Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 80: Catch Twenty-Two - 1

I saw mom and Major Annie coming out of the room where Aamaya di and Mom were previously interacting. Dad left the seat and was discussing something with Nishi Jethu.

My mind was deep in thought, trying to connect with the sufferings of Aamaya di, Aarohi, Abhinu, and Allen whom Aamaya di loved dearly. What's worse was that all their suffering are because of the twisted mentality of one man alone, and nobody is there to stop him. 

After going through Abhinu’s journals and perceiving Aamaya di’s account of involvement, it became evident how one man’s contemptible action has ruined the existence of an entire family, which includes three of his daughters, Aunty Banerjee, and his 2 sons.

Amidst my thought, a strange sight caught my eyes. Sagar sir had tears in his eyes. 

I never imagined that the tale of Amaya Di would bring tears to the eyes of a resilient man like Sagar Sir. I stood up, went towards him, and offered him my handkerchief.

He was probably embarrassed at my gesture however he still accepted it.

"Why are you crying, sir?" I asked.

He looked at me, still using his arm to rub the tears off his eyes, and tried to smile. He was trying his level best to hide his sad face. As he was about to reply J.P. sir commented to his utter embarrassment, "Sagar Dai is crying…" and suddenly started laughing.

I was angry at J.P. sir because of the way he taunted Sagar Sir. By the looks of it, Sagar sir was fuming with rage and replied "I am not crying... I am angry... Ye to gusse ke aansu hai"(these are tears of rage)

"Why,” J.P. sir enquired

"We taught Aarohi and Abhinu to play Basketball. If I had the slightest hint about Aarohi’s fate … I would never let that child go back to Kolkata... I would have raised her myself."

JP sir stepped forward and hugged him tightly. "Sagar Bhai, I promise, Aarohi and Allen’s death will not go in vain… They will get justice…"

A familiar voice spoke up "You guys are not alone… I am with you too… We are going to make an example out of that Banerjee… and make sure he goes behind bars… No young children should suffer at the hands of such pedophiles." It was the voice of my dad.

"Don't mind me interrupting but..."

"IG sir...please don't mind my word... if your people have accomplished your duty properly... none of these would have happened..." It was the voice of Sagar sir.

It felt like Nishi Jethu was shocked at the intense remark of Sagar sir, but he managed to remain calm and continued "If we have to provide justice to Aamaya, Abhinu, Aarohi, and Alena then it's not just that Banerjee who needs to be punished but every single person who wronged with them."

He took out 7 files from his briefcase and handed over one each to Brigadier Shahi, Dad, Capt. Sagar, Capt. J.P., Major Annie, Mom, and the last one he kept with himself. For some reason, they decided not to share the document with me. Maybe for them, I am too young to understand those official files.

I saw the shocked looks on their face as they kept scrolling through the files. Some faces were turning red with rage. I could surely feel that whatever Nishi Jethu was making them read, had something discomforting written on it.

Nishi Jethu went and sat on one of the folding tables lying in the room and then continued "During the past thirteen days our team with the support of Mr. Christopher has compiled this list of all the people who were involved directly or indirectly in ruining the life of the three children. This is the final output of his 6 years of investigation.” There was a sheer rage in his voice when he said those words.

“However, right now there is something else we need to do on priority. We need to relocate your family” looking at my Dad “to another location.”

“I have been getting calls from higher authorities to locate Abhinu and reunite him with Mr. Banerjee at the earliest. I have also been asked not to intervene in the murder investigation of the Banerjee family.”

“But why…? Doesn’t the family deserve justice…” dad asked.

Nishi Jethu replied in a worried tone. “Well, it does… The case has been assigned to a local cop Gopinath Singha.”

“You seem to be worried sir… You don’t think the family can get justice…”

“Oh no… I don’t have to think… I know it very well that the case will never be solved… or in my words, the truth will never see the light of the day… Inspector Gopinath is one of the most corrupt cops in Purulia… I can even forecast his findings…”

As Nishi Jethu was about to continue, dad received a call. He raised his index finger to his lips signaling everyone to keep quiet for a while.

