Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 19: Fairy God Mother

I woke up with a start at the slamming noise of the car door. I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness of the dark night groggily and saw Vikash resting on the front seat in an inclined position. On trying to focus on the sharp sound, I could find Master Da entering the car.

I looked at my watch and it was around 3:00 a.m.

In a sleepy tone, I asked Master da "What happened, why are you in the hospital?"

Master da replied, "I am planning to wait for Maanya. Tomorrow morning, we will go home together."

I could not help but observe that whenever Miss. Sengupta was around Master da exhibits certain softness and tenderness in his behavior. It was easy to notice the increasing proximity and caring between the two. I was happy that Master daa found someone to fill up the void left behind by Deepa Boudi and his daughter.

After Master da lost them a few years back, he has disconnected himself from this world and mostly kept to himself or in the company of the children of the villages. I had the better sense to keep my thoughts to myself and not bring them up in front of Master Da and bring up old wounds.

Vikash was awake and enquired if we want some tea and I replied yes. He gestured to the tea seller and ordered 3 cups of black tea. It is said that black tea is very good for relieving stress.

As we were waiting for our tea, I gathered some courage to ask master da more about Miss. Sengupta and the incident that took place in Mrs. Das's residence.

"Master da if you don't mind, can I ask you something?"

 He replied, "Of course, go ahead."

"What happened in Mrs. Das's residence that evening, and how do you know about Tribeni Majumdar?" 

Master da burst out laughing.

“What happened… did I say something wrong?”

Still unable to control his laughter he continued "Do you believe in Karma? Do you believe that you need to do just one good deed in your life, and God will send someone to protect you till eternity?"

I replied "To tell you the truth, I am not much of a believer in God or Karma, but my experience during the past few days has restored my faith in supreme power. But what has that incident got to do anything with Karma."

"Do you remember, once I told you that I teach children in the villages," Master da asked?

"Yes... why?" I asked.

"Well, it enhanced my reputation amongst the villagers in Purulia to such an extent that the villagers and their children nicknamed me Master. For them I was like the great revolutionary Master Daa Surya Sen. Besides, my house is considered a protective sanctuary for anyone, be it a villager in trouble or any person in need of help.”

“During the years with the movement, I happened to meet Tribeni Majumdar once, and he showed an immense deal of respect towards my intellectual knowledge and my philanthropic activities."

"Due to political pressure, Mr. Majumdar went into hiding back in 1984 and was never seen again. Just last week, he contacted me and said that he wished to surrender, and if I knew anyone from the home ministry, I should call them."

“I knew only one person from the West Bengal Civil Services, Maanya Sengupta. So, I decided to call her and pass her the information."

“The very day, you and Vikash came to my house with your sister and informed me about that child, Tribeni Dada was hiding inside and heard everything.”

“I was in a dilemma on how to convince the teacher to quit. At that point, Tribeni dada suggested to me a great idea to force her to stay away from Sophia.”

“Right after you guys left my place Maanya arrived from Kolkata and she was introduced to Tribeni Dada.”

“They came here to check out Sophia's condition with the doctor. You might be thinking, how come no one recognized Tribeni dada in the hospital, The answer is simple because no one has seen him for 24 years.”

“Nowhere the story starts. Maanya had a daughter Sunaina who was killed in a road accident 7 years ago. You might have remembered that the sports body of India organized a tournament to find the 10 best basketball players from the country who would represent India in Youth Olympics 1994 in Florida. On that fateful day, the team from Bengal played a match against Tripura. After the match, they were returning to their training center when they met with an accident. All the players, except 4 of them, were killed.”

I interrupted, “Master da, as per newspaper reports only 2 of them survived the tragedy."

"You are right, the newspaper reports mentioned that there were 2 survivors, but actually 4 of them survived the accident but 1 of them died on way to the hospital and another died 2 days later." clarified Master da.

He continued "According to Maanya, an eyewitness reported that 2 young children traveling with the group, around 7 to 8 years old, tried their best to pull out all the children from the bus before it caught fire and exploded.”

“Those 2 children who tried to rescue their mates suffered severe burn due to the explosion and were hospitalized in serious condition. She later came to know that both the children were in a comatose state.”

"Their parents shifted them to a different hospital for better treatment. Maanya has been searching for those children since that day because she is grateful and believes that just because of the bravery of those 2 children, she was able to hear her child's voice for the last time."

"Master da do you know the names of those 4 kids?" I asked him.

He replied, "Yes, one of them is Sunaina, Maanya's daughter, who died in the hospital. The sports body decided not to publicize the names of those 4 kids due to external pressure from the higher authorities, but Maanya managed to identify the kids."

Did I hear it right, "Why did the higher authority pressurize to hush up their identity, was it a tactical move to interfere with the investigation?" I asked.

"Well, we both have been trying to figure out the answer to that question all these years," he replied.

"So, what did she find?" I asked.

