Ch. 41 · Traitor... or an Act?

Chapter 41

Traitor... or an Act?

Leaving the office, Meghla stood on the street for a long time.

An envelope in her hand.

Inside it, the letter of temporary suspension.

In just a few minutes, all her dreams had shattered.

Her own home... the bank loan... a new life...

Everything seemed to end in an instant.

Getting home, her sister-in-law Sheela read the letter and said with a curled lip,

— "I told you before, not everyone can hold a job at such a big company."

Her brother Subrata started to say something, then fell silent.

Meghla walked straight into her room and shut the door.

All night, she thought of only one question —

"Why did Ananya lie?"

The next morning, there was a knock at the door.

Opening the door, Meghla was stunned to see Ananya.

Ananya's eyes were red.

It looked like she hadn't slept all night either.

Meghla said coldly,

— "Why have you come here?"

Ananya glanced around and whispered,

— "Give me five minutes."

Meghla stepped aside without a word.

As soon as she entered the room, Ananya began to cry.

— "Please forgive me."

There was anger in Meghla's eyes.

— "Forgive you? Do you know that one lie of yours cost me my job?"

Ananya took a small voice recorder out of her bag.

— "This is exactly why I lied."

Meghla was taken aback.

— "What do you mean?"

Ananya said,

— "Rajat Dutta called me in and said, if I didn't testify against you, he'd dig up my father's medical records and take my job away. I broke down. But before I went into his cabin, I switched on the recorder on my phone."

Meghla's heart began to race.

— "What did it record?"

Ananya switched on the recorder.

Rajat Dutta's voice came through —

"Tomorrow, in front of the committee, just say you saw Meghla taking photos of documents. I'll handle the rest. You'll keep your job, and get a raise too."

Then another voice — Ananya's.

"But sir... I didn't actually see it."

Rajat Dutta laughed and said —

"You can't keep a job worrying about true and false. Just say what I tell you to say."

The recording ended.

Silence in the room.

Tears welled up in Meghla's eyes.

She took Ananya's hand and said,

— "Why didn't you tell me before?"

Ananya answered,

— "Because they were keeping an eye on me. This morning I learned that now that you've been suspended, they don't care about me anymore. So I came."

Right at that moment, Meghla's phone rang.

Amitabh Chakraborty.

— "Miss Meghla, can you meet today?"

— "Yes, I can."

— "We've come across information far bigger than the accusation made against you. And if you have any new information too, bring it with you."

Meghla hung up and looked at Ananya.

Then she picked up the voice recorder from the table.

For the first time...

Evidence against Rajat Dutta had emerged that wasn't just suspicion — it pointed directly to a conspiracy.

But Meghla knew —

The battle wasn't over yet.

The real fight was just beginning.

To be continued...

Chapter 42

The Real Investigation Begins

Four in the afternoon.

The conference room of a quiet guesthouse in the city.

Amitabh Chakraborty sat on one side of the table.

With him, the company's legal advisor and two independent forensic audit experts.

As Meghla and Ananya entered the room, Amitabh stood up.

— "Please sit. From today, we talk only in facts, not assumptions."

Meghla took the pen drive, Kamala Devi's letter, and the voice recorder out of her bag and placed them on the table.

Amitabh said,

— "Let's be clear about one thing first. We aren't calling these proof yet. These are material for the investigation. Every piece of information will be verified."

Meghla nodded.

First, the voice recording was played.

Everyone in the room listened intently.

As soon as the recording ended, the legal advisor said,

— "This could be significant. But first we need to confirm whose voice this is, whether the recording has been edited, and when it was made."

Amitabh said,

— "It will be sent for forensic examination."

Then the documents from the pen drive were reviewed one by one.

One audit expert said,

— "The tender copies here differ from the office copy. But we can't reach a conclusion without verifying their source."

Amitabh smiled faintly and said,

— "Then we need to find the source."

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

An employee came in and handed over a sealed envelope.

The envelope had come from the bank.

Amitabh opened it.

Inside was a summary of bank transactions.

He read it carefully.

Then, setting the paper on the table, he said,

— "One thing is very strange."

Everyone looked at him.

— "On the exact dates large tenders were approved, within a day or two, large sums were deposited into the sweet shop's account. Shortly after, most of that money was transferred to several other personal accounts."

Meghla asked slowly,

— "Whose accounts are those?"

Amitabh shook his head.

— "Due to banking confidentiality, we can't name them right now. But that information will be gathered with formal authorization."

