Bhais of Bengaluru by Shelar Jyoti

Author:Shelar, Jyoti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2017-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

12

The Rise of the Maharaja

History has it that a ruler rules best from the capital of his kingdom, the epicentre of his power. But Jayaraj was different. He remained incarcerated for many years and yet managed to call the shots from the confines of his prison cell. Being behind bars did not affect Jayaraj. He enjoyed freedom like no one else did.

A few days after his arrest in the Kotwal murder case, Jayaraj got himself admitted to the jail ward of Victoria Hospital. He also managed to get Sreedhar and Bachchan moved to the hospital so that they could keep him company. The rest of his gang members too had access to them at any time of the day or night. One of the regular visitors was Oil Kumar, who came with Jayaraj’s share of protection money and updates on his businesses. But despite his proximity to Jayaraj, Oil Kumar was living under the constant fear of being killed and disposed of in the dead of night, a fate Kotwal had met. Oil Kumar knew the gangster wouldn’t spare his life either, if he ever got wind of the fact that he was the mastermind behind the Kanishka attack. Before Jayaraj’s arrest, Oil Kumar landed at his house with his wife Rita. The couple fell at Jayaraj’s feet pleading for forgiveness. Jayaraj grew mad with rage when he found out about the plan; he could not even bring himself to look at Oil Kumar but he did not like that a woman was crying at his feet. The melodramatic plan had worked out after all. Jayaraj assured them that he would forgive Oil Kumar’s role in the Kanishka attack. However, a seed of doubt had taken root inside Jayaraj’s mind. He knew Oil Kumar was not trustworthy and had to be eliminated.

Jayaraj would step outside the jail ward once a week. A taxi would be called for him and along with a police escort he would enjoy his day, visit a bar and his house and then head back to the ward. He would often coax Sreedhar to come along with him and have fun. But Sreedhar would politely refuse except on occasions he visited Gangaram Book Store on MG Road. He bought books worth a few thousand rupees, which sufficed him for at least a year. The few hours of freedom felt like bliss to him.

In the corridors of the government-run hospital, Jayaraj would stroll for hours in the mornings and in the evenings with Sreedhar in tow. Jayaraj enjoyed the conversations with Sreedhar—on the one hand, Sreedhar enjoyed the thrill of the crime world and its dangers, on the other hand, he wanted to live like any other law-abiding youth in Bengaluru. It was this tussle that Jayaraj enjoyed the most. He often thought that his fight was similar to that of Sreedhar’s. He too wanted a dignified image and used the tag of being the editor of a newspaper to that end. Jayaraj had a plan. He eventually wanted to shed the image of a crime lord and adopt a more respectable one.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.