According to the police spokesperson, the deceased Naman Fauji's wife's lover and colleague was none other than the man now at the centre of the storm. Arjun was already stunned when he first heard of Naman; he had never imagined that Shreya had any lover other than Raghav.
Now the revelation of a second lover left him reeling. For the first time, he realised with painful clarity that he had been nothing more than a pawn in her life—a husband only in name.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that Arjun's marriage to Shreya Das had been forced upon him in February that very year. After the wedding, Shreya continued her extramarital affair with Naman.
Arjun, an Agniveer posted in Kashmir, was rarely home. Once he left for Rajouri, the lovers met openly and frequently at the physiotherapy centre, with no one to stop them. Their secret remained safe from prying eyes.
Arjun's life shattered completely the moment the murder charge was pinned on him. The news struck him like a thunderbolt; his hair stood on end. "Oh God," he muttered, "why is all this happening to me?"
The marriage had been against his will, and their hearts had never truly connected. Yet he had always felt a deep sense of sympathy and responsibility toward Shreya. Now he was forced to confront a devastating truth he had desperately wished to avoid.
The police began their investigation at the crime scene. From the evidence and witness accounts, it emerged that Shreya had not been murdered alone—her lover Naman had also been killed at the same location under highly suspicious circumstances. Naman, a physiotherapist, had been working alongside Shreya at the same centre for several months. His name deepened the mystery further.
Arjun could not understand how he had become a mere pawn when both Raghav and Naman had already been part of Shreya's life.The police investigation revealed that Shreya and Naman's relationship was months old. They met frequently, and Naman often dropped her home. Whenever questioned, they always described their bond as mere friendship and a professional relationship, so no one had ever suspected anything. Arjun's family had never pressured Shreya; both sides had only wanted to end the forced marriage peacefully. Never like this Naman had given Shreya the love that Raghav could not.
In her life, Arjun had been nothing but a sympathetic figure—a pawn who deserved pity more than blame. On the day of the murders, the lovers had secretly met once again. Suddenly, a third person spotted them together. What began as an argument quickly escalated into a violent clash.
The police suspected that the third person was Arjun himself. Unable to tolerate his wife's clandestine meetings, he had brutally murdered both in a fit of rage, then attempted to burn the bodies to destroy the evidence. To the investigators, his claims of being unconscious and asleep appeared to be nothing more than a clever act.
It seemed that once Arjun learned of Shreya's affair, he must have tried to reason with her. But even after that, Shreya had refused to end her relationship with Naman. In the end, she paid for her stubbornness with her life.That same night, Arjun allegedly lured Naman to his in-laws' house on some pretext, shot him, and dumped the body in the bushes. Later, he dragged the corpse out and tried to cremate it, but time ran out. The half-burnt remains were discovered, and Naman's identity was established.
A local court sent Arjun to fourteen days of judicial custody on Monday. Since then, his bail applications had been repeatedly rejected for one reason or another.
In his defence, Arjun had once said, "Shreya suffered from chronic suspicion and some psychological issues. If my family fears there has been a murder, then a thorough investigation should be conducted. I too want the truth to come out. I am ready for anything."He stood accused of murdering the woman who had once been his girlfriend and was now his wife.
The news spread like wildfire. People whispered that the soldier could not bear to see the woman he loved with someone else.
In a fit of jealous rage, he had slaughtered both of them with merciless brutality.Such horrific incidents had become disturbingly easy to digest in today's world. In the public mind, all sorts of theories swirled.
How could a man commit such a heinous act without his hand even trembling?
What a heartless, savage murderer!Meanwhile, Arjun was consumed by regret. How easily people strangled the throat of trust.
The public had nothing to lose—they simply spun endless stories and dragged his family's honour through the mud.
Madhav Kaka said to him, "You may not have told anyone else, but you should have at least told the truth to your own family and to Kavya."
Arjun replied quietly, "Time was not on my side. They were searching for truth in my eyes, and I had already lost all hope.
I didn't want to give them any false comfort." "When someone close looks into my eyes searching for the truth, I often end up lying," he added.
Madhav Kaka sighed, "Hiding the truth is also a sin—as if you are sheltering a criminal."
"Kaka," Arjun said, "whatever happened unfolded right before my eyes. Before I could even recover from the shock, the police had arrived and were already preparing to put me in the dock as the prime accused. In the last few months, all I have gathered is bitter experience.
When bad times come, they arrive in an unrelenting sequence. The pain simply refuses to end."His mother, a deeply spiritual woman, had often told him the story of King Nala as a child. "When King Nala was passing through his darkest days and had lost everything in a game of dice, he grew so hungry that he caught a fish from the pond and began roasting it. But just as he was about to eat, the fish leapt back into the water."
Whenever his mother said, "The fish that King Nala had cooked jumped back into the water," young Arjun would laugh and argue with her.
Today, as he faced one misfortune after another, he finally understood the truth of that tale. In truly bad times, no one and nothing stands by your side. When misfortune has you in its grip, nothing works in your favour.
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