Meanwhile, at the office, Rajat Dutta had grown restless.

He called Haripada.

— "If anyone asks you anything, say all the money is from selling sweets. Understood?"

There was fear in Haripada's voice.

— "Sir... what if they show me bank papers?"

Rajat Dutta grew angry.

— "You'll do exactly as I say!"

The call ended.

Haripada stared at his phone for a long time.

Sheer terror was written on his face.

Meanwhile, standing by the window, Amitabh Chakraborty said,

"So far we're only seeing where the money moved. But we still don't have an answer to one question — who's the mastermind behind this whole scheme?"

Right at that moment, a message arrived on his phone.

"Shop owner Haripada Mallick wants to meet you personally. He says he can no longer keep everything hidden."

Reading the message, Amitabh said slowly,

— "It seems, for the first time in this investigation, someone is about to open up."

And if Haripada really tells everything...

Then the first big crack will appear in Rajat Dutta's carefully built empire.

To be continued...

Chapter 43

Haripada's Decision

Half past seven in the evening.

A quiet café in the city.

Amitabh Chakraborty was already seated at a corner table.

Ten minutes later, Haripada Mallick walked in wearing a mask over his face and a cap on his head.

He looked around a few times before slowly sitting down in the chair.

Sweat on his forehead.

His hands trembling.

Amitabh said in a calm voice,

— "Don't be afraid. Whatever you say will be verified."

Haripada let out a long breath.

— "I can't lie anymore, sir."

After sitting silently for a while, he began to speak.

— "In the beginning, my shop was very small. Business wasn't good either. One day Rajat-babu came. He said some people he knew would buy sweets from my shop. All I had to do was write a special code on the receipt."

Amitabh asked,

— "Codes like GK-247, RK-115...?"

Haripada looked at him, surprised.

— "Yes, sir. Exactly like that."

— "What did the codes mean?"

Haripada answered,

— "Each code was tied to a specific person. When money came in, I'd write down the code. Later, Rajat-babu's man would see the code and know who had paid."

Amitabh asked again,

— "And then?"

Haripada said in a low voice,

— "I'd keep the price of the sweets and send the rest, either in cash or by bank, to whatever account they told me. My commission was only two percent."

— "Do you have any record of those transactions?"

Haripada was silent for a moment before saying,

— "I do... but not at the shop."

— "Where, then?"

— "At my house. I kept everything written down in an old account book. Out of fear that someday I'd be blamed."

A glimmer of hope appeared in Amitabh's eyes for the first time.

Right then, Haripada's phone rang.

A name flashed on the screen —

"Rajat Sir"

Haripada's face went white.

Amitabh said,

— "Answer it. Talk normally."

Haripada picked up the phone with trembling hands.

— "Hello, sir..."

Rajat Dutta's voice came from the other end.

— "Where are you?"

— "At the shop."

— "Burn all the old ledgers tonight. I'll come and check tomorrow morning."

Haripada froze.

— "All right... sir."

The call ended.

Amitabh said calmly,

— "Now we know the ledger still exists. And someone wants to destroy it."

He immediately called his colleagues.

— "We need to go to Haripada's house tonight. With his consent, the ledger will be safely secured. No one should be able to destroy it."

Haripada said slowly,

— "Sir, if I tell the truth... will I go to jail?"

Amitabh replied,

— "I can't make any promises. But telling the truth and cooperating in an investigation is always considered important. The law will decide accordingly."

Haripada bowed his head.

Tears in his eyes.

— "I made a mistake. But I don't want to lie anymore."

At that very moment...

Rajat Dutta was in his car, heading toward the shop.

Suddenly, a message arrived on his phone.

"Sir, Haripada isn't at the shop. He's been out since evening."

Rajat Dutta slammed the brakes and stopped the car.

For the first time, real fear crept into his mind.

He whispered to himself —

"Haripada... have you betrayed me?"

To be continued...

Chapter 44

The Account Ledger

Half past nine at night.

Haripada Mallick's house.

A small single-storey house on the edge of the city.

Amitabh Chakraborty, his two colleagues, and Haripada quickly went inside.

Haripada's wife asked, frightened,

— "What's happened, this late at night?"

Haripada only said,

— "Today, everything has to come out."

He went into the bedroom and moved an old wooden cupboard.

Behind the cupboard, in the wall, was a small iron safe.

Turning the key, he opened the safe, and a thick red ledger came out.

Dust had settled on the ledger.

