“Greed-locked”
Shalini woke up and stretched, feeling satisfied with herself. She seemed easily in sync with the hot day like a slow burning fire from before. Last night had been a risqué affair with lingerie’s that accentuated her curves well and left little to imagination.
“Are these new?” her husband Nitin was surprised at the light mauve designer wear.
“Don’t you remember seeing them!?” He shook his head in negative.
“I had shown them to you the day it was purchased” she sounded a little exasperated but not really in a hurry to explain “anyways, how do you like them?” and naughtily added on seeing the glint in his eyes, “would you like to take them off yourself?” what followed was an hour of bliss.
Any trace of surprise with the lingerie from night before was soon crowded out by the work day thoughts. Nitin worked for National Atomic Research Centre as a senior scientist. The division and him were working on Thorium as reactor fuel and were on the verge of announcing a path breaking study. He was a rising star and the blue-eyed boy of the Director of the division. For him research was worship. Equally on the contrary he was unsure of his reasons for marriage and only married as his parents asked him to do so. He had no pre-conceived idea of a suitable life-partner as his waking life was spent on thoughts of particle physics.
“Shalini is the right girl for you, we have enquired about her and her family and she seems to be a simple and down-to-earth girl. She would make an ideal wife for you” Nitin’s mother had announced and he had nodded dutifully. His parents knew best about these social and family issues and he was happy. Anyways marriage was important just because it was something natural to be done; otherwise his research was the single most important factor in his life.
“Hey sexy, how wet are you?” the deep voice drawled over the phone as Shalini picked it up.
“It’s a deluge, but the question is what are you going to do about it?”
“I will be there in next half an hour, keep the juices flowing” the voice chuckled on the phone before disconnecting.
Shalini was sprawled on the sofa clad only in her panties by the time the next call came. “How is the day going Shalu?” It was Nitin on the phone.
“Just visiting some friends darling” she said softly, distracted by the ministrations of the tongue on her breasts. Some more mundane conversation and then she disconnected the phone and pulled up Aditya by his hair, signalling him to take it to the next level.
A few days later, Nitin was back from work, checking his personal mails in an empty home. Shalini had gone visiting an archaeological place in nearby town with friends, their daughter was at her grandmother’s. The cup of tea he had made for himself was lying cold on the table; a thin film had formed on top of the tea. He sat hunched back with head cradled in his clenched palms; perspiring. All blood had drained away from his head and face to an ashen emptiness. The last five minutes were the scariest nightmare of his life. The screen showed an open mail saying:
“Pay up 50 Lacs of Rupees or let the whole world see how a nerdy scientist lets his wife be pleased by others”
The mail had a short video clip attached that showed shalini in the frame, in the throes of intercourse with an unidentified man cut out of the frame. The nastiest surprise was she had her legs spread grotesquely in the air shouting and encouraging the man to go on.
“Nitin is not a bad man, he is a good provider and a father” Shalini told Aditya who sat listening quietly.
“He is also the biggest bore of this century; all he knows about is nuclear stuff. No imagination! No sexual spark! No extra drive!” she was animated. “Can you imagine the non-imaginative life I lead? Nothing to look forward to! What do I look forward to in life, just our daughter?” Aditya had heard this many times before. It always followed after a romp on the bed or any other piece of furniture.
“You have me”
“No! it’s not about you, don’t make every issue about you” she recoiled. “This is about my life, my hardships, about things that I should have received naturally. I am not a slut to have jumped into the bed with you. I would not have even established a physical relation with you if Nitin was a bit more sexually imaginative, you don’t understand”
“But you say you love me”
“See, this is a problem with you men. Would I establish a physical relation with you if there was no romance involved? You are a photographer, a budding artist; but sometimes you speak like these unimaginative men like my husband”
Aditya had too much of a good thing going with Shalini to respond to that; “anyways I exactly know what kind of a woman you are” he thought and sniggered in his mind.
“Just don’t sit around, transfer all the photographs of the excavation to my pen-drive. Did you also take those pictures of me along with the group of other tourists to make it seem like I was with a group of people?”
“Yeah I did, what do you take me for? A fool?” Aditya transferred the images and handed over the flash drive to her. She smiled at him; here was a submissive good boy.
