Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Later that day, Naina walked into the courtroom with her head held high, Tejas beside her. They finally had a solid defense, and they wouldn’t let it go to waste.
Ramesh Kumble was in attendance today, leaving Iqbal to handle things at the office.
Naina and Tejas had discussed their strategy with Iqbal already, and he’d agreed it was a solid one.
Kumble, on the other hand, was skeptical, given Sandhya’s testimony was only what she’d overheard, and not solid proof.
But they had a plan to get Jagannath to crack, and Naina was certain it would work.
It would land her the big promotion…and give her the time and headspace to talk everything out with Tejas.
Speaking of whom—Tejas nudged her as they settled into their row after the judge took her seat. “All the best. You’ll kill it, no pun intended.”
“I’m counting on it,” she said.
Naina rose, her files in hand, and spotted Sandhya in the back row, wearing a plain gray kurti and jeans, her face covered with a dupatta again.
Thankfully, Sandhya’s father hadn’t noticed his daughter walk in.
Her testimony would be the grand slam, but they still needed to score more points by getting the truth out of Vaishnavi.
Then Naina walked over to the witness stand. “Miss Iyer,” she started, “how well did you know Preethi Acharya?”
Vaishavi shrugged dismissively. “Not well at all. My first time meeting her was in August, when filming commenced.”
“And did you interact often while on set?”
She shook her head, though her fingers clenched together. “Only while assisting Jagannath sir.”
“Was there any bad blood between you?”
Vaishnavi’s mouth opened and closed. Her eyes went to Jagannath, who sat in the front. Finally, she said, “Not from my end. I don’t know about Preethi.”
Naina tried not to scoff. “And yet you decided to say Preethi Acharya should be ‘locked up’ the very day of Pai’s murder, even before news channels made the announcement? Odd timing, isn’t it?”
Vaishnavi’s head jerked back, like she had whiplash. Good. “Excuse me?”
“Your Honor, I’d like to enter this Reddit profile into evidence.” Naina approached the bench, handing the papers to the judge, then switched on the screen to show their findings to the room.
“This isn’t part of the discovery file,” Mr. Rizwan said, fuming as he stood. “The prosecution was not made aware of any such online evidence.”
“Because we only discovered it an hour ago,” Naina fired back with a lie. “Your Honor, may I?”
“Miss Shetty, proceed,” the judge said.
Naina’s eyes went to the stand. Vaishnavi was trembling, her mouth agape. Once again, she looked toward Jagannath, who had also paled. “Miss Iyer, does this profile look familiar to you at all?”
“No, I don’t know what this is,” she said hurriedly. “I’ve never had a Reddit profile.”
“Then why does the IP address of this profile narrow down to the location of your apartment?”
Vaishnavi looked around the room helplessly. “I…I didn’t know what else to do.”
The judge’s eyes widened. She must not have seen this coming.
Naina hadn’t, either. She’d thought Vaishnavi would act more defensive, deny the whole thing.
Now she was risking incriminating herself, and she had every right as a witness to refuse to answer, but it looked like Mr. Rizwan had been too stunned into silence to object.
“I understand,” Naina said, exhaling. Time to channel her inner Tejas, and lead with kindness.
“It wasn’t your fault. You were simply doing what you were told, being a good assistant.
Someone made you post anti-Preethi propaganda.
They also made you lie on the stand. You never saw Preethi that night.
But now you’re involved in this murder, whether you knew what you were doing or not. ”
The word murder did it. Vaishnavi broke down in sobs.
“Please, I—I can’t go to jail! I’m the sole provider for my family, I…
” She turned to the judge, whose brows were knitted.
“Your Honor, it’s true. That’s my Reddit profile.
I lied, I…I didn’t see Preethi the night of the murder.
I was paid to lie, to post bad things about Preethi. ”
Naina smirked as she spotted the flabbergasted expression on the prosecutor’s face. “Who paid you, Miss Iyer?” she asked. They had this in the bag. They might not even need Sandhya’s testimony—
Vaishnavi blinked back tears. “My boss, Jagannath sir.”
Jagannath’s fists clenched as he looked around the room. The crowd let out loud gasps, murmurs sounding in increasing decibels. The judge’s jaw too had dropped, but she quickly recovered and yelled, “Order in my court!”
As Vaishnavi stepped off the stand, shaking from head to toe, Naina’s shoulders straightened, and she continued, “Your Honor, we have one final witness.” She caught Sandhya’s eye and added, “And she’ll help tie up every loose end.”
Mr. Rizwan jumped out of his seat. “There wasn’t any mention of more witnesses in the discovery file,” he said, his eyes going back and forth.
Naina handed the sheet to the judge. “This witness came to us with some crucial evidence this morning. Here’s the paperwork.”
“Let me see.” The judge quirked an eyebrow as she flipped through the papers, curiosity practically dripping from her face. “I’ll allow it. Sandhya Gowda, please make your way to the stand.”
Loud whispers filled the courtroom. As Sandhya pulled off her dupatta and started forward, Jagannath stood, fists clenched and nostrils flaring. “What the hell are you doing?” he exclaimed, shuffling out of the row toward his daughter. “You shouldn’t be here!”
