RagNa Love Stories: Ragna SS: Love&Revenge (A battle between lovers) Chapter 43

"I'm sorry mam. Your brother even threatened me that if I would open my mouth before anyone, he would kill me. I know that 5 years is a long time and I've been living all these years with the guilt. If I had not stood as a false witness, today Vikram sir would be alive. Now I'm ready to give my statement in court as well and say the truth. The pain of lying for so many years has been eating me all this while." The watchman starts crying before Kalpana and Raghav.

Raghav takes Kalpana to the house of the cab driver and he too reveals how Prem halted his cab the day when the crime was committed and his clothes were covered with blood. He was paid a sum of 10,000 Rs. to keep quiet and told to stay away from the rape case.

Raghav holds Kalpana's hands as she falls to the ground hearing the statements of the evidences. "Prem...Prem can do such a cheap thing? I can't believe this...My bro...my brother?"

"I also did not know that it was Prem who was the culprit. A girl from our chawl told me about this incident as she had witnessed the crime that day. I don't know where that girl is today." Raghav says in a low voice.

Prem walks upstairs and enters his house. His mind remains disturbed with the thoughts of the girl. "Where have I seen her? I'm sure that her face is familiar but..."

"What happened Mira? why are you so scared? Anything happened in college? What happened? Please tell me beta." Mira's mother keeps asking her but Mira is unable to respond as Prem's flashes keep haunting her memories.

"Mom...I saw him..." Mira says while stammering.

"Whom? Whom did you see beta?" Mira's mother asks in a worried tone.

"P...P...Prem...He's back here." Mira says while cuddling her mother. "He's back mom. I saw him here."

Mira's mother caresses her back and consoles her saying "How is it possible Mira? Prem and in this chawl? Why would such a rich person visit this place?"

Mira gets up from her mother's lap and says "No mom. I promise I saw him. I cannot ever forget that monster's face. He raped my friend Tina."

Mira's mother tries to convince her that she must have seen someone else instea dof Prem but Mira doesn't get convinced and forces her mother to come outside and see Prem with her own eyes. However, when they come out, they don't see anyone below the chawl which makes Mira's claims false and her mother makes her believe that she had seen someone else insetad of Prem.

When the two enter their house, Prem moves forward and recollects the mother's and Mira's idenities. He gets to know that Mira was the sole witness of the crime and how he had to threaten them to keep mum about the incident.

Prem calls up Sahil and informs him about the bad news and Sahil warns him to not make any mistake that could land them in trouble again but Prem doesn't sit quiet. He decides to get rid of this problem as soon as possible.

Prem keeps waiting for Mira to leave her house so that he could execute his plan.

"Kalpi, eat some food. You haven't had anything for lunch and now it's 5:00 p.m. You'll feel weak if you don't eat anything."

"That girl Tina...She was only 12 years old...Why did Prem..Why did he do this to her? That girl did not even know what's the meaning of rape...And she lost her life..." Kalpana starts screaming as she feels guilty for her brother's crime.

"Kalpi, please control yourself. It wasn't your mistake...That poor girl has had her share of suffering...I wish there was any way I could bring her back..But now it's not possible. Prem needs to be punished for his sins and I know that these witnesses won't be able to prove anything in court. It has been 5 years since this case is closed and even the court will just discard their statement. Only if I could find that girl Mira."

"Mira? Who is she?" Kalpana asks Raghav.

"She is the prime witness of the rape. Mira was Tina's best friend and of the same age. After that incident, her family left the city and shifted to Pune. I tried searching for her but last I got to know that she left her college in Pune as her father lost his job. Now she is in Mumbai and I need to find her asap."

Kalpana asks "Do you have any photograph of Mira which can help you to find her?"

Raghav takes out his mobile and shows Kalpana an old photograph of his dad and his class students. Kalpana asks him to zoom on the students and she looks carefully at Mira's picture.

"Raghav, this girl...This girl lives in the chawl where I live."

"What? Are you sure it's this girl?" Raghav asks and Kalpana nods her head in an agreement.

*********

Mira's mother asks her to buy bread from the grocery store and Mira leaves collecting some money from her mother.

She buys the bread and puts it in her bag. While walking towards the chawl, Prem stops her outside the gate and drags her in a rickshaw.

Disclaimer: The character names in the story are fictional characters and owned by the creators of the show "Ek Mutthi Asmaan" on ZEE TV.