When Nitin woke up in the morning, it did not seem like awakening from sleep. It was as if that the brain had been super-processing all through the night and at that instant started furiously churning options that lay in front of him. Talking to his or her parents were out of question and too messy. He was also unsure how the parents would react to the whole affair. Her elder brother was a better option, but there was no guarantee that he would in turn not talk to the parents. Also, as far as he knew Shalini it would be impossible to win any arguments with her. She always seemed to turn the table around and put the blame on opposite party in any argument.
Apart from the disaster in his personal life, this was a clear case of blackmail. Right from the day he had joined the nuclear facility, the security division had held regular training sessions on how blackmail on personal front would progress to part with sensitive nuclear information. All security agencies including IB, RAW and CBI had desks in the research centre and worked closely with the security team of the National Nuclear Research Organisation. CBI had a special cell to monitor nuclear scientist and provide them covert security, in fact the Director ACP Prajapati maintained a cordial relation with the senior scientists, almost friendly.
Nitin knew that he did not have much time or choice but to report this to the CBI. His only worry was making this case official would make a public show of his intimate life. The only option, he felt, would be to speak to ACP Prajapati in private and ask for help. He could not solve this alone but was also ridden with shame at the prospect of having to share the most humiliating incident of his life.
Shalini went over in her mind about the checklist to clean up any proof of her escapade of last couple of days. Her story was waterproof, she had the pictures of the excavation site she was visiting some of them had only her and some had other tourists; taken from an angle which made it seem as if she was with a group of people. Aditya was not present in any of the frames. She had purchased souvenirs for everybody. There was no mark of the tempestuous romps of last few days. She loved her own intelligence and smiled. The fun was in the risk of an extra-marital affair and carrying it out brazenly, without the husband knowing.
“It is very easy to cuckold husbands, after marriage they are anyways so filled with themselves that they don’t notice any change in their wife. Whereas, guys cannot get away with the same as the wife’s sixth sense catches everything” a friend had told her and she had verified it with her life. Shalini had gone to the extent of creating a fiasco on the advent of any females in Nitin’s life. Females that she was sure had nothing to do with her husband or him with them; but she had anyways created the drama to keep him under mental pressure and it had worked. Nitin was too busy to worry about his smallest behavioural details to worry or analyse her. She chuckled to herself at the ingenuity.
It was not as if the sex in marriage was too bad, but she detested the middle class humdrum existence of her life as the wife of a nuclear scientist and the mother to his daughter. She was destined for greater stuff; she was meant to have fame, power and money. Aditya the budding photographer was her current ticket. She would dump him when his usefulness was over. Right now she needed to focus on current situation and gains.
ACP Prajpati of CBI sat at the coffee shop reflecting over the information he had gathered from two of his trusted and bright officers, in charge of detailing Nitin. He maintained details on all the scientists who handled sensitive information or worked on important nuclear projects. The department had long ago instituted this special division and the motto was to avoid problem before it arose. The strategy had borne results and there was hardly any information leak scandal that hit the establishment from days of its inception. These super intelligent men were regularly monitored as was their family to plug a problem before it could occur. Shalini had already raised a red flag in the department with her clandestine visits to Aditya. Although, he did not see any need for action as the situation was yet a personal problem of the individuals and had not crossed to the realm of National security.
“This is got to be about his wife” he thought to himself, remembering the urgency in Nitin’s voice requesting him to meet at an outside location. The very fact he wanted the discussion out of office pointed to something that was personal.
“Hello Nitin” he stood up and extended his arm on seeing Nitin entering and approaching the corner table.
“Hello, Sir. Thank you for agreeing to meet me outside. I am sorry for all the trouble, but I am in big trouble. It’s all just too much …”
“Take a seat Nitin and calm down. What would you like to drink?”
“Whatever”.
ACP Prajapati ordered for espressos and turned to Nitin “Call me by my first name - Sanjay. We do not want to attract attention”
“Yes, Sir … Sanjay”
“You are an intelligent and honest young man and a bright Scientist; an asset to our country. It is my duty and personal resolve to help you in any situation that you may be in. You have known me for a long time, so I suggest you speak to me about any problem that you may have. Like a friend or an elder brother. Please do not hold back anything, let it all out”
“I am being blackmailed” Nitin blurted.
