Part 7
"I am sorry Samy, we just got details about him and are very lucky in the sense, we came to know about him before things got serious." My mom sat by me, rubbing my back to reduce the sense of shock I was feeling.
"What happened?" I was still confused and in a daze.
"Your cousin Sasi called after you left with Sid for dinner. She wanted to know more about Sid, after she got the news from your aunt. After we gave Sid's details, she told us that Sid went to the same college as her and was her senior. She didn't seem happy about this alliance and when we pressed her hard, she sent us a link to a news article, printed few years ago when Sid passed out of college."
"What is it about?" I asked trying to control my shaking voice.
"Its better if you read it, than me telling you about it. Your Dad called his friend, Director of police, and asked him to collect more information about Sid."
"Did you guys meet with Sid's parents and ask about these issues?"
"Yes we did meet and asked them about it. They got angry and soon the situation got out of control and we walked out of there. I have been trying to reach you to make you aware of the changed circumstances, but couldn't get to you." My mom described in detail the fight with Sid's parents.
Just then my phone started ringing and all of us looked at it the same time.
"Don't talk to him!" My father shouted.
I picked up the phone and before Sid could say anything, "Sid, I will call you tomorrow morning and talk to you."
"Samantha, let me .." he tried to explain.
"Not now Sid .. not a good time. I will call you tomorrow." I said to him and disconnected. I needed time to think through the issue.
I took the iPad lying on the center table and noticed the article already opened. I read the headline again and again.
"Top BITS student accused of killing fellow student, who was pregnant."
The last part rocked me to the core and felt like I stepped on a land mine. I was hoping to talk to my parents and convince them somehow, but the situation was more serious than I thought. I read rest of the article slowly, dreading it could be the worst case scenario.
"Mahira Khan, reported missing for three days, is now believed dead as belongings related to her were recovered from the river. However her body hasn't been recovered as it might have flowed into the Sea. The Police initially started investigating the case as a missing person case after receiving complaint from Mahira's family. Mahira was supposed to reach her parents home in Calcutta, three days back, but never made it." I took the ipad upstairs to my room and continued reading .
"Investigators believe that Mahira never left Mumbai, where she was working as an intern in a reputed software company. Though Mahira had her own apartment, her roommates told the cops that she spent most of the time living with her college mate Siddarth, in his apartment, who also worked as an intern in the same firm. Prior to joining the firm as interns, both Sid and Mahira, were computer science classmates in BITS, and as per police investigation, were believed to be very close friends and were seen together most of the time. Police are currently interrogating Sid to get more details and are trying to find the body and could charge him with murder, depending on his cooperation with the case. Our correspondent has also learnt the possibility of Mahira being pregnant, as one of the doctors came forward after reading about this case in newspapers and informed the police that Mahira was her patient and she was three months pregnant. Police and Mahira's family remain tightlipped about her condition. Stay tuned for further details."
I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, like someone stabbed me. I curled up, hoping the pain to subside. I still didn't want to give up on Sid, so pulled myself and googled the story further. It was the same, with more details about how close Sid and Mahira were in college and how she shared his apartment before and after college. They never found her body and Sid didn't admit any guilt, emphasizing he had nothing to do with her pregnancy and that she ran away from her family and must be around somewhere. Her brothers threatened Sid of dire consequences and fought with him also, but in the end Sid walked away scott free, without any consequences.
I called my cousin Sasi and asked for more details about Sid. She told me she knew Sid as he was her senior and was very popular in college. He always had a close group of friends around him, Vipul and Mahira, being the most close. Vipul was Sid's roommate, but Mahira used to spend lot of time in Sid's room. Even though Sid was against love marriages, everyone thought he and Mahira were a couple and would end up together. She felt very sad on hearing about Mahira's disappearance and Sid was untouchable, because his family is very powerful. One of his uncle's is an Government minister and he managed to keep Sid out of jail.