Master da continued, "After her daughter’s death, Maanya didn't give up and continued her quest to trace the 2 children ever since. With passing time the chances of finding the whereabouts of those children diminished from slim to none. All Maanya could manage is a vague idea how they appeared in their childhood from a photograph in her daughter's album."

"Her investigations for the search of the 2 missing children came really close to finding one of them when Mr. Banerjee approached her to help his child in a police case on 22nd December 1993. When she saw the child's photo and the police report she was convinced that one of the 2 children was found."

"She started to keep a close watch over the child, helping the child in every way possible. However, one fine day the child went missing again. She came to know from Mr. Banerjee that he had sent the child abroad to complete his studies."

"Sorry to interrupt you master da, but I have a question?" I asked.

"Yes... tell me...?"

"That day when Mr. Banerjee told you that Miss Maanya Sengupta is an Addl. Superintendent of West Bengal Police, did you pretended that you never knew about it or you really meant it?” I paused a little and continued “your face clearly indicated that you are not aware of it." I asked.

“You are right, I didn't know, she was a cop. I knew that she cleared the West Bengal Civil Services, so I concluded that she opted for an administrative job instead of state police service. An administrative officer, doing investigative work was not a new thing."

"Now coming back, 6 years since finding one of the two missing children she was acquainted with Tribeni Dada at my place. I told Maanya about Mrs. Das and Sophia and she offered her help to find out a way to convince her to leave. Both Maanya and Tribeni dada came to the hospital that night when everyone left. They interacted with the doctors and when Maanya saw Sophia, she was in shock. she almost moved to tears. She couldn't bear to see the child in such a poor condition. Her maternal instincts clicked and she promised me that she will not leave Purulia till she is absolutely sure of the child's safety"

"That day she had almost 20 minutes of discussion with Sophia to know about her truth, and the conclusion is something, which is beyond our understanding. After learning the truth, Maanya, Tribeni dada and I tried to devise a plan to trap Mrs. Das. Maanya called up her team in Kolkata and did a background verification on the teacher, which included her phone records, bank transactions, etc.”

“We tried to find some loose ends in her character and activities that can help us in forcing her to quit. We found that every month thousands of rupees are transferred into her account as tuition fees for teaching one child at the Banerjee residence. Further, she lives in a bungalow which according to her husband doesn't belong to them but has been gifted to her by Mr. Banerjee."

“Finally, Tribeni da came up with his plan. He asked us to talk to her first and convince her to quit in a conducive environment. If she agrees then it is fine but if she differs then they should execute the following plan of action.”

“Maanya will inform her team, that one of her trusted sources has informed her that the most wanted Naxalite leader Tribeni Majumdar, who has been in hiding for the last 24 years, has suddenly surfaced and is going to meet someone in Purulia. She and her team should monitor every single call in the area.”

“Amidst all the monitoring her team will also decide to form another team to monitor all newly activated numbers in Purulia, as they believed that every criminal would want to cover their tracks by calling from numbers which were never used before.”

“A new mobile phone will be procured using Mrs. Das's credentials which we recovered from the local police station when the Banerjee’s had to do a police verification.”

"When we visit her residence if the initial discussion fails, Maanya will make a call from her residence to Tribeni Majumdar and her team will backtrace the call. Since the call originated from her house, Maanya can trap and negotiate with her to quit the job or go behind bars, and we both knew what would be her answer."

“Later on, we will get a lawyer for her and get her out on bail, and considering the judicial system of India, she would be a free woman.”

“All 3 of us felt that it is a good decision, and no one would be harmed. The plan was executed nicely, however, the problem cropped up when she used those derogatory words against that child, and finally, after what happened yesterday in the hospital, Maanya decided that she deserves to spend a few days behind bars."

"But then why did she let the Army arrest her then if you had only planned to place her behind bars?"

"Well... we never thought that the army would intervene and take her away... but later on Maanya told me that they arrested her on the suspicion of a conspiracy to murder an armed forces officer by the name of Lt. Colonel Sujoy Banerjee... the Military Police feels that she has a hand in that officer's murder, that's why they have taken her for questioning."

"Wow... I don't believe it... You guys have gone to such an extent... What if you land into some sort of trouble?" I asked.

Master da replied, "Trust me, everything has been planned to the last detail."

Master Da’s honest but nonchalant description of all these events scared me to a huge extent. I could not shake this impending sense of doom and logic that if I stay with that man, I might end up in some trouble sooner or later.

It feels like my father is right, I should be immensely careful of the company I keep. But in the current context, I had no other option but to maintain my cordialness with him. Not because of Sophia, but for the sake of my family, I had to be strong.

A lot of things had happened during the past 19 hours. The number of surprises I received was enough to render me sleepless for a few days. Amidst all this, I kept wondering what did Sophia and Miss Sengupta discuss which Master daa feels is beyond our understanding. 

I still wonder what happened to that child of Mr. Banerjee. What happened to Abhinu Banerjee?

Where have they been during the past 6 years? 

Gosh... things are really getting confusing and much too mysterious out here...

                                                     TO BE CONTINUED…

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