ACP Prajapati made a quick assessment in his mind and signalled him to stop. “Ok let’s finish the coffee and step out, we will discuss then” given the situation he wanted to avoid any possibilities that Nitin’s phone was tapped and already there was somebody in the coffee-shop eavesdropping.
Once out, he deftly guided Nitin to a fountain in a nearby park. “Ok, tell me all the details, do not leave out anything, however innocuous”. There was a reassuring quality about the ACP that made Nitin blurt out everything about the mail with ransom demand, the video and his personal turmoil and extreme agitation. He also mentioned his trepidation and shame about having to divulge these sordid details of his life to anybody.
“Sanjay, Sir... One request is if this can be done with no involvement of my or Shalini’s name, it is too much of a shameful affair for me”
“I will try my best and see what can be done, but I cannot promise much at this point. If the situation is of national importance then I may not have much choice, but your well-being will be of utmost concern. Have you got the mail?”
“Yes” Nitin produced a pen drive from his pocket.
“Ok, go to work now and act normally, do not discuss this with anybody apart from me. Call me if you want to speak to me but don’t give any information on phone. I will meet you somewhere to get the update”
“Yes Sir”
“Call me Sanjay …. And don’t worry your information is safe with me” with this they parted ways. The plain-clothes officer posted for Nitin by ACP Prajapati picked up his trail on a signal from the senior officer.
Within, the next couple of hours the trusted team had analysed the case, they had accessed Nitin’s private mail and had confirmed that indeed the mail had been sent by Aditya and the man cut out by the frame was none other than Aditya. Undercover agents picked up Shalini and Aditya’s trail the moment they arrived from their secret holiday at the station. The only thing to ascertain now was how far were these two involved and who was running them; with what motive.
Nitin came home to find a decked up Shalini in a happy spirit, she fussed over him like a dutiful wife and repeated incessantly how much she had missed him. She cooked him his favourite dinner and when Nitin asked about why she had not fetched their daughter. She mysteriously said “I have plans this evening darling, just wait and watch”. Nitin was filled with dread but manged to hold his composure. The tapping device placed at Nitin’s residence earlier in the day silently conveyed all to the CBI team monitoring their residence.
Later in the night, when Shalini provocatively led Nitin to their bedroom and prepared to engage in a steamy night; four CBI officers broke into Aditya’s residence, planted some narcotics in his drawing room; before waking him up to arrest him on grounds of possession.
Two days passed by with no word from ACP Prajapati, on the third day the phone rang and Nitin was called to meet the ACP in his office. Nitin spent the better part of next hour worrying about the outcome as he travelled to CBI office. An efficient officer showed him in to ACP Prajapati’s office and shut the door behind him.
“Come and have a seat Nitin, I have some good news and some bad news for you” ACP Prajapati welcomed him with an extended arm. Once they settled down the ACP began.
“The case by itself is quiet simple Nitin. Although there was a demand for money and blackmail, it was an individual crime against you – the husband, not against a nuclear scientist. Aditya thought he could get away by bullying a simple man and tried to blackmail. Shalini was not part of this crime, in fact she had no inkling that she was being filmed and she was not party to blackmail. Aditya is just a spoilt brat, out to make quick money; neither his photography is great nor is he making a headway in that career direction. So, he uses the creative angle to cosy up with married females. He has blackmailed two husbands earlier and successfully extracted money out of them. We have booked him for possession of contraband and on two separate anonymous case of blackmail. If the previous two victims co-operate we will have a solid case against him or they will be pending against him. In any case the drug charge will stick easily, primarily as the quantity is huge and we will also use circumstantial evidence of involvement about earning money by criminal means. He will be away for at least fifteen years or maybe twenty. Aditya is truly out of your way without your name reflecting anywhere” ACP Prajapati paused and said in a sombre tone “now the bad news”
“Although we found no compliance on Shalini’s part in the blackmail, but she was the leading partner in the affair. Her need to be the centre of attention and to gain instant fame through any means makes her susceptible to this kind of affair in the future. That worries me on professional front as the next guy could be gunning for nuclear information and not just money. On a personal front I feel for you as you are straddled with wife with a penchant for the extra-ordinary. Our officers have shaken her up to the core on Aditya’s case and from my experience I believe she will not dare a similar step in future, but human desires have means to manifest itself at inopportune moment. So, we cannot rule out a repeat occurrence. She will be a constant source of worry for you and us ….”
