•••

I was thinking of Nethra,my Nethra. Every single thing we did together flashed in my mind, the highest of highs, the lowest of lows and every thing in between. It was if I was having a vision of my past, correction, our past.

That was when I heard the sound of the siren followed by the shuffle of footsteps of my colleagues walking in to the house and the room . "You are under arrest" one of them said, I've heard this statement hundreds of times, in fact, I've said it a lot myself but this time I felt a pang in chest. My eyes became glassy and started to produce tears but I refused to let them be seen. I didn't restrict or complain as they dragged me into the car. I turned and lifted my eyes to catch a view of Nethra, once before I left. The shutter blinds of the guest room shut the moment my eyes laid on it. It clearly showed how she was disgusted. I closed my eyes in pain and got in the car.

As we reached the investigation quarters, I opened my eyes and heart to see the horrid things I never wanted to .

The corrupt cops who never dared to look in to my eyes all these days were smirking and laughing at me and those all who looked upto me and all my friends in my department were looking at me either in sympathy or disgust. My heart sank and hurt like it never did before. The media showed it's ruthlessness by asking me stupid and rude questions. Not just about me but even about Nethra , this chameleonic and unabashed media was questioning me. But now I was in no state to answer or counter them.

As we walked in the hallways that have seen me as a proud, honest and brave cop who walked in with captured criminals, was now seeing me walking in as a helpless, corrupt and broken criminal .

I walked in to the lifeless gray room and sitting in the middle of it were the higher officials who were once the people who lauded me and sometimes honored me. I have walked into this room many a times but this time it felt completely new , the officers made me sit on the criminal side and as I sat, it felt as if all the air had just vanished as the huge room now suffocated me to the core. I couldn't dare look up not out of regret or remorse but out of pain and fear .

They started asking me the questions that stabbed my heart.

"How and when did you start this?",

"How long have you been doing this?",

"How many countries have you transported the smuggled the artefacts?",

"Do you have any connections with drug smugglers?",

"Are there any business men and politicians involved in this ? "

"Were you the one who murdered the archaeologists and the police men?"

And I swear each one of them was hitting me like an arrow tearing me apart and I couldn't answer even one of the questions .

"Answer our questions dhruv , we expect you to at least answer us , the public is demanding answers from you culprits " one of them yelled at me. My throat felt strangled and by the tears I was controlling all this while but still i managed to say "I am not a culprit, stop treating me like that." "You are not a culprit, huh?! , well you are a betrayer to the nation and the department, you are a bloody murderer, you are a smuggler , you are a traitor, you are a disgrace to the department, you are Mr.A, one of the wanted criminals ." the head officer said .

The tears I had been controlling all this while decided not to listen to me anymore and trailed down my cheeks as I looked at the head officer and managed to utter a "Sir ?!" he always supported me until this dreadful day and I could clearly see it in his eyes that he was hurt too. "I am not Mr.A" I shouted on the top of my lungs .

"Well, who is this then ? ", one of the men on the other side said showing me a cctv record. I was out of breath and any possible words on seeing it. The one in the tape was exactly looking like me and he was performing a deal . "Arun Balakrishnan, one of the leading entrepreneurs, gave this to us. You have already met him once and know him well ". Arun!!! That shitty bastard!!! That crap weasel was the reason for all this pain. He was the one who led me to sadhana, making me believe that she was Mr.A . but now none of it mattered as I couldn't use any of it to prove myself innocent .

"One last question.... Is nethra a partner of yours in this crime?" one of them asked. "No sir , she is innocent" I said in between sobs and gasps and closed my eyes after exhaling deeply, after that's the least thing I could do to my Nethra now.

"Dhruv vishwanathan ,you are guilty of smuggling precious artefacts of our country, murdering 5 officers in duty and 4 archaeologists and of false claims on innocent and duty bound citizens " said the head officers . "Innocent and duty bound, they are thieves and murderers in the mask of politicians, police and entrepreneurs there is even an rowdy sheeter in the list. I have provided hard copy against them "I said in anguish.

"All the hard copy evidence against them has been proven to be fake and manipulated " one of them said . "Then this video might be tampered and manipulated too " I said in a defending tone.

"Dont try to be too smart, Dhruv. We are police too. We have sent it to the forensics , they have checked it and informed us that it is not fake , morphed or edited and is a clearly recorded video" the head officer said.

"The evidence is clear dhruv , you are the culprit ", "You'll be taken to court for trials" he paused and turned, "Take him!" he ordered to the officers standing beside me .

"Yes sir", the officer beside me said with a salute. I was confined into cell for that dayEverything else was a bliss for me they took me for the trials and I was sentenced for 3 years in prison. It hurt to see Nethra there at the court and listening to all the awful things I never did. Aditi was near her and constantly looking at her and me with her painful eyes. Even she kinda didn't believe what the court was posing against me. Her expressions showed that clearly, but Nethra didn't dare to look up. Her head was bent, eyes closed tightly, fisted palm covering the rest of her face down her eyes.

I was taken out of the court room, but still she remained the same, Aditi stood up and held her shoulders and looked at me tearfully as I went out of the room.

•••

prison!?

Signing off

~ sadhubhai

~ shubhzz_luv