The Jugni

by Gagan Saini

  “Thank you, Sir, it is all because of the blessings of the seniors like you.”

  “Not only blessings, but it’s your hard work too. Well, I won’t hold you any longer I know you are busy. I will be at the event. See you soon.”

  “Ok Sir, see you soon.”

  Before the guests came, Simar got the whole hall and surroundings checked by a dog squad. She had a technical team for video surveillance.

  Slowly, people started to come. After some time, the place was full. There were more than five hundred people altogether. The Prime minister arrived. The function started smoothly. After the welcome ceremony, it was the time for his speech. As he started, Simar stood beside the stage. Her spellbinding personality attracted the attention of the camera many times. But she wasn’t distracted by anything.

  One constable approached her and gave the walkie-talkie.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  He said, “Madam, someone has got hold of our frequency and wants to talk to you.”

  She was surprised for a moment but then took the walkie-talkie from him and walked behind the stage.

  “Who is this? How did you get this frequency?”

  “Madam, it’s not important who I am, important is why I want to talk to you.” The one who replied was a man with a strong and calm voice.

  “Whatever you want to say, say it fast I am very busy.”

  “Ok, madam. Just check your phone; I have sent you a video, please have look.”

  Simar quickly got her phone out of the pocket; there was a video clip from an unknown number. When she played it, she got stunned for a second. In the video clip, the Chef Minister was in a dark room tied to a chair, with some blood on the face and some injuries.

  “What rubbish is that?”

  “It is called technology, not rubbish. We’ve got the Chief Minister in our custody and the one sitting in front of you is our man. Our tech guys have done a superb job; they made a good mask, which makes our guy look the same as your Chief Minister.”

  “Why did you do this,” she asked.

  “Simple, our guy will kill the Prime minister. People will think the Chief Minister killed the Prime minister. Our guy will go to jail. With our links and some money, we will replace the original chief minister with our guy.”

  “Why are you telling me? You could have done it silently as well; you know I can stop this.”

  The man laughed and said, “This is your lesson, dear, for all your deeds… to tell you that if you mess with strong people, you should be ready for the consequences. And you cannot stop this, as this will happen before you can do anything.”

  The man hung up after saying this. The Prime minister’s speech was finished, and it was the turn for the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister stood up from his chair, Simar ran to the stage. It was like all was happening in slow motion. The Prime minister was returning from the speech and the audience was clapping. At the same time, the Chief Minister was proceeding towards the same direction.

  Simar came and stood right in front of the Chief Minister and said, “Stay there, don’t you even move.”

  He asked, “What happened.”

  “I know what you are up to.” Everybody was looking towards them for all this drama. She waived and shouted an order for the security people, “Take the Prime Minister to a safe place, quickly!” 5-6 Policemen came to the Prime minister and surrounded him as he started walking.

  As the security was taking the Prime Minister out of the sight, the Chief Minister started again. “Look, girl, there is nothing wrong here, why you are creating such a drama. I don’t know what you are thinking but I am going to give my speech.” He put his hand in the pocket of his jacket. Simar thought he is talking out his gun.

  She pulled her gun out and pointed towards him and shouted, “Hands up!” Mumbling in the hall started. Everyone on the stage and in the hall looked at this and was trying to understand what was going on. Sinha came closer and asked, “What is this Simar? What’s the matter?”

  “Sir, this man is not the Chief Minister. He is wearing a mask and was going to kill the Prime Minister.”

  She saw the Prime minister had stopped to see what was happening. She shouted again, “Take the Prime minister to the security. Sir, please co-operate.”

  She still had her gun pointed towards the Chief Minister. Sinha approached her slowly.

  “Sir, please take off the mask from this man’s face then you will know.”

  Sinha turned to the Chief Minister. As soon as he turned, a bullet came and hit the Chief Minister in the chest. The bullet came from the same angle where Simar had a gun pointed towards Chief Minister. Sinha tried to hold him, but the minister fell anyway.

  His white clothes went red with blood. Before any help could come, he was motionless. Simar was shocked and was still in the same position. She did not understand what had happened. Sinha looked at Simar with disappointment.

  This shooting evoked a chaos in the audience. People started running for their life. More security people came and took the gun from Simar. She was so shocked that she could not move, her eyes left wide open.

  She was taken into police custody. As the media was there, almost all the news channels captured this whole drama. It became a hot news everywhere. All channels showed again and again, the whole day, how Simar killed the Chief Minister.

  Next day newspapers printed a big photo on the front page with Simar pointing the gun towards the Chief Minister. This was a serious problem. Simar was badly trapped but there was nothing she could do about it.

  On the other side, those who planned all this were celebrating.

  “Cheers, you are the man. I doubted your plan initially. But you have done what seemed to be impossible.” One of the gang members said to the man who planned all this. He told his plan to his fellow gang leaders in this very bar, but not everyone was convinced.

  “Thanks, guys, I told you it was going to work.”

  “Yes, it worked well but what will you do with the real chief minister who is in your custody?”

