PAINFUL PLEASURE [COMPLETED]

48. The Unedited Footage

AVNEET'S POV

"She's not supposed to be here," Anushka whispered.

"This could flip our entire case," Vaishnavi Bhabhi mumbled.

They didn't know about the unedited footage. My eyes briefly met Randeep's, who had accompanied Ashi. I nodded, and he subtly dipped his chin.

"The clip may be short," Ashi said, "but my misery was not."

"Please introduce yourself to the court," the judge said.

"Your honour, I am the innocent girl who was raped by this monster," she screamed and pointed at Siddharth.

"I request you to sit down, miss," the judge said.

Like a whiny kid, Ashi made a scene about being given justice and cried loudly. She even faked fainting. The female officers had to catch her and restrain her from causing anyone harm.

"Now that Ms. Ashi is here too, I have something to show you your honour. The unedited footage of that day," Aaron said, raising his hand and showing everyone the chip. "This chip will tell us what actually happened at the country club house."

"Prosecution would like to know the source of evidence," the lawyer said.

"The same place your client got it from," Aaron snapped.

"Your honour," the lawyer objected.

"Defendant must state the source," the judge said.

"Why are they so obsessed with the source?" Bhabhi asked.

"To make sure it is real," Bhaiya replied.

"We got it from a worker at the club house," Aaron said.

"Your honour, the defendant did not inform the prosecution about this evidence. I was not present when they met a connected witness. We request that you deny playing this," the lawyer said.

I sat up straight. This is the point. The weak point. Everything depends on the decision of the judge. He must give us permission.

"To keep our case, I would like to call Ms. Nihira to the podium," the lawyer said.

We looked at each other, and Nihira had gone white.

"Nihira, you have the right to deny if you're not comfortable," I whispered.

"But then they'll think we are guilty," Anushka argued.

My heartbeat was deafening in my ears. My forehead was sweaty, and palms clammy.

"Please go, Nihira," Bhabhi said. "We know that you're unprepared, but when we stand by the truth, we don't need preparation."

Nihira stood up and walked to the podium.

"Ms. Nihira, is it true that Mr. Nigam threatened to fire you two weeks after you joined?" The lawyer asked.

"Yes," she said shakily.

"And why may that be?" He asked.

Nihira was shaking. Speaking in court was not as easy as it seemed, which is why we all had done so much preparation.

"I'll tell the court," the lawyer said. "Mr. Nigam made sexual advances towards her. She agreed because her mother was in the hospital and she needed the job. When Mrs. Nigam found out, Mr. Nigam blamed Miss Nihira and threatened to fire her. But Mrs. Nigam felt sorry for the sick mother and saved her from getting shelved too."

"This is the type of man he is your honour. We should not waste the court's time-"

"This is not true," Nihira screamed. "The sexual advances were from my side. And I disrespected Mrs. Nigam. That's is why Mr. Nigam did what he did. Your honour, the prosecution is trying to manipulate the truth."