That night Nitin found Shalini in a very subdued frame of mind and her affection for him was much more sincere and honest. She was focussed on home, daughter and husband and seemed like any other devoted housewife. Although Nitin was facing turmoil within himself he maintained an outward silence. If Shalini read something in it she did not show. That night she tried to hug Nitin, who turned away from his wife. She slept spooning Nitin from behind.
Nitin lay still pretending to sleep but his eyes were wide open, deciding on the future course of action. Earlier in the day ACP Prajapati had told him “… our officers picked up Shalini from Aditya’s residence, when she had gone to meet him and brought her to CBI office on grounds of questioning for her compliance in the drug trade run by Aditya. Of course she had no knowledge, but in the course of questioning they grilled her on her relation with Aditya and also showed her the video clip. She was completely shaken up and owned up the relation and denied the drug involvement. She begged the officers to not make the news public or share the clip with her husband. The officers finally complied grudgingly after much request and one of them dropped her home. Now, she knows that the CBI knows her story and her residence. This will be a warning for her to not involve in any further misadventure further on, but one never knows …”
Nitin was optimally satisfied that Shalini would not try anything again in future. Moreover, for the sake of his daughter this was a poisonous pill he would have to endure for the rest of his life. His daughter was a pure soul and the last thing he wanted for her was to live with the knowledge of her mother’s infidelity. He would have to endure the ignominy for the sake of his daughter. He was a successful scientist working on issues of national benefit; even a hint of a scandal would automatically debar him from his dream project of Thorium derivative as fuel for nuclear reactors. He would have to keep quiet for the sake of his daughter and his country and carry on with life as usual. He may have failed as a husband; but as a father and nuclear scientist he was successful.
Who was the dumb pretentious bastard who said ‘behind every successful man is a woman’? That twerp was either not married or he was probably speaking of another woman” Nitin thought with his eyes blazing in the dark with hatred.
“If I have to excel as a father and scientist then I need peace, but her greed and behaviour is taking over my mind like poisonous ivy. It’s blocking my mind like a traffic gridlock that needs to be broken” he continued thinking and very soon the idea that was once a distant dream came to him and he slept peacefully.
“I have been shifted to another facility by the office, now I will have to move to the weapons division of the research. We as a nation are believers in peaceful use of nuclear energy but we also have a defence preparedness program that prepares for any eventuality. I have been asked to transfer there”. They were at the breakfast table and Nitin observed coldly, that an already subdued Shalini just nodded in agreement.
Once at the office he asked to see the Director and gave his consent for the transfer. The Director had a long standing offer for Nitin to shift to the research facility at an undisclosed location in the Sahaydri ranges. This facility was dedicated to defence use of nuclear power and was a highly classified project, it was built over a large area surrounded by reserved forest. It was highly secured by Millitary Police and leaving or entering the facility without very strict paper-work was impossible. Even all airwaves and internet movement was monitored. The scientists stayed there with their family and were totally cut off from the rest of the civilisation. It was a self –sufficient area and produced its own food, electricity and all other utilities. Hospitals, Schools, cinema-hall, parks, shopping complex, etc were all available within the secured property. It was almost a jail in a sense, which the scientist did not mind as they worked on cutting-edge research. The families were happy too as all requirements were met. By the next evening his case was processed and approved.
“We shift this weekend” Nitin told a surprised Shalini. “Don’t worry about anything as the research organisation will take care of everything including packing and transport”
“Where are we going exactly?” was Shalini’s genuine concern.
“Can’t mention that as I am prohibited to disclose this highly classified location, but don’t worry it’s a better place than any city in India.
“Oh good! I am looking forward already” shalini gushed.
Nitin smiled.
A saccharine smile that did not give any inkling to Shalini the horror of the dreadfully mundane life she was in for; but she would remember that smile for a very long time to come.