  “Which Chief Minister? I never had any. The one I made a video with was one of my man who wore a mask and the one who got killed was the original one. Which means that the police lady is going to jail for a long time for killing the Chief Minister.”

  On the other side, Mr. Sharma and Zahid came to see Simar in the lockup.

  “Thank God you guys came. I am telling these people that the Chief Minister is in danger, but nobody is listening to me.”

  “Yes, because he is dead,” Sharma said.

  “No Sir, the one who died was not the real Chief Minister.”

  “What do you mean, Simar?” Zahid asked.

  “I received a video in which they had the Chief Minister tied up. The one on the stage was going to kill the Prime minister.”

  “I will look into it Simar, don’t worry.”

  “And one more thing… I did not shoot that bullet. Get my gun and count the bullets with a witness.”

  “So, if you did not shoot, who did?”

  “I don’t know Sir.”

  “Don’t worry Simar we will look into it.”

  They both left and Simar continued to walk from one side of her cell to the other, thinking and reviewing the whole scenario.”

  Those who knew Simar did not believe that Simar could do that, but the perfect timing of the picture of her pointing the gun towards the minister and he being hit by the bullet at the same time, could not be ignored. Her brother and mother were deeply moved by this and were very sad. They had already left for Delhi to see Simar.

  In the lockup, she was treated with full respect by the police and why not, she was one of them. While doing transfers, once a constable saluted her, as they used to do before.

  She said, “Do not do that again, presently I am a criminal and polic
e does not salute criminals.”

  Jaspal and her mother came to see her. Mother was crying and Jaspal looked worried too.

  “What has happened to my daughter? Are you alright my dear?”

  “I am alright mom. How are you veerji?”

  “We are worried about you Simar. How can it happen?”

  “I happened so fast I could not think straight. But I did not kill that man on stage.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t tell you all the details right now. But you guys have to believe me.”

  “We believe you, my daughter, you can never do this.”

  “Veerji, please look after mom. And mom, please stop crying, you are the mother of two brave kids. Problems are part of life, we have to face them with courage.”

  “Don’t, worry about us, she will be alright. I am going to find a good lawyer for you. Take care, sister.”

  Mother rubbed her hand on Simar’s head with blessings and they both left.

  The case was very clear that Simar killed the Chief Minister in front of the media. To the media, and all the world, it seemed pretty straightforward that Simar had killed the Chief Minister. It was right in front of their eyes. But her supporters wanted an investigation and a fair trial. After lots of protests and keeping Simar’s record in consideration, the investigation was ordered. Zahid was doing his own investigation. He persuaded DGP that a DNA test be conducted on the minister’s dead body. Simar was quite sure that fair investigation will reveal the truth.

  The date of hearing was fixed. Zahid came to see Simar.

  “Did you find out the real Chief Minister?”

  “Simar, I have seen the dead body and tried to take off the mask, but could not because there wasn’t any. The person who died was perhaps the real Chief Minister.”

  “If you are convinced, why did you say perhaps?”

  “Because I believe you! Even though I could not find the mask, but I am considering this could be a case of plastic surgery as well. Therefore, I have requested a DNA test, but the test result will take some time. The result will be directly delivered to the court on the day of the hearing.”

  “There may be two scenarios. One, the real minister will be still in their custody and he is in danger. Second, the video was fake and the one who died was real and I was framed. I was so stupid, I got into their trap.”

  “It’s not your fault Simar. You had very little time to process all this. Anybody would have done this in that situation. Anyways, I will see you later.” Saying this, he left.

  The day of hearing arrived. Everybody was very curious about the investigation. Inside the court, only the people related to the case were allowed but outside the court, hundreds of supporters of Simar gathered. The Judge asked the head of the investigation to present his report. After reading that report he said, “The DNA report clearly states that the person who got shot was the Chief Minister Mr. Jha. Does defense have anything to say about it?”

  Simar’s lawyer, a middle-aged slim guy with grey hair and thick spectacles stood up and said, “This very moment my client and all of us came to know that he was the real Chief Minister. Otherwise, my client was thinking he was someone having a mask and was trying to kill the Prime Minister. You might have seen the video of that mishap; she removed the Prime Minister from the scene.”

  “Objection my lord, before everyone gets convinced by my friend’s statement, I want to bring someone to the witness box. The big fat lawyer of the opposition stood up and spoke all of a sudden.

  “Objection sustained, whom do you want in the witness box.”

  “It’s the mother of Simar Kaur.”

  Everyone looked here and there and looked at her.

  “Objection my lord, she has nothing to do with the case,” Simar’s lawyer said. Simar gave a surprised look as even she could not figure out her mother’s relationship with the case.

  “It will be clear soon. Let me go ahead, sir.”

  “You can, mother of Simar Kaur to come to the witness box.”

  Zahid looked at Jaspal who sat next to his mother. Jaspal gestured her to go.

