A Night on a Highway (completed)

chapter-6

Lucknow: 4 years ago

Shyam Jha's family was a middle-class family, but all were hardworking and God fearing people, including their poor driver Durjan Singh who lived with them with his wife and daughter. They did not have even a remote connection with crime world. Except Shyam Jha...

And then one day, hell broke loose! A young daughter in the house was molested and subsequently lost her mental balance.

But they got justice, when the culprit was killed in an accident... or so they thought.

It's been 3 years, but the poor family is still mourning, for devastation of a poor girl and backstabbing by the person they trusted so much.

However, today was going to bring a big change in their lives again, as some long-buried secrets were going to be opened.

--*--

Shantivan: Interrogation with rest of the family members

"So, Mrs. Devyani Raizada, tell us where you on the night of the accident were?" Manik asked this elderly lady, her face showing tiredness and age-borne tenderness

"Beta, call it intuition of old age or experience but I was feeling restless since earlier that evening. My family and my grandchildren are my everything. So, I went to pray in the temple for my children." she said, looking lovingly at Arnav, Anjali and Aakash, her eyes filling with tears, and then she spoke again

"But I have made a mistake beta, I could not save my Anjali bitiya from him, that cheater! We have no sadness that he died, whoever killed him did a good thing beta, aise apradhi ko maar kar usne bhala kam kiya hai (he did a noble thing by killing such a criminal)" she said and broke down again

"Mrs. Devyani Raizada, it's a duty of court to decide if the person needed punishment or not, not you people. But tell me do you know anything about this person?" Manik asked again

Nani nodded in negative, trying to control her tears, as Arnav came beside her to give support. Aakash too promptly brought a glass of water for her.

"Inspector Malhotra, finish your damned interrogation soon and leave us alone, will you? My family is getting distressed" Arnav stood up and glared at Manik

"Mr. Raizada, we have no intention of causing any stress to your family, trust me. But it will be better if we get our answers soon"

The team turned to Mamaji next:

"Hum kaha jayenge (Where would I go), I was trying to control my wife's enthusiasm the whole time" he said innocently and when everyone gave me a shocked look, he realized how it sounded to others

"huamara matlab (I mean), she was looking out from her binoculars the whole night, so I was trying to make her stop it and let me sleep peacefully." he said and saw the lady police hold her chuckle while inspector gave him a weird look

"So, Mrs. Manorama Raizada, I get that you also didn't step out the entire evening and night?"

"Erm-naahi(no), woh ka hai ki I was worried about Arnav bituwa bringing home that Ms. Kassyap (lavanya), humko toh pata karne ka padi (I needed to know), so I was just keeping a watch." she replied in her broken English, but the team got enough for now

"And Mr. Aakash Raizada aap (you)?" Nandini asked this spectacled man, who tried to adjust his glasses above his nose, and she thought she saw a glimpse of hesitance in his tone.

"I was in office till late, but I returned around 10pm. You can ask our office guards or our servants to confirm this" he said, confidently. Arnav looked at his brother in surprise, as they did not have any urgent issues for which Aakash had to stay back so late. But he chose to keep quiet.