Shalini woke up and stretched, feeling satisfied with herself. She seemed easily in sync with the hot day like a slow burning fire from before. Last night had been a risqué affair with lingerie’s that accentuated her curves well and left little to imagination.
“Are these new?” her husband Nitin was surprised at the light mauve designer wear.
“Don’t you remember seeing them!?” He shook his head in negative.
“I had shown them to you the day it was purchased” she sounded a little exasperated but not really in a hurry to explain “anyways, how do you like them?” and naughtily added on seeing the glint in his eyes, “would you like to take them off yourself?” what followed was an hour of bliss.
Any trace of surprise with the lingerie from night before was soon crowded out by the work day thoughts. Nitin worked for National Atomic Research Centre as a senior scientist. The division and him were working on Thorium as reactor fuel and were on the verge of announcing a path breaking study. He was a rising star and the blue-eyed boy of the Director of the division. For him research was worship. Equally on the contrary he was unsure of his reasons for marriage and only married as his parents asked him to do so. He had no pre-conceived idea of a suitable life-partner as his waking life was spent on thoughts of particle physics.
“Shalini is the right girl for you, we have enquired about her and her family and she seems to be a simple and down-to-earth girl. She would make an ideal wife for you” Nitin’s mother had announced and he had nodded dutifully. His parents knew best about these social and family issues and he was happy. Anyways marriage was important just because it was something natural to be done; otherwise his research was the single most important factor in his life.
“Hey sexy, how wet are you?” the deep voice drawled over the phone as Shalini picked it up.
“It’s a deluge, but the question is what are you going to do about it?”
“I will be there in next half an hour, keep the juices flowing” the voice chuckled on the phone before disconnecting.
Shalini was sprawled on the sofa clad only in her panties by the time the next call came. “How is the day going Shalu?” It was Nitin on the phone.
“Just visiting some friends darling” she said softly, distracted by the ministrations of the tongue on her breasts. Some more mundane conversation and then she disconnected the phone and pulled up Aditya by his hair, signalling him to take it to the next level.
A few days later, Nitin was back from work, checking his personal mails in an empty home. Shalini had gone visiting an archaeological place in nearby town with friends, their daughter was at her grandmother’s. The cup of tea he had made for himself was lying cold on the table; a thin film had formed on top of the tea. He sat hunched back with head cradled in his clenched palms; perspiring. All blood had drained away from his head and face to an ashen emptiness. The last five minutes were the scariest nightmare of his life. The screen showed an open mail saying:
“Pay up 50 Lacs of Rupees or let the whole world see how a nerdy scientist lets his wife be pleased by others”
The mail had a short video clip attached that showed shalini in the frame, in the throes of intercourse with an unidentified man cut out of the frame. The nastiest surprise was she had her legs spread grotesquely in the air shouting and encouraging the man to go on.
“Nitin is not a bad man, he is a good provider and a father” Shalini told Aditya who sat listening quietly.
“He is also the biggest bore of this century; all he knows about is nuclear stuff. No imagination! No sexual spark! No extra drive!” she was animated. “Can you imagine the non-imaginative life I lead? Nothing to look forward to! What do I look forward to in life, just our daughter?” Aditya had heard this many times before. It always followed after a romp on the bed or any other piece of furniture.
“You have me”
“No! it’s not about you, don’t make every issue about you” she recoiled. “This is about my life, my hardships, about things that I should have received naturally. I am not a slut to have jumped into the bed with you. I would not have even established a physical relation with you if Nitin was a bit more sexually imaginative, you don’t understand”
“But you say you love me”
“See, this is a problem with you men. Would I establish a physical relation with you if there was no romance involved? You are a photographer, a budding artist; but sometimes you speak like these unimaginative men like my husband”
Aditya had too much of a good thing going with Shalini to respond to that; “anyways I exactly know what kind of a woman you are” he thought and sniggered in his mind.
“Just don’t sit around, transfer all the photographs of the excavation to my pen-drive. Did you also take those pictures of me along with the group of other tourists to make it seem like I was with a group of people?”
“Yeah I did, what do you take me for? A fool?” Aditya transferred the images and handed over the flash drive to her. She smiled at him; here was a submissive good boy.