I was unable to hear what the person on the other side of the line was speaking, all I could hear was:

“Hello…”

“When... What time…”

“5:00 PM… Tomorrow...”

“Ok… we will be there on time…”

The person at the other end of the line said something quite lengthy and by the expression on dad’s face he appears to be extremely agitated.

“YOU ARE DOING NO SUCH THING… WE ARE COMING THERE… LET’S TALK ABOUT IT WHEN WE MEET…” 

“Send the address on this phone…”

As Dad disconnected the call he excitedly shouted in exasperation ‘b****y PIG-HEADED EXTREMISTS… DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN VIGILANTISM…’

“What happened, Commander…” Brigadier Shahi asked Dad.

“It is something about Tribeni Mazumdar and Dr. Sen” informed Dad.

“What did they say…”

“They were able to find Dr. Sandeep R. Menon whom you and the N.I.A.” pointing his finger towards Nishi Jethu Dad continued “have been trying to locate for quite some time.”

Brigadier Shahi suddenly interrupted him “Wait a minute Dr. Sandeep R. Menon…" as he started to flip through the pages of the file Nishi Jethu gave him earlier and read through the pages "Dr. Sandeep Menon convinced Alena about the surgical procedure to be performed in his body and conducted the Gender Reassignment Surgery, turning him into a girl which finally led to Alena’s suicide… Alena's medical report stated that no psych evaluation was done before the surgery. She was not ready to accept the changes made in her body which finally led to the suicide.”

“The Post-mortem report suggested the presence of extreme amounts of Nefazodone, Fluoxetine, and Paroxetine in her body. Medical reports of both Abhinu also confirmed the presence of extreme amounts of those drugs. According to Dr. Prathama Sen, she believes that these medicines are being administered to the children so that their body accepts the process of transformation. By the time they reach the age of 13 or 14 they are both physically and mentally ready for the final procedure."

"Wait a minute..."  Brigadier Shahi paused a little and then said "This file also confirms what Aamaya said earlier about the extreme amounts of estrogen and testosterone... the medical reports confirmed the presence of about 15 to 18 ml of Testosterone pellets injected in her body at the time of her death..."

"What the hell... this is not right..." it was Sagar sir's voice and then he continued "Sir... forgive me for what I am going to do..." and then he turned to look at me and asked me to close my ears and then he began to say something. curiosity got the better of me and I removed my fingers off my ear and then I heard him cursing. It was some of the dirtiest of words that I have heard in some of the English movies, and wow that was intense. About a couple of minutes later, Brigadier Uncle asked him to stop and he signaled me to move my hands off my ear and then they continued the discussion.

"But as per this file this man's permission to perform surgery was revoked by the medical board because of his malpractices and he was never seen again after the death of Aarohi. Only a few of his closest aides are aware of his location."

“Yes, you are correct Brigadier. Babul and his men received a tip that this Doctor was hiding in a hotel in Manbazar,” informed Dad.

Out of excitement Brigadier Shahi added, “Wow that's great news… you should be able to arrest him now.”

“Well…” Dad replied in a concerned tone “That is where the problem lies… When they found him, he was in bad shape? Somebody has given him a beating of his life and to make matters worse, that person has cut-off his hands… and left a note there for us...”

“WHAT THE HELL… what are you saying…” It was Nishi Jethu to exclaim.

“You heard it, right sir." dad replied.

"And what was in that note..." asked Nishi Jethu.

"well...!!!!" dad took a brief pause and then said "It stated that 'I am cutting off his hands so that he cannot hurt another Allen ever in his life... I don't want anyone of you to even think about finding a doctor and try to get his hands stitched back... so I had roasted his hands and fed it to him."

 The turn of events is sheer brutality and monstrous... 

"If this is not enough Mr. Mazumdar has no intentions to hand the doctor over to the authorities… or for that matter, they have no plans to hand over any of the men they can lay their hands on…”

“And as an officer of the law, I cannot allow them to do that…”

                                                TO BE CONTINUED...

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~