The Spider’s Web (Part XII)

Keshav had left strict instructions with the security about the man. He had said that they should allow the man to enter the hospital premises in the dead of the night, though it was not the visiting hour.

“Anna, how did you know it was Fakar Singh?” Radha asked later.

“Radha, whenever we used to question Rita, I had felt the presence of some entity just outside the window listening to the proceedings. A couple of days back, I saw a man peering into our flat through a window. He looked oddly familiar, but I could not place him. I kept watching him and when he left I followed. The man reached a 5-star hotel. When I enquired at the reception, I was told that he was Mr. Khurana. Things began to fall into place. I called up Rita to check if there was some life insurance done on any of the members of the family. She said everybody except her was insured because the insurance had been done much before when Fateh Singh was married to Roma. Only Fateh Singh had gone and made Rita the nominee of all the insurance claims, after their marriage since he was madly in love with her.

“But, Anna, how did they actually get married?”

“When Roma had married Fateh Singh, Rita was giving her final year MD exams in America so she could not attend the wedding. Roma was constantly in touch with her, writing initially of how blissful her world was and later, what a hell it had become. All this was for dowry. Slowly, her in-laws tried ways and means to kill her. First, her brother-in-law sabotaged her car. Then, the father-in-law served her tranquilizer-ridden milk. Finally, it was a direct hit and run. Every time Roma escaped, miraculously. But, she could not escape her husband, who once left the gas stove button open. He waited until she was inside the room, locked her inside and threw a lighted matchstick inside.”

To be continued…