The First Trillionaire

Untitled Part 35

When he had started out in the construction business, Bachchu Singh took a loan from the East India Bank at Purnea and purchased a big plot of land where he constructed a mall and residential units. When the buildings were ready, Bachchu Singh had to take the sly Angad Singh as his partner after he began to face problems with the municipal office. Angad Singh needed money for his elections and he agreed to extend his political might to Bachchu Singh if the latter agreed to sponsor his election expenditures. Bachchu Singh did spend from his pocket in the first year, which was ten years back, and Angad Singh was voted MLA. When the next elections came around, Bachchu Singh was progressing further in other businesses apart from sandmining, and he acutely felt the need of a political shade under which he could carry out all his businesses. On Hamid's advice, he approached the politician with a business proposal: Angad Singh became the partner of Bachchu Singh in Deenu Constructions Pvt. Ltd. He readily agreed for he felt his finances would take a better shape from the partnership. But according to the deal, he was to be responsible for smoothening and widening the bureaucracy networks so that their business could grow without any hindrance. Their business relationship was far from cordial and both of them derived power from the usefulness of the other, which was also the reason for the success of their partnership.

The sandmining business soon expanded to quarrying stone chips, and Deenu Constructions became a construction giant which found its way out of Bihar into the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, and had apresence in Bengal also. In Bihar, Bachchu Singh managed to usurp land from different villages apart from Begusarai and Badh; the land-grabbing business flourished under Angad Singh's support. He managed the top lawmakers, bureaucrats and politicians skillfully, until they had managed to set up an elaborate working system. The land of the Barauni Refinery and Petroleum Limited, which belonged to a private company, came under their possession courtesy the political connections of Angad Singh and the goons of Bachchu Singh. The refinery property was profitable, and took the business of Deenu Constructions to new heights. Their business expanded to retail, real estate and oil refinery apart from the sandmining business. In later years, the reach of Bachchu Singh extended to the other parts of India such as Mumbai, Delhi, Noida and other places of industrial importance. From the time he started out as an errand boy for his uncle Deenu Singh, who was the henchman of Rajan Singh, the biggest oil mafia of his time, the ambitious Bachchu Singh had taken over Deenu Constructions as the aging don lost his vitality and power with approaching age and diseases.

Where the police trembled upon hearing his name, the puny little girl had managed to strip off his pride. Soon, he would make his move and make her regret that slap.

***

Shail could not help thinking about the incident of the previous morning. While eating, working, talking to people, the roadside scene would flash before her eyes and leave her numb. She wondered if she would be plagued by the incident for her whole life. The harder she tried to forget that image of the body and head of the dead man lying away from each other, the more it got engraved on her heart and brain. She tried to immerse herself in work, but the horror of that morning refused to go away.

But, could I have done anything else? What could I do? Should I have killed those men too? But had I killed those people, would there be any difference between me and them? And even if I wanted to, there was one of me and three of them, with guns. None of us has any right to take away the gift of life from someone. But when it comes to these devilish people, there is nothing wrong in murdering the bad people, isn't it? Even Maa Durga had to kill Mahishasura to put an end to the sins. Lost in the conflicts of her thoughts, Shail was brought back to the present when she was jerked forward by a sudden pulling of brakes.

Afraid as she was since the incidents of the dreadful morning, a spine-chilling shriek left her mouth out of fear.

"What... what's wrong Chacha? Why did you break so suddenly...you frightened me real bad...," Shail spoke, trying to gain back her composure.