  After the pledge of speaking the truth, she looked at the opposition lawyer. He came near the box, “Are you the real mother of Simar?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Who else is there in the family?”

  “Apart from Simar, I have one son, Jaspal.”

  “What about your husband?”

  “He is no more.”

  “Can you please tell me how he left this world?”

  “He was the victim of 1984 Sikh genocide which happened here in Delhi.”

  “Oh, that’s sad. Thank you very much, you can go back.”

  The confusion was still persistent on everyone’s face, as he let her go without any significant information being asked.

  “Sir, my friend is wasting the court’s time on useless issues. If anyone wants to know about someone’s family, they can read the family details rather than this drama.”

  “My lord, I am not finished yet.” He passed a newspaper to the judge’s subordinate. He passed on to the judge. “Sir, this newspaper is one month old. Mr. Jha was one of the suspects of anti-Sikh riots in 1984. If you see the front page of the newspaper, the news says the investigations have found significant involvement of Mr. Jha in those riots.”

  “What are trying to prove here?” The Judge asked after reading that news.

  “Simar’s father was killed in that massacre. She wanted to have revenge on her father’s death. That’s why Miss Simar Kaur assassinated Mr. Jha. She never wanted the Prime minister. The Chief Minister was the main target. That’s all, my lord.”

  “That’s bullshit. I never had that thought in my mind. This is a product of this man’s imagination only,” Simar exclaimed.

  Murmuring started in the room.

  “Order, order! Miss Simar, you have to speak when you are asked to do so.” The judge said in a firm voice.

  “I am sorry, Sir.”

  This new concept triggered a mixed reaction in the court. Some were surprised, and some were angry.

  Simar’s lawyer stood up and said, “My lord, before we think of this whole scenario from my friend’s point of view, I want to put light on something.”

  “What is that?” The Judge diverted his attention to him.

  “We can discuss the intention of Simar afterwards. Firstly, I want to tell everyone that the bullet that killed chief minister did not come from Simar’s gun. She was framed, and someone shot him from a very close range so that it looked like it came from Simar’s gun.”

  A Loud whisper across the court started again.

  “Order, order!”

  “Objection my lord, my friend is diverting the court’s attention from the fact which I brought up earlier.” The fat lawyer said.

  “Can you prove it?” the Judge asked the defense lawyer.

  “Yes Sir, this is the bullet from the body of Mr. Jha.” He showed up a plastic bag with a bullet in it. “But bullet does not go in the service gun of Simar.”

  “Hmm, do you have anything to say about this?” The judge looked somewhat convinced and asked the opposition lawyer.

  “Yes sir, we have the murder weapon here in the court. Can we count the bullets?”

  “Yes, of course, we can. Can someone please count the bullets in the gun?”

  One policeman came forward and put the gloves on. He took the magazine out and took the bullets out one by one. “There are fourteen and nothing in the chamber, Sir.”

  “How many there are normally?” the Judge asked the same officer.

  “There are 15 rounds in one magazine, Sir.”

  Simar, Jaspal, Zahid, Sinha, Sharma and all others got shocked by this.

  The lawyer said again, “See sir, that missing bullet killed Mr. Jha.”r />
  Simar’s lawyer had nothing to say.

  There was a pin drop silence in the court for a while. The judge took his time to go through all the evidence.

  “Well, this is a case of the public assassination of the Chief Minister of the state. The case comes under so many categories like murder, terrorism, treason etc. But it is against a person who fought with terrorists on her own and saved so many lives. In addition to this, the pieces of evidence are not clear as well. I order a further and in-depth investigation of the whole scenario. A special team will investigate all the aspects. The verdict will be based on that report. The team will have three months’ time to give their report and we will have a panel of judges to decide the outcome of this case. Until then, Simar Kaur will remain in high-security police custody. The court is adjourned.”

  People started to disperse. The mother was crying already, Jaspal was upset and so was Zahid. They all came to see Simar before the male and female police took her outside.

  Jaspal asked a moment from the policemen to talk to Simar. “Don’t worry my sister, we all are with you.”

  Mother couldn’t say anything; she just hugged her and cried. “Don’t worry mom, I am alright. Veerji please comfort her.” Jaspal came forward and held her and detached from Simar nicely.

  “Zahid came a bit closer. Where did that one bullet go?”

  “I have no idea. I never used my gun for long and did not count the rounds in there. Someone did all this to trap me. But the revenge concept was surprising.”

  “I know Simar, a person like you can’t think of revenge like stuff. Anyways, I will do my own investigation as well. Won’t let it go easily.”

  “Sir, we need to go.” A constable came forward and said in a most humble way.

  “Okay, Mom, I need to go. Be strong and take care of yourself. You guys believe me that is the biggest support for me.” She kissed on the forehead of her mother and then she started walking with the group of policemen.

  After this, she was directed towards the van by the team. She was escorted by two ladies and two men constables. They took her to the van with all respect and dignity. They sat with her in the van. There were three vehicles involved in the transfer. There was one police car in front and one behind the van.