When Nitin woke up in the morning, it did not seem like awakening from sleep. It was as if that the brain had been super-processing all through the night and at that instant started furiously churning options that lay in front of him. Talking to his or her parents were out of question and too messy. He was also unsure how the parents would react to the whole affair. Her elder brother was a better option, but there was no guarantee that he would in turn not talk to the parents. Also, as far as he knew Shalini it would be impossible to win any arguments with her. She always seemed to turn the table around and put the blame on opposite party in any argument.
Apart from the disaster in his personal life, this was a clear case of blackmail. Right from the day he had joined the nuclear facility, the security division had held regular training sessions on how blackmail on personal front would progress to part with sensitive nuclear information. All security agencies including IB, RAW and CBI had desks in the research centre and worked closely with the security team of the National Nuclear Research Organisation. CBI had a special cell to monitor nuclear scientist and provide them covert security, in fact the Director ACP Prajapati maintained a cordial relation with the senior scientists, almost friendly.
Nitin knew that he did not have much time or choice but to report this to the CBI. His only worry was making this case official would make a public show of his intimate life. The only option, he felt, would be to speak to ACP Prajapati in private and ask for help. He could not solve this alone but was also ridden with shame at the prospect of having to share the most humiliating incident of his life.
Shalini went over in her mind about the checklist to clean up any proof of her escapade of last couple of days. Her story was waterproof, she had the pictures of the excavation site she was visiting some of them had only her and some had other tourists; taken from an angle which made it seem as if she was with a group of people. Aditya was not present in any of the frames. She had purchased souvenirs for everybody. There was no mark of the tempestuous romps of last few days. She loved her own intelligence and smiled. The fun was in the risk of an extra-marital affair and carrying it out brazenly, without the husband knowing.
“It is very easy to cuckold husbands, after marriage they are anyways so filled with themselves that they don’t notice any change in their wife. Whereas, guys cannot get away with the same as the wife’s sixth sense catches everything” a friend had told her and she had verified it with her life. Shalini had gone to the extent of creating a fiasco on the advent of any females in Nitin’s life. Females that she was sure had nothing to do with her husband or him with them; but she had anyways created the drama to keep him under mental pressure and it had worked. Nitin was too busy to worry about his smallest behavioural details to worry or analyse her. She chuckled to herself at the ingenuity.
It was not as if the sex in marriage was too bad, but she detested the middle class humdrum existence of her life as the wife of a nuclear scientist and the mother to his daughter. She was destined for greater stuff; she was meant to have fame, power and money. Aditya the budding photographer was her current ticket. She would dump him when his usefulness was over. Right now she needed to focus on current situation and gains.
ACP Prajpati of CBI sat at the coffee shop reflecting over the information he had gathered from two of his trusted and bright officers, in charge of detailing Nitin. He maintained details on all the scientists who handled sensitive information or worked on important nuclear projects. The department had long ago instituted this special division and the motto was to avoid problem before it arose. The strategy had borne results and there was hardly any information leak scandal that hit the establishment from days of its inception. These super intelligent men were regularly monitored as was their family to plug a problem before it could occur. Shalini had already raised a red flag in the department with her clandestine visits to Aditya. Although, he did not see any need for action as the situation was yet a personal problem of the individuals and had not crossed to the realm of National security.
“This is got to be about his wife” he thought to himself, remembering the urgency in Nitin’s voice requesting him to meet at an outside location. The very fact he wanted the discussion out of office pointed to something that was personal.
“Hello Nitin” he stood up and extended his arm on seeing Nitin entering and approaching the corner table.
“Hello, Sir. Thank you for agreeing to meet me outside. I am sorry for all the trouble, but I am in big trouble. It’s all just too much …”
“Take a seat Nitin and calm down. What would you like to drink?”
“Whatever”.
ACP Prajapati ordered for espressos and turned to Nitin “Call me by my first name - Sanjay. We do not want to attract attention”
“Yes, Sir … Sanjay”
“You are an intelligent and honest young man and a bright Scientist; an asset to our country. It is my duty and personal resolve to help you in any situation that you may be in. You have known me for a long time, so I suggest you speak to me about any problem that you may have. Like a friend or an elder brother. Please do not hold back anything, let it all out”
“I am being blackmailed” Nitin blurted.
