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“You have to see this,” Krish blurts, setting the laptop on the table. “You know I was trying to gather information about the email that was sent from Meher’s email account to the media containing all of your Dalhousie photos—the ones which exposed your love affair to the nation?”
I nod.
“See what I found today,” he shows me some software. “This is the tool that was used to hack Meher’s email account and send all those pictures to the media.”
I look at the screen, trying to comprehend what Krish is saying.
“What do you mean by hacked?” I ask, intrigued. Until now, all we were aware of was that our photos from Dalhousie were sent from Meher’s email, supposedly by Meher herself. And now, Krish is telling me that her email account could have been hacked?
Krish takes a deep breath as if trying to form the right words in his head.
“Ayaan, my investigation says that Meher’s email account was hacked. Meher did not send the pictures to the media.”
While a wave of relief washes over me upon hearing Krish’s revelation that Meher hadn’t leaked our pictures to the media, I restrain myself from showing any immediate reaction. My heart thumps loudly in my chest as I hang onto Krish’s every word.
“Vishnu cunningly made you believe that the scandal was Meher’s own plan to break her alliance with Niraj, and the leaked pictures from her email account seemed to fit that narrative perfectly. But that’s just a clever facade. The shocking truth is that her email account was undoubtedly hacked, and she had no idea about it. And guess who orchestrated the hack?” Krish’s voice now brims with raw anger. “Raj.”
Raj?As I try to remember, it suddenly clicks. Raj is the person Meher had to give Rima Tripathi’s phone to in Dalhousie to hack and obtain the evidence we needed to prove that Minister Tripathi was being bribed to disapprove of the Mashaal Project.
“Raj?” I repeat. “But you said he was your best man? And that he would never betray you?”
“Yeah,” Krish sighs in disappointment. “Only if there was a way to ensure that longer associations result in fewer chances of being deceived. Unfortunately, I realised this much later. But thanks to technology, I was able to identify who was responsible for the Dalhousie pictures being leaked to the media. Clearly, it was not Meher’s doing... but Raj’s.”
Krish points out at the laptop screen again.
“Raj is a hacker, and he designed this software,” Krish’s voice intensifies with urgency as he reveals the shocking truth. “Two months back, he had boasted about its capability to breach even the most complex email accounts with high encryption. We were planning to test it for our covert operations before giving his software a go-ahead. But it seems Raj couldn’t resist trying it out on Meher’s email without realising it had some loopholes. It was these very loopholes that exposed his tracks. The software left a trace of the hacker’s IP address, and I managed to trace it back to Raj’s laptop. It’s confirmed it was Raj who hacked Meher’s account and leaked those pictures to the media, Ayaan.”
I swallow hard. So Meher didn’t leak the pictures! Vishnu had told me that it was Meher’s idea to expose their affair to the media in order to break her alliance with Niraj. I now regret trusting Vishnu’s words more than Meher’s love. I allowed suspicion to cloud my judgment and blind me to the truth.
“Why would Raj do this?” I ask, composing my thoughts. There has to be some motive for Raj to leak Meher and my affair pictures to the media.
“To know his motive, I further investigated to see if he had received any payment for it. And if yes, then by whom?” Krish replies. “Raj’s bank statements showed nothing. However, on checking his family’s bank accounts, I found that abnormal transactions had occurred in his father, mother and brother’s accounts just a day before you and Meher seized Rima’s phone for hacking evidence in Dalhousie. And guess from whose account all that money has been transferred?” He snarls before continuing. “Aksh Walia.”
Damn hell!
“Of course, the credits are not directly from Aksh’s bank account. But we have tracked the sources, and I can confidently say that it was Aksh who bribed Raj to work for him and betray us.”
Anger courses through my veins as the truth unveils. I can’t believe how Aksh and the Walia family could be so sly and devious as to manipulate me into suspecting Meher. They may have momentarily shaken my belief, but they could not crush my love for Meher. Her love was the only thing that kept me going during the difficult period when I was all alone.
“But how did Aksh find out about our plans regarding Tripathi in Dalhousie?” I inquire. “Only me, my dad, Meher and you knew about it.”
“Raj was involved, Ayaan. He was aware of our plan. Here’s what happened. When I asked Raj to hack Rima’s phone and search for evidence of the Walias bribing Tripathi to oppose the Mashaal Project, he must have seen an opportunity to make some extra money. So, he reached out to Aksh and disclosed our plan in exchange for a payment. He also informed Aksh that Meher was with you in Dalhousie. Aksh then hatched a scheme to achieve two goals with one move. He not only thwarted our efforts to find evidence on Rima’s phone, but he also made Raj hack Meher’s email account and send your Dalhousie pictures to the media. This way, he made it look as if Meher was behind the scandal and had deceived you, so you broke up with her. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! We have traced Raj’s phone records, which show that he called Aksh’s mobile number twice during that same period.”
Well! That connects the remaining pieces of the puzzle. Krish’s phone rings abruptly, interrupting our conversation. He excuses himself to answer it while I reflect on the events Krish has just highlighted.
This was all Aksh’s setup. I wondered earlier how Vishnu reached Dalhousie so early that day, hardly within two hours of the scandal of my affair with Meher being out. Maybe Aksh and Vishnu collaborated in this scheme. Aksh possibly hired someone to capture pictures of Meher and me in Dalhousie. Then, he employed Raj to hack Meher’s email account and leak those photos to the media, making it seem as if Meher was responsible. While Aksh stayed with Pratap Walia at the health camp in Mahabalipur, Vishnu flew to Dalhousie to bring Meher back to Mumbai after the scandal broke out. It’s evident that they worked together to fabricate a story against Meher.
Raj was Krish’s most valuable team member, who had worked for him for many years. Hence, none of us suspected that Raj would cheat us for more money. This also means that Meher had swapped Rima’s phone in that party in Dalhousie and handed it to Raj for retrieving the evidences. She didn’t betray me. But since Raj was bribed by Aksh, he deceived us by claiming there was no evidence on the phone. He misled us by lying that Meher gave him a fake phone instead of Rima’s phone, according to the plan.
I wipe my sweaty face with my palms, realising the truth. Meher never deceived me. She was completely unaware of the scandal that unfolded after the night we were together. It was Raj, Aksh and Vishnu who orchestrated it all and falsely accused Meher. Now, I understand why she asked me today, had I not failed her too? She was referring to this very failure of me not trusting her. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for this, not now, not ever.
“It was my informant’s call.” Krish returns, breaking my chain of thoughts. “Today morning, Meher was seen meeting Raj at a café on the outskirts of Mumbai. It’s possible that she, too, was looking for him to find out who was responsible for the misunderstandings between the two of you.”
A knowing smile spreads across my face as I grasp the depth of Meher’s determination to uncover the truth. She embodies the traits of a true queen—fierce, strategic, and unyielding. When provoked, she becomes a formidable adversary, executing daring moves on the chessboard of life, even shocking the King himself. Now, I know why she had come to meet Aksh today. Raj must have confessed, and Meher was driven by her desire to reveal Aksh’s deceitful actions, including his role in exposing our affair and manipulating evidence against Tripathi. However, with me present there, more of Aksh’s secrets were exposed. Meher could have easily crumbled under the weight of the scandal and the misunderstandings, but instead, she chose to fight back, not just for herself but for both of us. Her actions show me the depth of her love, and I realise how lucky I am to have her by my side. Today has been a day of revelations, with both white lies and dark truths emerging to the fore, leaving me curious about Pratap Walia’s reaction when Meher would reveal Aksh’s true nature to her father. It’s evident that a showdown awaits at Walia House tonight.
CHAPTER 12
AKSH
