Hello Readers,
Sorry for this long delay. But I was in some personal crisis and was unable to concentrate on my writing due to this pandemic and everything around it. I hope everybody is fine and safe.
It was a small hut. It was cordoned by a hedge. They were not aware, but two eyes were on them and were observing them very closely. The moment both were near the hedge, a large black dog jumped at them very fiercely. Ravindra and Shashtriji were taken aback and could not understand what happened for a fraction of second. Shashtriji looked straight into the eyes of that fierce animal and the dog calmed down and started to lick his feet. Ravindra got amazed by that act but could not utter a word due to the surrounding and gravity of the situation.
They walked slowly towards the hut. It was a very strange place to live. There was nothing inside the hut just a raised platform made up of mud and nothing else. Not even anything to cook the food. Ravindra was surprised. But one thing was sure that there was something charismatic about the place. There was absolute silence in the hut. Even the air inside the hut was so pure that one must feel light by breathing such pure form of oxygen. Shashtriji folded his hands and greeted Shankarbaba. Shankarbaba said, ‘I know why you have come to visit me. You are looking for a girl named Satya. You won’t find her here.’ Ravindra said, ‘Baba I know, I won’t find her over here. But I know you are the only person in the village who can provide me some answers that can help finding my Satya.’
Baba said, ‘I will help anyway I can. Ask.’ Ravindra said, ‘You must be aware of the murders in the village and how did they take place. It is the ghost of a lady. But seems there is something more than meets the eye. The ghost is on some sort of mission. That is the reason, Satya and I started to conduct a very detailed research. She found something but before she could tell me, the ghost took her away. So, you are my last hope Baba. Please tell me is there any link among all the four murders? It is my hunch that there is something very dark hidden beneath all these.’
Baba just closed his eyes and stayed that way for a few minutes. Ravindra was quietly waiting for an answer and every second was taking a toll on his mental strength. He was drastically impatient from inside but was had a coat of calmness on his face. There was a battle going on within him, the battle which was fuelled by rage towards the ghost who had taken away his soul. After 7 minutes Baba opened his eyes and said, ‘The answer you seek may be different than you are expecting. Are you capable enough of handling the truth?’ Ravindra said, ‘Yes’. Baba started.
The story started some 50 years back when Surajsinh was in his early twenties. He was ambitious and very cruel from the beginning. He liked to watch people in pain. He was the sadist of a different level. He used to rape each and every maid in his house. His mother knew but she was so afraid of him that she could not dare to utter a word against him. His father had connections with some smugglers who used to smuggle diamonds, antique idols, etc. As apple never falls far from the tree, Surajsinh was following his father’s footsteps. His father was in everything apart from human trafficking. He was strictly against of that.
One day a smuggler named Hafiz came to meet Surajsinh’s father, but he was not at home. Hafiz knew Surajsinh and he took a chance. Hafiz presented a plan to smuggle poor girls/women aged between 12 to 40. Hafiz said, ‘Suraj you will get a decent commission on every girl and there is no risk of death or getting caught which is there in drugs or weapons business. Even if a girl is caught, that girl will be prosecuted and not us. We will be safe completely. And you can earn up to 50 Lacs per month.’ Surajsinh’s eyes were lit up and his ears were filled with the sound of money. Without wasting any time He said yes but he was afraid of his father. So, he inquisitively looked at Hafiz and waited for an answer about his father.
Hafiz said, ‘There are two options. First you try to convince your father by explaining him the plan and the money involved. Second, he must go now. It is your turn to take care of this business. It is up to you to decide.’ Surajsinh was in a dilemma, after all it was his father. Hence, he decided to take chance on the same. After some time, his father returned and after that nobody had ever seen him. It was said to the villagers that, ‘he went on a pilgrimage for some time, but he never returned from the same.’ Because of the terror of Suransinh in the village, nobody dared to question him.
Did Surajsinh murder his own father? How will this story be related to the ghost? To find all the answers please read the next parts of the series.
