Prithvi... [Vol 3]

Chapter 68

Episode 68

 

In the visiting room of the private clinic closest to the college, Baldev Kochar calmly countered the anger-distorted features of the vice principal.

“You can’t be serious about this! Prithvi has to be punished!” Kamal Motwani stated wrathfully.

“If anyone has to be punished, it is Dhiren,” Kochar replied. “And Prithvi was kind enough to do the needful.”

Appalled, Motwani yelped, “Didn’t you hear what the doctor said? Dhiren will not be able to even sit up in his bed properly for three months. He hardly has any unbroken bones or unharmed flesh on his body. And Prithvi had the gall to summon you out of the auditorium during a performance to tell you exactly what he’d done, and you let him leave without so much as a reprimand. If Dhiren’s family learns about this, we’ll have to face terrible repercussions!”

“The repercussions will be incalculably worse if any action is taken against Prithvi,” Kochar said mulishly.

“You do remember that Dhiren’s father has been very generous during all our fund raising initiatives and his uncle is a politician!”

“Which is why I’ve overlooked several complaints about that hoodlum for the past four years.  But times have changed. Dhiren’s family business has been tottering for a while, and his uncle is merely an MLA….who is facing an interrogation in a major scam. Prithvi, on the other hand, has….Have I told you about his father, Adityaraj?” Kochar asked abruptly.

“I know he was a powerful personality, but that was two decades ago,” Motwani said dismissively. “And I also know he belonged to a royal family but that kind of background doesn’t hold any importance these days!”

Kochar laughed grimly. “Not in this case. Adityaraj died twenty years ago but his closest friends have never stopped looking out for Prithvi. I don’t think the young man even knows it, but they are like his personal guard. They got in touch with me when he joined the institution, just to make sure he is treated well. Do you want to know the positions they hold? Two are cabinet ministers, another is counted amongst the richest businessmen in the country, one is a Judge who is shortly going to be promoted to the Supreme Court according to news reports, and yet another is a police commissioner. Would you rather get on their bad side?”

Flabbergasted, Motwani stared at the principal.

Seeing that his point had gotten across, Kochar firmly said, “We’ll talk to Dhiren’s family. If they create a ruckus, they’ll be informed about his misdeeds and the seriousness of the criminal charges that he could face. Then we’ll have to stop the girl from going to the police,” Kochar contemplated. “This issue has to get sorted without any legal hassles.”

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Despite the quiet and solitude of Vrinda’s home, sleep had eluded Nandini for most part of the night. Horrible nightmares had sent her bolt upright in bed several times, sweating and trembling. She’d called up Sumer Singh frequently until daybreak, needing to reassure herself that Prithvi was fine.