A suitable Man

Chapter 16

The loud knocks continued. Smriti gathered herself and quickly went away to her room through the connecting door, looking back at him longingly. Mahendra couldn't believe his luck, he put on his shirt and opened the door irritated.

It was their house-help Suma Akka. " Vadiya, very sorry for waking you up but Shridhar has come from the plantations, he wants to meet you urgently" please come down soon,

Mahendra was surprised to hear this, " yes, tell him I will I am coming in a minute"
He looked longingly at the connecting door once and went downstairs to see what the problem was.

Shridhar was pacing restlessly, " Vadiya, Vadiya, there has been a massive vandalism of the cashew plantations, almost all of the shrubs have been damaged. This has happened in last few hours, we have never seen a crop destroyed like this. ". Come quickly Vadiya.

Mahendra was shocked to hear this, he had spent the last six months trying to revive everything and here it was going for a toss. And there was some foul play here.
" what are you saying shridhar?....said a shocked Mahendra, "who do you think has done this, I will see to it that whoever it is, is punished"

He rode his bullet with Shridhar sitting pillion, towards the plantations in to the dead of the night.

Smriti watched him go from where she was standing near the window. She was scared as to what would have happened, she prayed for it to be not too serious. Her entire being was pining for Mahendra now. It was a physical pain to be separated from him. She sat looking out of the window waiting for him to return.

Mahendra reached the plantation to see the entire crop destroyed, it looked as if it was mowed down by a heavy vehicle. He instantly called up Prabhakar and retold all he had seen. The plantation only had wired boundaries and the extent was almost five acres of land. The plantation was also on outskirts of Kumta-Sirsi road which had thick vegetation around. Mahendra was very angry on the watchmen and the security personnel. It was clearly evident that an heavy vehicle like a truck or a tractor had come inside. He thought of implying the same security system he had for the Sandalwood plantation. It would take him away from Kumta once more for a few days, and he couldn't risk that. What if his other plantations were destroyed. He had to be careful. Also he had Smriti' s responsibility too. He always had a gut feeling that he was being watched, his moves monitored.

Meanwhile Prabhakar came with his constables, he asked Mahendra if he needed police patrol till the time the issue was resolved. Mahendra agreed with it. He also sent constables to investigate whether any trucks were seen on that side of the Kumta-Sirsi road. The check posts and all othe nearby posts were informed about this. This was a deliberate attempt to destroy the crops. Mahendra and Shridhar looked around if anything could be salvaged. But they found lots of White powder scattered around the plantation. They needed to know what that powder was. They collected it in bags, so as to test the contents.

This was the first major setback for Mahendra, he had worked hard for this in the last six months, it was going futile. He wondered, " who could it be?, he had tried to close every loophole he could, yet this business was getting more serious now."
Mahendra thought about Sheena Nayak. " was there any connection?.... The Sandalwood shoots are already planted, it will take around two years more for a sizeable harvest.Was this damage done to take away my attention from the Sandalwood." Is Sheena capable of this sabotage.
Prabhakar had told him that since last few years Sheena had been lying very low, not a single complaint registered against him. Mahendra wanted enough evidence against him to convict him of murder he committed twenty years ago. It was not going to be an easy task.
Mahendra returned home very late,it was almost dawn when he reached. He peeked in Smrit's room to see her sitting by the window in deep sleep. " she must have dozed off waiting for me " he thought. He carefully lifted her and set her on the bed, so that she could sleep properly. He stared lovingly at her, it was indeed an agony to be away from her. But there were many things to be done yet. He kissed her lightly and went to his room to catch up on his sleep a bit.