An eerie basement with flickering lights, a basement that equals in setup to five-star suite. In fact, it showcased more grandeur than the house on the top. An exquisite sofa setup, having an entire bar area towards the right. To the left is a showcase of guns and bombs, the centre piece being a gold laden revolver with six custom bone bullets, each bullet meticulously crafted from each killed person. The entire basement leads to one room at the back, a black room. The murder room. At the centre of this expansive room is an unconscious man, a police, tied to a chair. The classic villain interrogation setup.
Two men walk in, one with a plier and a hacksaw. Another seems like a police constable who is probably helping our villain. So cliché. The hacksaw man splashes water onto our beaten police. Squirming under pain of water contacting the wounds on his face, the policeman woke, jerked awake by the sudden shower, but showed no sign of fear.
[Hacksaw man]: Still no fear ah, Verma? How much more should I torture you before you give in and tell me the location of the device?
[Verma]{panting}: Try as much as you want, but I am not going to tell you the location. But beware, the entire police force is looking for me now. You will be caught very soon, Dharma.
[Dharma, our hacksaw man]{mockingly}: “Haye haye haye, so much trust in the police. You mean this police that showed us your location to even catch you?”
From the shadows, the constable emerges with a smug smile, as if he had done something noble.
[Verma]{dismayed}: Partha, why did you do this? How can you side wit—
[Partha]{cutting short, disgusted}: Boss, enough of the filmy blackmail. I have been asking you to grant me leave for the past fifteen days because my wife is sick and pregnant. You kept lecturing me saying duty comes first. If you die, I won’t have to ask for leave.
[Dharma]{hysterically}: You gave your boss’s location for such a simple thing, ah? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I like you da, I like you. Go go. Go to your wife, HAHAHAH!
[Partha]{confused}: Thank you sir.
Moments after constable Partha leaves, there is a knock on the door to the black room. Dharma, irritated, throws away the plier that was going to pluck out the nails of Verma in hopes of finding the location to the device, and attends to the door. In a huge thud, he is pinned to the ground, where the hacksaw he was carrying switched on due to the impact and cut him near the stomach. Yelling in pain, he tries to look at the person pinning him down. From any light thats reaching the room from the outside, he makes out the colour of the clothing as green.
The underworld is a very small place. Many colours mean destruction, but never green. Still, Dharma, in pain from the cut, clearly showed extreme fear in his eyes the moment he saw the green hoodie, a fear for his life. Before he could move aside to let the person in, he is stepped on and trampled by the green hoodie guy, stepping on Dharma’s throat as he enters the black room.
The smoke from his cigarette created a haze effect to an elevated entry of this person. The haze outlined a bearded face, a green hoodie and black cargo pants, matching green boots, and a small dagger in the left hand. If you have been in the underworld for a long time, you would know who this man is.
[Green hoodie man]{teasingly}: Verma! So good to see you. Tch tch, what is this Verma? What is this state you are in? Bad bad. This is not what I expected from you.
Verma, struggling from all the torture Dharma gave, struggled to look up to the man. From the corner of his eye, he made contact to the green hoodie, and slightly looked up into the beard face. Verma started to sweat. Fear overtook him and he tried to wriggle himself loose. Alas, all he did was made the chair fall backwards and hurt his head.
[Green hoodie man]{teasingly}: Ay Verma! Careful man! Ayyayyo, see you hurt yourself. If you wanted to be untied, you could have asked me no?
The green hoodie man proceeded to untie Verma. Verma, out of fear, mustered as much energy as he could, stood up and reached towards his gun. Having been tortured for days, he missed his aim twice. Before he could shoot the third time, our green hoodie man snatches the gun from his hand, and looks at Verma in pity.
[Green hoodie man]{annoyed, but playfully}: What is this Verma? Huh? I set you free and you shoot at me. How is this fair kanna?
Verma looks at the man, both with fear and rage. Clearly they share some past, but all Verma is thinking now is about getting out alive.
[Verma]{disgusted and fearing}: I didn’t know you were also looking for the device. If I had known this, I would have destroyed it forever.
This angered our green hoodie man, and he proceeded to stab Verma in the heart multiple times with the dagger. Somehow, the green hoodie remained unstained. But the face of our green hoodie man glowed red with all the blood that spurted out during the stabbing.
