! Rajan begged “I haven’t done anything. I wouldn’t even think of hurting my best friend. Killing her is way beyond my imagination.”

But unfortunately that did not help. He was taken into the Court and the lawyer proved his failure to get the love of Sritoma as the cause of his crime. But before the judge could have passed his order, something unexpected happened.

Kavita, Rajan’s elder sister stood up and appealed to the judge that she wanted to say something in the court. The judge granted her permission and was allowed to come in the witness box.

She did not look at Rajan but simply looked at the judge and said, “My brother is innocent. He did not kill Sritoma and Javed. I did.”

This simple sentence made all the heads in the court room turn towards her while the judge wrinkled his forehead and said, “What?”

There was a murmur in the court room while Rajan shouted at his sister and said, “Didi! Are you crazy? What the hell are you saying?”

“I have proof” she said still not making any eye contacts with Rajan but simple and calmly looking at the judge.

Before letting anyone to say anything, she from her bag took out a very old but very sharp knife and showing it to the judge, she said, “This is the murder weapon which was not even found by the cops. It has my finger prints and if a forensic research could be performed on it, it will have the blood of Sritoma and Javed.”

There was a moment’s silence in the court room and after that the judge said, “Why are you saying all this now?”

“Because I cannot let my brother suffer the punishment of a crime which he has not committed” said Kavita.

The knife was quickly collected by a police officer in an evidence bag while the judge asked her, “Why did you kill her?”

“Because of Rajan” said Kavita but still she did not look at Rajan.

Before anyone could have said anything, Rajan was astonished and asked, “What? Why?”

Kavita took a breath and said looking straight at the judge, “Because of her, my brother’s life had become miserable. Rajan could not disclose his feelings to her because he was afraid of losing her friendship and she knew that very well. On the other hand, she was just using my brother, to get closer to Javed.”

“Rajan started declining in studies, started consuming alcohol and though he did not say anything to me, I very well understood that he was breaking mentally. I cannot see my brother like that.”

“So, I thought that if I kill Javed, then that might bring her closer to my brother. So, that night, I followed Rajan and after that, I followed Sritoma and Javed. I followed them to the lake side and waited there for about 30 minutes. After that when Sritoma left, I thought that to be the opportune moment. I went and stabbed him from the back and to ensure that he was dead, I stabbed him several times in the heart. But unfortunately, at that point of time, Sritoma came back and I had to finish her off to remove any trail. After that I threw their bodies in the local lake.”

When she finished speaking, there was a pin drop silence in the court room. Rajan was looking at her as if he was looking at some entirely different person residing in his sister’s body. Kavita however continued, “Rajan is not only my brother. He is my son, my family, my everything. I cannot let him suffer for any reason whatsoever and I can go to any extent for him even if it exceeds the boundary of law. I am ready to get hanged if it guarantees the freedom of my brother.”

Finally, the judge passed his judgment and when she was being taken away, Rajan stopped her and said, “What did you do? I accept that I didn’t get the love of Sritoma but at least I had a sister who was my father, mother and my entire family. But now I am an orphan.”

Kavita looked at him and both of their eyes had tears outflowing them. They wanted to hug each other but something prevented them from that. After that she was taken away by the police while Rajan kept standing there hopelessly thinking how his life changed in just a single week.