ACP Prajapati made a quick assessment in his mind and signalled him to stop. “Ok let’s finish the coffee and step out, we will discuss then” given the situation he wanted to avoid any possibilities that Nitin’s phone was tapped and already there was somebody in the coffee-shop eavesdropping.
Once out, he deftly guided Nitin to a fountain in a nearby park. “Ok, tell me all the details, do not leave out anything, however innocuous”. There was a reassuring quality about the ACP that made Nitin blurt out everything about the mail with ransom demand, the video and his personal turmoil and extreme agitation. He also mentioned his trepidation and shame about having to divulge these sordid details of his life to anybody.
“Sanjay, Sir... One request is if this can be done with no involvement of my or Shalini’s name, it is too much of a shameful affair for me”
“I will try my best and see what can be done, but I cannot promise much at this point. If the situation is of national importance then I may not have much choice, but your well-being will be of utmost concern. Have you got the mail?”
“Yes” Nitin produced a pen drive from his pocket.
“Ok, go to work now and act normally, do not discuss this with anybody apart from me. Call me if you want to speak to me but don’t give any information on phone. I will meet you somewhere to get the update”
“Yes Sir”
“Call me Sanjay …. And don’t worry your information is safe with me” with this they parted ways. The plain-clothes officer posted for Nitin by ACP Prajapati picked up his trail on a signal from the senior officer.
Within, the next couple of hours the trusted team had analysed the case, they had accessed Nitin’s private mail and had confirmed that indeed the mail had been sent by Aditya and the man cut out by the frame was none other than Aditya. Undercover agents picked up Shalini and Aditya’s trail the moment they arrived from their secret holiday at the station. The only thing to ascertain now was how far were these two involved and who was running them; with what motive.
Nitin came home to find a decked up Shalini in a happy spirit, she fussed over him like a dutiful wife and repeated incessantly how much she had missed him. She cooked him his favourite dinner and when Nitin asked about why she had not fetched their daughter. She mysteriously said “I have plans this evening darling, just wait and watch”. Nitin was filled with dread but manged to hold his composure. The tapping device placed at Nitin’s residence earlier in the day silently conveyed all to the CBI team monitoring their residence.
Later in the night, when Shalini provocatively led Nitin to their bedroom and prepared to engage in a steamy night; four CBI officers broke into Aditya’s residence, planted some narcotics in his drawing room; before waking him up to arrest him on grounds of possession.
Two days passed by with no word from ACP Prajapati, on the third day the phone rang and Nitin was called to meet the ACP in his office. Nitin spent the better part of next hour worrying about the outcome as he travelled to CBI office. An efficient officer showed him in to ACP Prajapati’s office and shut the door behind him.
“Come and have a seat Nitin, I have some good news and some bad news for you” ACP Prajapati welcomed him with an extended arm. Once they settled down the ACP began.
“The case by itself is quiet simple Nitin. Although there was a demand for money and blackmail, it was an individual crime against you – the husband, not against a nuclear scientist. Aditya thought he could get away by bullying a simple man and tried to blackmail. Shalini was not part of this crime, in fact she had no inkling that she was being filmed and she was not party to blackmail. Aditya is just a spoilt brat, out to make quick money; neither his photography is great nor is he making a headway in that career direction. So, he uses the creative angle to cosy up with married females. He has blackmailed two husbands earlier and successfully extracted money out of them. We have booked him for possession of contraband and on two separate anonymous case of blackmail. If the previous two victims co-operate we will have a solid case against him or they will be pending against him. In any case the drug charge will stick easily, primarily as the quantity is huge and we will also use circumstantial evidence of involvement about earning money by criminal means. He will be away for at least fifteen years or maybe twenty. Aditya is truly out of your way without your name reflecting anywhere” ACP Prajapati paused and said in a sombre tone “now the bad news”
“Although we found no compliance on Shalini’s part in the blackmail, but she was the leading partner in the affair. Her need to be the centre of attention and to gain instant fame through any means makes her susceptible to this kind of affair in the future. That worries me on professional front as the next guy could be gunning for nuclear information and not just money. On a personal front I feel for you as you are straddled with wife with a penchant for the extra-ordinary. Our officers have shaken her up to the core on Aditya’s case and from my experience I believe she will not dare a similar step in future, but human desires have means to manifest itself at inopportune moment. So, we cannot rule out a repeat occurrence. She will be a constant source of worry for you and us ….”