Looking at the evidence against Sid, I broke down finally and cried my heart out. There was no way I could marry a person, who would cheat someone and remain so cold about the whole affair. He simply cannot walk away from the incident like he had nothing to do with it. He spent lot of time with the girl, as per other students and friends, so he should know something about Mahira, even if he didn't get her pregnant or killed her. Her family suffered so much and I can't even imagine the pain they went through after knowing about the whole affair. As per the reports, Mahira's family was very conservative muslim family and only after lot of assurances from her, they sent her out for education and looking at what happened to them, I felt very bad. I went to bed crying and fell asleep after some time, afraid of my future with Sid.
Next day morning, my Dad woke me up and gave a copy of the report from his police friend. Apart from Mahira's murder case, Sid also had three kidnapping cases against him. In two cases he kidnapped girls and third one was a boy.
"Sam, don't worry about this too much. We are very lucky to find all this about Sid before anything happened." My Dad spoke slowly, rubbing my shoulder.
"Dad, but I already gave him my heart and love!" I thought in my mind and said, "Its okay Dad, I will be fine."
"Honey, I am going to get you somewho who is hundred times better than Sid in three months!"
"No Daddy, I need some cooling time off, please ... no marriage proposals for another year."
"Okay .. I am sorry, we won't bother you this time. When you are ready, let me know and then we will start looking." He kissed my forehead and left me alone with the police reports. I went through the reports slowly and wondered how come Sid wasn't in jail and then realized he had political connections and a powerful uncle to shield him from law. Love turned to hate from that moment onwards.
Just then my phone started ringing. It was Sid.
"Yes!"
"Samy! .. can we talk now?"
"Yes ... first .. let me ask you few questions?"
"Sure Samy, I will try to answer all your questions, but you need to have faith in me."
"Ha! I thought, standard diversionary tactics", I asked him ,"Do you know Mahira?"
"Yes, she was my friend and classmate."
"Just classmate or roommate? What about friend with benefits? How did she get pregnant?"
"Samy .. stop .. looks like you are reading too much into those news reports. You have to believe me .. I didn't do anything wrong regarding Mahira. She was just a friend. I can't say anything more regarding her."
"Where is she now? Did you kill her?"
"Samy .. please stop! I told you - I don't know what happened to her. I only know she left for her home and disappeared. Can we talk about this in person? I hate talking on phone issues like these."
"Oh! you don't want to incriminate yourself?"
"Jeez Samy! looks like you are already convinced about my guilt. Just think of the time we spent together and the feelings we shared. Come and have lunch with me today and let me explain in more detail."
"Oh! shall I get my swim dress too? I am not done yet. Why do you have kidnapping cases? What did you do with them?"
"Fuck! .. you ran a police report on me? Marriage is about faith and if you start believing everything that shows up in papers about me, I may have to spend rest of the life trying to convince you about my character. Samy .. You need to have more faith in me and give me chance to prove these false stories."
"Sid .. please stop talking about faith. Are you saying these stories about you are false? You didn't kidnap anyone?"
"Of course, I did kidnap them, but I had good reasons for it. Also these are old cases and have been withdrawn. You are just looking at small part of the report. Each of those cases have a story behind them and only when you have the full details, you will be able to judge right from wrong."
"They have been withdrawn because of the political influence you have and of course you make sure to make the bodies disappear, so that there is no proof left behind."
"Samy .. please listen to me. I love you and hate to see this misunderstanding spoil our relationship. Please don't cancel our marriage over this. Let us slow things down. Spend the next two months with me and I will prove to you each and every charge against me is false. If I cannot, then I will accept your decision whatever it be. Please don't take any decision now, you are angry and feel deceived."
"Mr Siddarth, listen to me carefully. This is the last time you will ever talk to me. Don't try to call me or my home, my parents or anyone related to me. Don't approach me in public or try to contact me through intermediaries. I am not Mahira or one of those kidnapped girls. I too have political connections and will see that you are punished accordingly, if you try to contact me. I hate you ... I hate you. Don't ever try to contact me again." I slammed the phone and fell on the bed crying.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro