From the corner of his eye, Manav looked at his assailant, as he grabbed Manav by the hair and threw him face down on the cement floor of the roof. Even in the split second that he was allowed, Manav could recognise Rocky.
‘Rocky? Is that you? What the fuck do you think you are doing?‘
Paying no heed, Rocky tightly grabbed Manav’s hair. He then jerked Manav’s head upward and then down, once again, onto the cement floor of the roof.
As the floor of the roof suddenly moved up to meet Manav’s face with a violent smack, there were shock waves that spread through his skull, almost jarring the roots of his clenched teeth. Everything slowed down around Manav, as he felt blood streaming past his eyes. His arms and legs suddenly felt numb when he tried to get up on his knees.
‘Rocky, why are you...’ Manav barely managed to speak as another pile-driving punch landed on his jaw. Manav tried to raise his head, searing pain above his eye, nausea and bile rising up his throat. He felt wobbly and disoriented.
Rocky grabbed Manav by the hair one more time and raised his head from the floor. Manav had lost the strength to resist. Rocky brought his face close to Manav’s ears and screamed like a man possessed, ‘I’ve suffered enough, Manav Chauhan! Enough! It’s your turn now!’
He started dragging Manav along the roof towards the edge, when suddenly the silence of the night was shattered by the sound of a gunshot in the air.
Rocky was momentarily distracted and he turned around.
Agni stood a few feet away, his gun firmly trained on Rocky.
‘Enough, Rocky! No one dies tonight! This madness has to stop!’
Chapter 49
Rocky could hear footsteps on the stairs.
Without flinching from his position, his gun still firmly trained between Rocky’s eyes, Agni looked from the corner of his eye at the figure running past him in the direction of Rocky. It was Arya.
‘Rocky, I won’t say this again!’ Agni thundered. ‘Let go of Mr. Chauhan!’
His eyes fixed on Agni, Rocky refused to relinquish his hold on Manav. He was immediately intercepted by Arya, who struggled to pull him away. Like a vengeful beast forced to let go of its prey, Rocky grunted in fury, trying to set himself free from Arya’s hold. Manav wobbled to his feet and limped to a safe distance away from Rocky. His lips were split and blood from the crack in his forehead coursed past his eyes down his jaw.
Agni could see the blind rage still simmering in Rocky’s eyes, his hands tainted with Manav’s blood. With his eyes fixed on Agni, Rocky finally lowered himself on his knees on the roof. Agni lowered his gun, still aiming at Rocky.
Rocky gulped hard and inched closer to Agni’s gun on his knees
‘Shoot me, ACP...shoot me please!’ He pleaded. His voice sounded eerie.
‘Rocky, stop playing games with me! You are going to land up in jail on charges of assault. That’s what’s going to happen!’
‘I beg of you,’ Rocky was now less than a foot away. Rocky was provoking him, but Agni was not going to bite the bait.
Standing behind Rocky, Arya pulled out his gun and trained it at the back of Rocky’s skull.
A menacing grimace was frozen on Rocky’s face. The rage in his eyes was slowly giving way to despair, as tears started rolling down his flabby cheeks. With his hands folded, Rocky moved still closer.
He was about six inches away from Agni now.
‘Agni, I failed you. And I’m sorry...I’m so sorry!’ his head bent, Rocky started beating the floor of the roof. ‘I know...I know we talked about this in the morning. But...but...I love him...I love Mayank...and I will...till my last breath. You know that, don’t you?’ He rubbed his face with his hands, smearing his face red with Manav’s blood making it look macabre. He looked almost ghoulish. He turned his face to a side, now howling uncontrollably, casting a spiteful glance at Manav.
Agni inched closer with his gun in anticipation. Arya released the lock of his.
‘Don’t get ideas, Rocky! And don’t you force me to pull the trigger!’ Agni said in a cold voice.
Manav tottered close to Rocky.
‘You are in love with Mayank? You are? And...and...is that why you finished off the woman he was in love with?’ Manav spoke through his clenched teeth. ‘That woman was my wife, you scumbag!’
‘Mr. Chauhan, get a grip on yourself!’ Agni raised his voice.
‘And what about Mayank? What made you kill your darling, you fucking monster! Your sweet little revenge, was it? Was it?’ Manav screamed maniacally, ignoring Agni’s warning. ‘Because he loved Hiya, and not you? And...and why me? You are on a fucking mission to finish off everyone Mayank was close to, aren’t you, you jealous shithead?’ Manav got on his knees and reached for Rocky’s neck.
Agni’s gun moved a few degrees, as Manav turned his head towards Agni, his jaw dropping.
‘ACP Mitra, what do you think you are...‘ A light beam from several feet below swam across Manav’s unbelieving face.
The wind began to rise, whistling across the roof.
‘Mr. Chauhan, let me tell you this. Mayank never had any genuine interest in Hiya. He was gay.’
Chapter 50
‘Are you out of your mind? He had an affair with my fiancée, for God’s sake! Half the world knows that!’ Manav stood up, grimacing immediately with the acute pain he felt. ‘And why the fuck do you have that gun trained on me, ACP Mitra?’
‘Because I don’t want you to act smart while I explain to you why I’m not out of my mind, Mr. Chauhan,’ Agni’s voice sounded menacingly calm. ‘Mr. Chauhan, do you know that Mayank was in Tipple with Rituja the night he was murdered? You probably do. What you don’t know is that I too was in Tipple that night. And I saw the two of them. Having a good laugh. Enjoying their drinks. And then, something happened. I saw Mayank get agitated, restless. Rituja tried to explain something to him. And then, Mayank left the club, even as Rituja tried to hold him back.’
‘Good to know, ACP Mitra. But what has this got to do with your fantastic theory? And it still doesn’t explain why I have a gun aimed at my fucking skull!’
‘Don’t you want to know what the two of them were talking about that night?’
‘I don’t think I care, ACP Mitra,’ Manav shrugged.
‘Of course you do! As much as I did, Mr. Chauhan. And I asked Rituja.’ Agni moved closer to Manav. ‘And this is what she told me. Mayank had decided to leave Kolkata. He had decided to throw away his modelling opportunities, to end his budding career in the movies.’
Rocky let out a heart-wrenching wail, his head turned skywards, otherwise motionless on his knees on the floor.
‘Because his lover had promised to take him to London. He had been dreaming through the eyes of that man. Dreaming of a life together. A life of happiness, of peace, of security. Free from the stigma. Where it was not criminal to hold the hands of the man he loved. His career, his fame, the flashlights, his fans—everything and everyone paled near the glow of that dream, Mr. Chauhan. And Rituja was trying to make him see sense, pleading with him to be realistic. She has seen more of the world than Mayank had. Life has taught her not to surrender completely to dreams. One often ends up paying a heavy price.’
Agni tilted his head in the direction of Rocky, without taking his eyes off Manav. ‘And when I spoke to this man here, he told me the same thing. All through that day, Mayank was happy. The man with a battered soul was happy that day, Mr. Chauhan. He texted Rocky that night, saying he had good news that he would share with Rocky when they met the next day.
When I spoke to Rocky this morning, he confided in me. He said he is madly in love with Mayank, but he had realised that Mayank was someone else’s. Mayank had told him that, he would soon be gone forever with the man he loved. And that broke Rocky’s heart. But you know what, Mr. Chauhan? When you love someone, you are happy when that person is happy, even if you are not part of that happiness. Rocky would never kill Mayank for his sweet little revenge. From whatever I know about Rocky, he can�
��t fake his tears.’
Agni paused briefly and then continued. ‘But, Mayank never disclosed even to his closest friends who his lover was. He would say he was waiting for the right time. It’s sad that he never found the right time, poor soul!’
Rocky kept sobbing, his tears forming rivulets down his face smeared with Manav’s blood.
Manav staggered towards Agni.
‘ACP Mitra, you probably haven’t noticed but that man beat me to pulp a while back. I’m bleeding...and I’m not sure if it’s only me, or you guys are feeling it too, it’s awfully cold up here. And I still don’t know why on earth I’m being forced at gunpoint to listen to Mayank’s love story!’
‘Mr. Chauhan, I’m going to tell you where exactly you come in! This morning in Rocky’s workshop, I met Preeti...‘
‘Now, who’s Preeti?’ Manav cut in.
Agni looked straight into Manav’s eyes. ‘She works for a travel agency and is a close friend of Rocky. She handles his travels across the country and abroad. Rocky had introduced her to Mayank. Mayank wanted to plan for a travel in confidence, and he needed to work with someone he could trust with his secret.’
Manav ran his tongue along his parched lips.
‘She made the travel plan exactly as desired by Mayank, and called him up the day before his murder. But Mayank did not live to collect the tickets and travel documents from her, and to make that trip with his partner. Preeti could not make up her mind for a few days whether she should come forward and share the details of Mayank’s travel plan with anyone. After all, Mayank had wanted her to keep the plan a secret. And then, she realised that, the details of the travel plan could provide a breakthrough in the police investigation. This morning, Preeti decided to talk to Rocky, and Rocky called me over. We pored over the travel documents she had brought along.
‘Mayank and his lover had planned to take separate flights from Kolkata that landed in Mumbai in the space of a few hours. Mayank had planned to take the earlier flight. He was supposed to wait in Mumbai for his lover. The two of them were then supposed to board a late flight from Mumbai to London—together. Quite a plan, wasn’t it?’
‘I’m still waiting to hear where I come in, ACP Mitra,’ Manav tried to smile.
‘This is exactly where you come in, Mr. Chauhan. The other name that’s all over those travel documents is—yours! Because the man who was in a relationship with Mayank is none other than you, Mr. Chauhan!’
Chapter 51
Keeping his gun firmly trained on Manav, Arya looked sideways at Agni and asked, ‘You never told me when this struck you as a possibility. I hate it when you keep secrets from me!’
‘And I hate it when you sound like a bitter spouse, Arya!’ Agni smiled. ‘I’m sure Mr. Chauhan has the same question, though he won’t admit. I won’t keep you guessing,’ Agni turned towards Manav and continued.
‘When Rituja told me that Mayank was gay, I was baffled, as I knew about his affair with your fiancée in the days before your wedding. Rituja told me she had been baffled herself when she had come to know about the affair. When she asked Mayank, he said that he was putting on an act for a reason! She was privy to Mayank’s secret, but like a true friend, played along till the last day of Mayank’s life.
This revelation got me thinking. What could Mayank’s reason be? I realised that, the inevitable outcome of the staged affair and then the very public spat between Mayank and you was your breaking off the engagement. Something you had done earlier with Neha as well. There was an unmistakable behavioural pattern that repeated itself. That of the reluctant groom!’
‘This is rubbish!’ Manav almost screamed, but sounded feeble in his defence.
‘Mr. Chauhan, my hypothesis gained further credence with another faux pas of yours.’
Manav’s eyebrows were wrinkled.
‘Mr. Chauhan, let me play back to you these priceless words you said the other day—never ever let a woman take your calls or play with your laptop when you are not around. She may end up using pictures that have stories to tell,’ Agni’s voice was steel cold. ‘An otherwise innocent picture from a long drive, for instance.’
Manav’s eyes were dilated. His lips trembled, but words failed him.
‘You, Mr. Chauhan, in a T-shirt. Smiling cheerfully at the camera. The Sher-e-Punjab restaurant off the Kolkata-Mumbai highway behind you, with the Tricolour prominently displayed. A board near the top of the entrance with the words “Happy Independence Day 2016”!’ Agni paused briefly and then continued, ‘It took me a while to figure out why that picture made me uneasy through an entire day. And then I remembered! I remembered that night, Mr. Chauhan, that I had seen a similar picture on the wall in Mayank’s bedroom. Mayank—in a T-shirt, smiling at the camera, Independence Day decorations at the entrance of the Sher-e-Punjab restaurant in the background. Same year. Same place.’
There was potent silence on the roof. The only sounds were those of the wind whispering ominously and the beats of music from the after-party down below. The chill was beginning to get to the bones of the men brought together by destiny at that vantage point towering over the city.
‘I didn’t get your point, ACP Mitra. What are you trying to prove? I told you I was there with Neha! Are you suggesting that Mayank and I shouldn’t have been in the same restaurant on the same day—ever? Oh, come on!’ Manav retorted in defiance, but the effort showed.
‘Sure you could be! No doubt about that, Mr. Chauhan. However, we have a different problem here. Those pictures were from the month of August. You had broken up with Neha Awasthi well before that!’
Agni’s words seemed to have sucked the air off Manav’s chest. He gasped for breath.
‘When I called Neha that night, she confirmed that she had not spent the Independence Day holiday this year with you. Contrary to what you had told me that morning. And a minute ago, for that matter. You shouldn’t have volunteered that piece of false information, Mr. Chauhan. Why did you lie to me?’
Manav flicked his tongue over his lips once again.
‘Looks like you don’t have an answer, Mr. Chauhan. Let me try. With that lie, you tried to hide something. That was nothing but classic behaviour of the guilty! Unsolicited explanation for something you subconsciously knew could land you in trouble. And that picture did land you in trouble, Mr. Chauhan. I drove down to the Sher-e-Punjab restaurant yesterday with Arya, and showed them the pictures—the one on Mayank’s wall and yours on the newspaper. Everyone in the restaurant still remembers Mayank Kapoor dropping in on Independence Day. Many of the waiters had taken selfies with the hero of their favourite soaps! Some of them showed me the pictures. All of them said Mayank had come with a friend. They recognised you readily when they saw your picture. It’s not the picture, Mr. Chauhan, or your outing with Mayank, for that matter, but it’s your unnecessary lie about that outing that strengthened my theory.
Mr. Chauhan, you know what the irony is? Mayank displayed his memory of that long drive on his bedroom wall. You chose to hide your memory in a folder in your laptop. Just like everything else you’ve been hiding all these years. But, our lies always catch up with us.’
‘Just as I thought! Just as I thought all these months,’ Rocky turned around and scowled at Manav, ‘From the way Mayank went on and on about you! I had a gut feeling...and I asked him a number of times. He kept denying...saying he would tell me at the right time. Thank God that good sense dawned on Preeti and she finally decided to see me this morning!’
Chapter 52
‘ACP Mitra, I won’t let you get away with this! You’ve no right to harass me with ridiculous figments of your overworked imagination!’ Manav tried to sound authoritative, but his laboured breathing gave him away.
Rocky turned towards Agni and continued, ‘We talked about this in the morning...you seemed to suggest that his lover might have done him in...I could not concentrate on the show...I saw him sitting there in the front row...all smug and haughty...and I couldn’t hold myself back any more, AC
P...I’m so sorry I failed you...asking him to meet me on the roof without telling you...wanting to finish him off and...and beating the crap out of him just as he deserves...but I’m so sorry, ACP...’ Rocky looked genuinely apologetic.
Manav pointed a finger at Rocky and hissed through his teeth, looking at Agni, ‘What did he just say? Are you guys now implicating me in Mayank’s murder, ACP Mitra?’
‘You heard him right, Mr. Chauhan. You know, as much as I do, how Mayank fell to his death. You pushed him off his bedroom balcony.’
Chapter 53
‘What a fantastic idea! ACP, why don’t you quit your job and start writing fantasy?’ Manav tried to force a laughter that sounded hopelessly fake. ‘And while you gratify yourself with these ridiculous theories, may I ask you what could possibly be the motive for my murdering my lover, as you’d had me believe a few minutes back?’
‘Motive, opportunity, means. You had everything, Mr. Chauhan. And I’ll not leave anything out tonight. But let me start with a very simple question. Mr. Chauhan, you’ve been living a double life for years now. You’ve been almost neurotically secretive about your steady relationship with Mayank. What are you afraid of, Mr. Chauhan?’
Manav kept looking at Agni with dead eyes, trying to force a dry smile. Agni suddenly felt sorry for the man standing battered and bruised in front of him, having taken the blows not just on his body, but also on his soul.
‘Are you afraid of your overtly conservative family with its archaic values “disowning” you? And the impact such an “eviction” would potentially have on your flourishing career, on how the homophobic society would start looking at you? What are you afraid of, Mr. Chauhan? Why this desperate need to pass off as another man with a wife and offspring when your heart is clearly not in it?’ Agni screamed. ‘You fail every time, but don’t give up trying, do you? And in the process, you end up destroying the lives of people around you. People who genuinely love you and care for you!’
The Colours of Passion Page 14