Amitabh took the ledger in his hands and opened the first page.

Written there —

"Special Accounts – Personal"

Row after row of entries by date.

Each entry had four pieces of information — code number, date of deposit, amount, and where the money was sent.

Amitabh quickly flipped through a few pages.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Written on one page —

GK-247 · Deposit: ₹5,00,000 · Commission: ₹10,000 · Remaining amount transferred.

But in the last column, just one word —

"R.D."

Amitabh asked,

— "Who is R.D.?"

Haripada said, head bowed,

— "I never wrote the full name. Just the initials."

— "Why?"

— "I was afraid. In case the ledger ever fell into someone's hands."

Just then, the sound of a car outside.

Then... bang!

The sound of the house gate being slammed shut.

Peering through the window, a colleague said,

— "Two cars have pulled up."

Haripada's face went pale.

— "They've come!"

A shout from outside —

— "Haripada! Open the door!"

Within seconds, another pounding.

Bang! Bang!

Amitabh said in a calm voice,

— "No one open the door."

He quickly took out his phone and called the local police station.

— "We're securing an important document. Please send a patrol car immediately."

One of the men outside made a call.

— "Sir, the ledger is still inside the house."

Rajat Dutta's voice came from the other end —

— "We need to get that ledger out before the police arrive. Whatever it takes."

Inside the house, Amitabh put the red ledger into his bag.

Then, looking at Haripada, he said,

— "From today, this ledger will no longer be with you. It will be formally seized and sent for forensic examination."

Right at that moment, a police siren was heard in the distance.

The two cars parked outside quickly turned and vanished into the darkness.

Standing by the window, Haripada let out a long breath.

— "If it had been five minutes later today..."

Amitabh finished the sentence for him —

— "...this ledger might have been lost forever."

He turned to the last page of the ledger once more.

There, a sentence written in red ink —

"Original accounts kept in a separate envelope. To be shown to Binoy Sen if needed."

Amitabh said in astonishment,

— "So... we still don't have the whole truth."

To be continued...

Chapter 45

An Unexpected Meeting

The next morning.

The head office of Sen Industries.

Managing Director Binoy Sen was sitting in his cabin, reading the previous day's report.

Right then, his personal assistant came in and said,

— "Sir, Amitabh Chakraborty is here to see you urgently."

— "Send him in right away."

Amitabh walked into the room and, without any preamble, placed the red account ledger on the table.

Binoy Sen asked, surprised,

— "What is this?"

— "A shop owner's personal accounts. But the matter may involve your company. So I felt it was important to show you first."

Binoy Sen slowly began turning the pages of the ledger.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped on an old date.

It was from nearly four years ago.

Written beside a tender —

"Special instruction – not to be reported to the MD's office."

Binoy Sen frowned and said,

— "Not to be reported to the MD's office? Without my knowledge?"

Amitabh said calmly,

— "That's exactly what we're verifying too."

Binoy Sen read the note on the last page of the ledger again.

"Original accounts kept in a separate envelope. To be shown to Binoy Sen if needed."

He stayed silent for a while.

Then, suddenly, an old memory seemed to come back to him.

He said slowly,

— "Four years ago, my personal secretary Ajit suddenly quit his job. Before leaving, he told me — 'Sir, if you ever feel that not everyone around you is telling the truth, look for the old blue file.' I didn't take the words seriously at the time."

Amitabh asked with interest,

— "Where is that blue file?"

Binoy Sen stood up.

He opened the wooden cupboard at the back of the cabin.

Among many old files, he pulled out a dust-covered blue one.

The file hadn't been opened in years.

As soon as he opened it, a sealed envelope fell to the floor.

Written on the envelope —

"For Binoy Sen only. If it falls into anyone else's hands, destroy it."

Binoy Sen and Amitabh Chakraborty looked at each other.

Slowly, the envelope was opened.

Inside, a letter and a DVD.

Reading just the first line of the letter, the color drained from Binoy Sen's face.

"Sir, if you're reading this letter, it means I'm probably no longer with the company. The person you trust the most is the one deceiving you..."

Signed at the bottom of the letter —

Ajit Mukhopadhyay

At that very moment...

On the other side of the office, Rajat Dutta got the news —

Amitabh Chakraborty had gone straight to Binoy Sen's cabin.

He didn't waste another moment.

He began walking quickly toward the cabin.

Only one thought in his mind —

"No... that envelope must not be opened, no matter what!"

But by then it was already too late.

The envelope had already been opened.

To be continued...