The physiotherapy center was not very large. Naman had already been working there for some time. When Shreya joined, she received guidance on using the new equipment and assistance whenever needed. This mutual support gradually built a quiet trust between them, and with it, a growing dependence on each other.
On days when the center was crowded and it grew late, Naman would drop her off outside her home.Spending long hours together every day slowly drew the two young hearts closer. They could not remain strangers for long. What began as casual conversations between Naman and Shreya gradually blossomed into love.
Naman was four years older than her—a confident, hardworking, and strikingly attractive young man. He was the kind of man every girl secretly dreams of.
One day, he said to Shreya, "There is magic in your hands. You don't merely reduce a patient's pain; you help them heal faster and restore the hope they had lost. There is great glory in these two hands of yours."His words of admiration touched Shreya's heart deeply. In the beginning, she had intended to keep things strictly professional, but at the age they both were, it was impossible not to feel drawn to each other.
Arjun had already made everything clear to her from the start. Because of that, Shreya remained unburdened by guilt and allowed the strings of her heart to drift gently into Naman's hands.
Slowly, the distance between them shrank. Whether it was during coffee breaks or lunch hours, they were often seen together. Even during long meetings with the boss, and sometimes while working late into the night at the center, they found reasons to stay in each other's company. These extended hours together deepened the bond between them. Whenever it grew very late, Naman would drop her home. His caring attention, more than what duty required, drew them even closer.
Whenever Arjun called home, his mother would give him updates about Shreya. Even during his leaves, when he was at home, he noticed no visible change in her behavior, nor did she show any interest in speaking with any member of the family.
On the phone, his mother would often say, "Shreya pays no attention to the house at all. She remains busy on her mobile or makes excuses to stay late at the clinic because she enjoys being with Naman. At home, she looks like a free bird whose wings have been clipped."Naman's care and affection were quietly filling the empty spaces in her heart. Within just three months, their relationship had crossed all boundaries. Whether Shreya had ever tried to stop herself, only she could truly say.
Arjun sat thinking: "There was nothing special in becoming the wife of an Agniveer. There was no real connection between us anyway. Even though she is no longer in this world, I have not been able to free myself from thoughts of her. Sometimes I tell myself that I should not think about the person because of whom I ended up in jail, yet I cannot distance her from my memories."
Perhaps she had not reached any conclusion about her future, or maybe she was struggling with the guilt of her love affair and wanted to meet him to find some resolution. That might have been why she had called him to her house. Try as he might, he could not think anything wrong of her. The web of memories continued to haunt him relentlessly.
He kept pouring out his anguish to Madhav Kaka."Perhaps that day Naman had come to Shreya's house to speak with her family about their relationship. After I fell asleep, an argument broke out between them. The tension escalated, and in a fit of rage, one of the family members killed them both. Then, to save themselves, they pinned the blame on me—because it was easiest to declare me guilty in everyone's eyes.""After all, I already carried the tag of 'husband.' Destiny had woven an entirely different game for me.
Since I was present at the scene, I could not defend myself properly. All the evidence turned against me, and at first glance, I was presumed guilty."The family accused Arjun of murdering Shreya and Naman in a fit of anger and then pouring petrol on their bodies to burn them and destroy all traces. However, without a DNA report, the police had no concrete proof.
The police had wanted to conduct DNA tests to identify the bodies, but Shreya's mother had flatly refused to provide samples. "I am not her biological mother," she said. "Shreya was adopted. I am too devastated by my daughter's death. I will not put a seal on it. If only she were alive and could return… but I have no such hope, because the murder happened before my own eyes."
The court also did not press the matter further once it was known that she was an adopted daughter.
Arjun had not witnessed anything happen in front of him, so he could not say with certainty that the charred bodies belonged to Shreya and Naman or to someone else.
Shreya's family directly accused him: "Arjun killed them in rage and then poured petrol on the bodies to erase all evidence."
In court, Arjun stood and repeatedly declared his innocence and complete ignorance of the crime. He was stunned. No one believed him except his mother and younger sister."I did not murder my wife. I had no suspicion, no anger toward her. Ours was only a relationship in name. Check my phone call records for the last three months—there has not been a single conversation between us.
Why would I kill her? I am a soldier, not a cowardly murderer. There was no husband-wife relationship between us. We were merely drifting through life carrying the label of a forced marriage."
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