When Radha went back to college… (Part XIV)

I penned this story, When Radha went back to college… (Part XIV), as a Guru Dakshina to all my teachers and professors, some years ago.

When Radha went back to college… (Part XIV)

He looked startled to see her. Radha realized what had happened. Both of them had been tricked.

“So, the friends come face-to-face again,” a man with a pot-belly got up and made his presence felt.

Looking around, she saw another familiar face. Its body usually wore a peon’s dress within the institute campus.

“Now, things are falling in place, aren’t they?” asked the pot-bellied man. “Let me introduce myself to you, Radha, the snoopy reporter. I am the builder, Jagdhish Patel. I will also explain what is going on here. I wanted and still want the property on which the institute is standing. And I will go to any extent to get what I want. And he,” pointing at the peon, “is Janardhan. He was planted by me in the institute to get me all the latest information about the institute. It was he who had locked you inside the store room. All without my knowledge, thinking that you would have to shout and bang the door to get out. He did not know as I know that you would definitely have a mobile, through which you would obviously call someone you trust.”

Radha had told Shalini Ma’am where she was expected to meet Shekhar, but she was elsewhere, now. All she needed was time and some miracle.

In the meantime, Radha decided to keep the man talking. “Let us talk about the Christian graveyard. Wasn’t it a rumor?”

“It was a rumor, yes,” the man replied proudly. I thought it would work. No problem. I have the two of you with me as hostages…”

“Who killed Sonia?”

“Janardhan did it for me,” the man replied arrogantly.

“Why?”

“Because she was getting too close for comfort. She heard a conversation, I had with Janardhan. I was in my Maruti van behind the institute and he was standing near the door. We saw her and she ran away. Janardhan chased her and she went and hid herself in the store room. She must have called Sharma then, from her mobile, to inform him of whatever she had seen.”

“Where did you get Shekhar’s mobile?”

“That was Janardhan. He’s actually a pickpocket. He picked the mobile so efficiently, didn’t he? And he dropped the sim card for the benefit of the police, after the murder and you found it instead.”

“Did you have anything to do with the drug racket in the institute?”

“Yes, I did. But that did not work, either. You came in between. Since then I wanted to meet you. A mere girl trying to act smart with me, the great builder Jagdhish Patel! If you have guts, just try to escape from my den.”

Just then there was a bang near the door and everybody turned in surprise to look at a group of police constables rushing in behind an inspector, who had fired into the air.

Two constables rescued Radha and Shekhar as Shalini Ma’am and Sharma Uncle entered the hall. It appeared that Uncle was watching Radha discreetly while she waited near the construction site and the moment she was kidnapped he had called the police. “I’ll never let a child like you to get into this kind of situation again. You seemed to be on the right track, so I helped out, this time and this time only. I still feel the tension,” said Uncle indulgently.

The next day, the CEO thanked Shekhar and Radha in the assembly hall, in front of the faculty and students, for saving the institute’s reputation by solving the case.