The Story

Rajat Kumar waited impatiently for the red light to turn green. He glanced at the digital clock in his Ford. It showed 10:20 p.m. It would still take him approximately 20 minutes to reach his mansion in Sion. The merger deal had finally pulled through. The company was his life. He wanted his company to be the best and the deal was a giant leap towards achieving that goal.

The light turned green. The street was empty. Rajat shifted gears and accelerated rapidly. He remembered the look on Mr Jain’s face and smiled. Sanjay Jain was his rival, a fierce competitor who had lost the deal narrowly to Rajat. He was too preoccupied to notice a young man attempting to cross the road. Finally noticing the man, he hit the breaks as fast as he could. It was not fast enough. He heard a thud as the young man’s body hit the car and slumped to the ground. Rajat quickly got out of the car, looked at the face of the unconscious man, pondered for a while and panicked. He got back to the car and sped towards the mansion. He knew that the young man’s face would haunt him forever.

Two days later, Rajat was arrested on a hit and run charge. He called A.K Ganguly, a renowned criminal lawyer who immediately agreed to take up the case. The trial was scheduled to take place three days later giving Ganguly enough time to study the case.

The day of the trial had finally arrived. Honourable judge G.S Maurya took his seat in the Mumbai courtroom and turned towards Praveen Gupta.

“Is the prosecution ready?” judge Maurya asked.

“Yes, your honour” replied Praveen, the lawyer for the prosecution.

“Is the defence ready?”

“The defence is ready, your honour” replied Ganguly.

“Please proceed with the case, Mr Gupta” the judge said.

Praveen stood up, looked at the judge, the jury, the rows of spectators and spoke with confidence.

“The prosecution wants to prove through its witnesses and evidence that the defendant, Mr Rajat Kumar, is guilty of the hit and run charge. The victim, Ajay Bose succumbed to injuries and died on the way to the hospital. I call the first witness for the prosecution.”

The witness after being sworn in was ready for questions.

“Please state your full name and occupation.” Praveen said.

“My name is Vikas Kumar. I am a software engineer, currently under the employment of arc instruments.”

“What were you doing on the 18^th of this month at about 10:30 p.m?”

“I live in Sion. I was driving home from work.” Vikas replied.

Praveen looked straight into his eyes.

“Did anything unusual happen that night?”

“At about 10:30 pm, I saw a man get into a car, reverse and drive on. An unconscious man came into view as the car pulled back. I am sure that the car must have hit the unfortunate man” Vikas replied.

“Statement objected to as it calls for the conclusion of the witness. The witness did not actually see the car hit the man” Ganguly interposed.

“Objection sustained” snapped judge Maurya.

“What did you do next?”

“I waited for the ambulance to arrive and left the scene.”

Praveen turned to Ganguly

“You may cross examine.”

Ganguly walked up to the witness and asked him to describe the car.

“It was a white Ford” replied Vikas.

“Do you know the licence number of the car ?“

“No sir.”

“Then the car could have been any of the hundreds or even thousands that ply on Mumbai streets.” Ganguly dismissed the witness with a wave of his hand.

However the next witness, Shefali Rao, a student, identified both the car and the defendant positively. A doctor from Sion hospital produced the death certificate indicating the cause of death as a head injury. The case of the prosecution was further strengthened when Arpita Bose, the wife of the deceased had a nervous breakdown in the courtroom, leaving a profound impression in the mind of the jury.

The jury gave its verdict. Rajat Kumar was found guilty under sections 279

and 304 A of the Indian penal code and had to serve a sentence for five years.

Rajat was escorted to the central jail by armed guards.

”I don't deserve this.” Rajat said in a sad monotone. One of the convicts laughed mirthlessly.”That's what everyone in this place says. Welcome to central jail. I am Parmeshwar Prasad. Call me Parry. Everyone does.”

Five years later, Rajat walked the streets of Mumbai, once again a free man.

A business magazine in the pavement caught his eye. Two faces stared back at him from the cover of the magazine. Rajat's rival, Mr Jain had become become highly successful and had made it to the cover page of the magazine. Rajat was shocked and devastated to see the familiar face of Laileen Jain, Mr Jain's son on the cover of the magazine. Rajat knew then that he had been imprisoned for a crime he had never committed.

He knew then what he had to do. Rajat headed straight to an antique shop at the end of the street. The letters “Shanker's Antiques” gleamed in gold. He entered the antique store and found Mr Shanker polishing an old lamp.

Rajat walked up to him and said without any preliminaries

“I need a gun.”

Old Mr.Shanker gave him a bizarre look and told Rajat that the store sold antiques, not guns.

“Parry, the convict told me about this place.”

Without uttering a single syllable, Shanker led Rajat to a secret room which was stocked entirely with rows of guns of various sizes, shapes and makes.

Rajat went and picked up a well oiled gun. The serial numbers of the gun was scratched out making it practically untraceable.

“Thats an Austrian manufactured Steyr M. A very fine piece of machinery. Compact and yet powerful” informed Mr. Shanker.

“What's the guarantee that the gun will work properly?”

“I give you the same guarantee that I give to all my customers. My life. As you can see, I am still alive”

Rajat paid the requisite amount and headed for Mr Jain's mansion.

The mansion had two sentries posted at the main gate. Two guards continuously patrolled the mansion grounds. Rajat climbed over the fence, gave them the slip and made his way to a bedroom window. He managed to open the window. He stepped in only to hear the security alarm system echoing loudly. The bedroom light switched on and Rajat found himself face to face with Laileen Jain, the young man whom Rajat had supposedly killed in the accident five years ago. Laileen Jain was a dead man walking. A few seconds later, Mr Jain entered the bedroom carrying a gun.

“Well, well Mr Jain. Its been five long years. I should have killed your son five years ago in that accident. Your son is Laileen. I read that in a magazine. Tell me then, who is Ajay Bose ? How did he die?”

Mr Jain looked at Rajat calmly.

“When Laileen was admitted in the hospital after the accident, I had a brilliant idea. Ajay Bose was a man who had died the same day due to heart failure at the Sion hospital. I merely substituted the death certificates, bribed the doctor, and paid his wife Arpita to keep her mouth shut. With you out of the way, the rest was easy. Too bad you wont live to tell anyone.”

Jain pointed his gun at Rajat's chest. The footsteps of guards approaching could be heard in the background.

Rajat glared at Mr.Jain.

“Mr Jain! Life is like a game of chess. You can think three moves ahead but are allowed to make only one at a time. Only one will die tonight. You have made all your moves. Its time to make mine.”

Rajat aimed his Steyr at the bedroom light and pulled the trigger. The room was plunged instantly into darkness. A few seconds later, another shot echoed in the mansion.

An hour later, the homicide department arrived at the scene to find the body of a dead man. Rajat had been right. Only one had died that night