[Green hoodie man]{raging, trying to calm down}: Verma, I did not expect this from you. I am not looking for the device Verma, it is mine. It was stolen. When I came to know you were investigating the theft, I thought I’ll come pay you a visit after you find it. So I came here to rescue you and take the device, and you tell me you would have destroyed it because I was looking for it? What would you have done if you knew it was MINE to begin with? Anyways, sleep well Verma. You did your duty well. RIP Verma!
With that, he proceeds to walk outside the room, clenching his fist in anger about not having found his device, but sporting a very calm expression on his face. As he approaches the door, he sees a struggling Dharma, who seemed to have stopped crying from pain a while ago and now is just squirming in pain. The wound near his stomach had stopped bleeding, but was huge as the hacksaw kept cutting at the flesh until it ran out of power. Luckily, it was undercharged for the event, indirectly keeping Dharma alive.
[Green hoodie man]{pitifully}: You underestimated the police kanna. They are very fast these days. They are already outside, and they will come inside after I leave. You will be saved. So if you find my device, give it back okay? Good boy.
Just as our green hoodie man told, an entire police battalion rushed in minutes after the man left. Half of them proceeded to save Dharma, the other half split to investigating the room and retrieving Verma’s body. Forensics are called, Verma’s body is sent to post-mortem, Dharma is admitted to the ICU. Two police constables are stationed with Dharma in the hospital.
At the electric cremation centre, Verma’s ashes are collected by the DGP Badrinarayan. A lady is escorted to Badrinarayan by Partha. Upon his sign, Partha steps back leaving the lady to converse with the DGP. DGP hands over the ashes to the lady, who trickles tears but holds a smile on her face.
[DGP Badri]{reassuringly}: I am appointing my best officer to investigate Verma’s murder. Please rest assured. We will nab the killer.
The lady says nothing, and starts to leave. The DGP signals to Partha to escort her back to her car, and Partha silently follows. At her car, she reaches into the storage by the passenger side and tosses a bundle of cash at Partha. As she leaves, Partha smugly grins at her.
As the DGP approaches his vehicle, Partha escorted DGP Badri to the police station. Throughout the ride, Partha maintained a close watch on the DGP. DGP Badrinarayan is busy on his phone, assigning the best officer to investigate Verma’s murder. Curious, and with the need to spy, Partha asks the DGP about the assigned officer.
[Partha]{eager}: Sir, you promised to assign the best. Who is this case being given to?
[DGP Badri]{tensed}: You’ll see soon.
A little disappointed, Partha left to meet Dharma in the hospital after escorting the DGP to the police station, being assigned to stand guard to Dharma.
It took Dharma ten days to wake up from coma, recovering from his injuries. Having sustained a direct blow to his stomach, Dharma was put on strict liquid diet IV. Shortly after Dharma regained consciousness, Partha comes to him.
[Partha]{whispering}: Who did this to you, sir? Did you kill Verma sir?
[Dharma]{barely able to breathe}: Do you really think I’d end up in this situation if I killed Verma? He did it. I still remember that smirk he had when he left. That dreaded green hoodie.
Dharma started to shiver, his blood pressure fluctuating like a swing caught in a storm. The attending nurse rushed over to assist, but Dharma started to to stabilise as he calmed down. As he glanced over at Partha, he saw the colour drain from Partha’s face. The image of a green hoodie man fidgeting with a dagger flashed in front of Partha’s eyes, but he was too in awe to believe it.
[Partha]{shivering}: Who?
[Dharma]{stabilising}: Him.
[Partha]{still shivering}: W… who?
[Dharma]{angry and scared}: Radha.
What colour was left in Partha’s face also drained upon hearing the name. The name Radha is one that strikes fear into all and any, a name so famous in the underworld, a name that barely has an age but has enough heritage.
Partha returned to normalcy only upon being nudged by Dharma.
[Dharma]{barely able to breathe}: Do you know who has been assigned to investigate Verma’s murder?
Just then, Partha’s phone pinged. Before he could answer Dharma, he opened the phone to a message that contained just one word: Sarkaar.
[Partha]{visibly sweating}: It’s him. He’s been assigned.
[Dharma]{annoyed}: Who?
[Partha]{pale as a dead body}: Sarkaar. Adithya Sarkaar.
The monitor starts beeping again as Dharma flails his arms in the air, nurses doing everything they can to stabilise him as Partha backs off from Dharma’s bed, sweating profusely in fear.
Somewhere in another grandeur basement, Radha is drinking a concoction of bitter gourd, also green, while fidgeting with his dagger as he also reads the same single word message: Sarkaar.
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