Calming The Storm🌌 (#wattys2019)√

54. A step further

"The truth can either relieve you or it can kill you..."

-Elegiac_Damsel
_________

2nd December

Indrayan's pov:

We reached the court by 9.45. All the people who had come for the hearing congratulated me and Sampurnaa when we walked to the courtroom together.

The first thing I did was to ask the police officers who had arrived with the fugitives in custody, if the arrest warrant had been issued against Mr. Aadesh Tripathi.
It turns out that the man had applied for immediate bail and that the Health Minister had interfered in the matter.

The justice arrived at 10 a.m.
We all rose in respect just as the bailiff announced his arrival.

He gave the green signal to begin with the questioning.

"Your honour, I would request you to allow me to call upon Col. Abraham Collins to the witness box."

The colonel came to the witness box, escorted by two police constables. He was sworn in.

"Col. Collins, would you please tell the court if you were involved in helping Ms. Anya Siddiqui and her brother, Md. Ibrahim Siddiqui to escape?" I asked him the first question

He nodded in yes.

"Words, Colonel! The court wants to hear you speak!"

He replied a feeble yes.

"Colonel, you were in charge of the special security force of the Mumbai police given the fact that you had served in the army; and that you had potential. Would you care to tell His Honour, what prompted you to help fugitives in illegal work when you happen to be someone who is supposed to protect the law?" I asked him harshly.

"Objection my lord! The prosecutor is directly accusing the witness! He is forgetting that in a court, till the verdict is given, the accused is a suspect and not a declared criminal!" the defendant stood up to say

"Objection sustained! Prosecutor, you are well aware of the protocol in the court, better follow that!" the judge warned me sternly

I nodded curtly and apologised quickly.
Turning back to the witness box, I asked,
"Let me rephrase that. Colonel, would you care to tell the court why you helped Ms. Siddiqui and her brother?"

"I... I did it... In exchange of money." he confessed

"Well colonel, I think it is a well known fact that you earn well enough. Did you have a personal motive or reason to do what you did?" I asked him immediately

"More than 75% of the salary I receive goes in for my daughter's treatment. She is in a comatose state for the last three years. I was managing alright somehow but then my wife fell ill. Initially, it was something with the kidneys. She was put on dialysis for a year and then later, the doctors removed one of her kidneys. She had to be bedridden. After that, she got some problem with the liver and the doctor suggested a transplant. The medical costs became too much to handle, even with the salary I receive. I had turned up to my friend, Mr. Ramlal Tripathi for financial help. I met Anya through him and I began doing the business transactions for them, in return of Rs. 2,00,000 per month." he revealed

The courtroom broke into murmurs. Finally, someone had revealed Anya's business partner's name! It was the Health Minister like Sampurnaa and I had suspected!

...

The justice was trying in vain to reinforce order in the court.
"Order! Order! Everyone please sit down in your seats and keep quiet!" he screamed while banging the gavel