The judge banged her gavel. “Sit down, Mr. Jagannath.”
“No! I will not allow my daughter to be caught up in this scandal!” Fuming, Jagannath grabbed his daughter by the wrists as she screamed in protest. The room was in uproar as three cops rushed ahead and pulled Jagannath away.
He wrestled to get out of their grip, but despite his broad shoulders and hulking frame, he couldn’t overpower three men.
His face turned an unpleasant mix of purple and red as Sandhya took the stand.
Once silence fell over the room again, Naina began her line of questioning. “Miss Gowda, is it true that you had a sexual relationship with Rohith Pai?”
“Yes,” Sandhya admitted, as more gasps sounded from around them. Her bottom lip wobbled, but she stared straight ahead determinedly. This admission—and the testimony to come—could potentially ruin her career forever, but Naina admired Sandhya wanting to do the right thing, not the easy thing.
“What?” Pai’s wife, Athira, stood, a hand clapped over her mouth.
“Order in my court,” the judge said as Athira burst into tears. “Mrs. Pai, sit down. Miss Shetty, please proceed with your questioning.”
“Did anyone else know about this relationship?” Naina asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jagannath still fighting to get away from the cops.
“Not at first.” Sandhya looked at her father, gulping. “Then…then Appa found out.”
Naina paced back and forth in front of the witness stand. “How did your father find out about this relationship?”
“While we were together, I’d sent Rohith pictures. The…explicit kind.” Sandhya hung her head. “Appa saw them on my phone, and then he—”
“Blasphemy!” Jagannath yelled, though the judge seemed like she was too busy hanging on Sandhya’s words to even notice.
Sandhya hesitated, and Naina braced herself, knowing what the next phase of the plan was.
Even though Sandhya had overheard the full conversation between her parents and knew what had gone down, she would have to play up the heartbroken secret girlfriend act so they could get Jagannath to confess the truth.
“I—I loved Rohith, you know?” Sandhya blubbered, though there wasn’t a single tear in her eyes.
She’d told Naina and Tejas this morning that she had cried enough.
“And he loved me back. He was the one. He said he’d leave his wife for me, and he’d shut the media up if they said anything, and he was even going to ask for my father’s blessing—”
“Blessing?” Jagannath spat out. He finally freed himself from the cops’ clutches and pointed a finger at his daughter. “That bastard blackmailed me when I confronted him! I was saving you—how can you use that against me?”
“Saving me?” Sandhya laughed, no trace of humor in her voice. Instead, every curve of her face was lined with anger. “By killing Rohith and pinning it on a woman who went through the same thing with him that I did?”
“Any father would have done what I did!” His whole body shook, his voice thundering as he went on. “I was protecting our family’s reputation, I was protecting you!”
Naina held back a grin. Gotcha. That statement was incriminating enough to prove that Jagannath had more to do with this murder than anyone else in the room—least of all Preethi.
“I’ve heard enough.” The judge banged her gavel. “Bailiff, please take this man into custody, where he will be charged with the murder of Rohith Pai. The case against Miss Preethi Acharya,” she said, smiling softly at Preethi, “is dismissed.”
As the cops took Jagannath away and people filed out of the courtroom, murmuring among themselves, Naina turned in her client’s direction. God, seeing the disbelief—and relief—on Preethi’s face, knowing it was because of her efforts…it was beyond anything Naina had experienced before in her career.
Preethi was shaking hands with Kumble and Tejas, her eyes still big as saucers, when Naina approached her to say congratulations. Trembling with joy, Preethi fell into her arms. “Th-thank you,” she told Naina. “I owe you my life.”
“We only did our job.” Naina grinned, jutting her head toward Tejas. “Enjoy your freedom, Preethi. You deserve it.”
Sandhya approached them, nervously as first, but when Preethi shot her a smile, Sandhya’s shoulders relaxed.
“I’m sorry for what you went through,” she said, taking Preethi’s hands.
“I was the one who told Rohith to offer you the role, because you were such a good fit for the movie. I never thought it would lead to this—”
“Don’t apologize,” Preethi replied, her eyes shining. “I should be thanking you. You chose to help me over your father.”
“He went out of his way to frame you and save his own ass.” Sandhya’s jaw clenched. “He’s as much of a monster as Rohith was.”
Preethi nodded dismally. “I hope this won’t affect your reputation in the industry.”
Sandhya sucked on her teeth. “If it does, then it’s not the right place for me anyway.”
Naina gestured to the exit. “Shall we?”
They headed out of the courthouse with beaming smiles.
Once they were done addressing the press with their statements, Naina pulled Tejas aside by the hand, not letting go even when they stopped at the auto rickshaw stand.
He squeezed her fingers reassuringly, his touch warm and gentle, and she was sure he knew what was on her mind.
“Do you want to get a celebratory beer at Madeira?” she asked, licking her lips. “Maybe we could…talk.”
Tejas’s smile grew wide, his dimple peeking out, and Naina’s stomach rippled with butterflies that she hoped would never go away. “Just talk?” he teased.
She hailed an auto, and as she slid into it and gestured for him to follow, she said, “For starters.”