That night Nitin found Shalini in a very subdued frame of mind and her affection for him was much more sincere and honest. She was focussed on home, daughter and husband and seemed like any other devoted housewife. Although Nitin was facing turmoil within himself he maintained an outward silence. If Shalini read something in it she did not show. That night she tried to hug Nitin, who turned away from his wife. She slept spooning Nitin from behind.
Nitin lay still pretending to sleep but his eyes were wide open, deciding on the future course of action. Earlier in the day ACP Prajapati had told him “… our officers picked up Shalini from Aditya’s residence, when she had gone to meet him and brought her to CBI office on grounds of questioning for her compliance in the drug trade run by Aditya. Of course she had no knowledge, but in the course of questioning they grilled her on her relation with Aditya and also showed her the video clip. She was completely shaken up and owned up the relation and denied the drug involvement. She begged the officers to not make the news public or share the clip with her husband. The officers finally complied grudgingly after much request and one of them dropped her home. Now, she knows that the CBI knows her story and her residence. This will be a warning for her to not involve in any further misadventure further on, but one never knows …”
Nitin was optimally satisfied that Shalini would not try anything again in future. Moreover, for the sake of his daughter this was a poisonous pill he would have to endure for the rest of his life. His daughter was a pure soul and the last thing he wanted for her was to live with the knowledge of her mother’s infidelity. He would have to endure the ignominy for the sake of his daughter. He was a successful scientist working on issues of national benefit; even a hint of a scandal would automatically debar him from his dream project of Thorium derivative as fuel for nuclear reactors. He would have to keep quiet for the sake of his daughter and his country and carry on with life as usual. He may have failed as a husband; but as a father and nuclear scientist he was successful.
Who was the dumb pretentious bastard who said ‘behind every successful man is a woman’? That twerp was either not married or he was probably speaking of another woman” Nitin thought with his eyes blazing in the dark with hatred.
“If I have to excel as a father and scientist then I need peace, but her greed and behaviour is taking over my mind like poisonous ivy. It’s blocking my mind like a traffic gridlock that needs to be broken” he continued thinking and very soon the idea that was once a distant dream came to him and he slept peacefully.
“I have been shifted to another facility by the office, now I will have to move to the weapons division of the research. We as a nation are believers in peaceful use of nuclear energy but we also have a defence preparedness program that prepares for any eventuality. I have been asked to transfer there”. They were at the breakfast table and Nitin observed coldly, that an already subdued Shalini just nodded in agreement.
Once at the office he asked to see the Director and gave his consent for the transfer. The Director had a long standing offer for Nitin to shift to the research facility at an undisclosed location in the Sahaydri ranges. This facility was dedicated to defence use of nuclear power and was a highly classified project, it was built over a large area surrounded by reserved forest. It was highly secured by Millitary Police and leaving or entering the facility without very strict paper-work was impossible. Even all airwaves and internet movement was monitored. The scientists stayed there with their family and were totally cut off from the rest of the civilisation. It was a self –sufficient area and produced its own food, electricity and all other utilities. Hospitals, Schools, cinema-hall, parks, shopping complex, etc were all available within the secured property. It was almost a jail in a sense, which the scientist did not mind as they worked on cutting-edge research. The families were happy too as all requirements were met. By the next evening his case was processed and approved.
“We shift this weekend” Nitin told a surprised Shalini. “Don’t worry about anything as the research organisation will take care of everything including packing and transport”
“Where are we going exactly?” was Shalini’s genuine concern.
“Can’t mention that as I am prohibited to disclose this highly classified location, but don’t worry it’s a better place than any city in India.
“Oh good! I am looking forward already” shalini gushed.
Nitin smiled.
A saccharine smile that did not give any inkling to Shalini the horror of the dreadfully mundane life she was in for; but she would remember that smile for a very long time to come.