Page 159 of The Circle of Exile
Atharva stared at her. What did she want him to admit? That he was not dumb enough to plan to hide the incident and then go and write a memo about it?
“There is one other discrepancy on that day,” Justice Thakur glanced down into her notes.
Atharva held his breath.
“You sent your plane back to India that night?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My son had a bad bout of diarrhoea and was severely dehydrated. He wasn’t able to stomach his usual brand of milk powder. We needed the one that suits him while on stomach ailments, as well as his medication.”
“You do know what the cost of sending a private plane is, don’t you, Chief Minister Kaul? That’s public money you are bleeding.”
“I funded that trip.”
Justice Thakur stilled, taken aback along with the rest of her colleagues. Zorji pulled out a stapled bunch from his file and offered it to them — “Here’s the payment record.”
Ashfaq Khan strode to Zorji and accepted the stapled bunch. He passed it to Justice Thakur and they all huddled together, reading through it.
“Why wasn’t this submitted to the committee before?” Lieutenant General Sharma questioned.
“It is in public record. The summons for files did not ask for the plane trip specifically,” Zorji answered.
The five of them settled back on their seats.
“It’s strange, Chief Minister Kaul,” the NIA officer leaned in. “That you did not send the plane back to Srinagar but to Kargil.”
Atharva looked him in the eye — “That’s the shortest route.”
“But Srinagar to Kargil is a long way by road. You want to tell me that you sent milk and medicines from your home, which I presume is in Srinagar, to Kargil by road, and then had them picked up from there?”
“At that short notice, we weren’t sure if Srinagar Airport would have a landing slot.”
“Did you check?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Kargil is relatively empty, air traffic-wise.”
“And if you sent a plane on an emergency, how did you get milk and medicines so quickly to Kargil from Srinagar? It’s a good day’s journey.”
“Kargil has pharmacies, sir. And now they stock more than just essentials.”
He had no further questions then. Atharva felt his internal heat settle. But then the RAW started its set of grilling — the same set of questions, asked in different ways, with different contexts. Atharva knew how it would all come. He knew the tactics of interrogation, had been on the other side of it on numerous occasions. Today, as he sat under the scanner, compelled to repeat the same story five different ways, all the while making sure he was treading on a fine line, he felt the tick of every second in his bones.
“Any questions before we wrap up, gentlemen?” Justice Thakur finally cued her colleagues. They all rested back, shaking their heads.
“Chief Minister Kaul — do you have anything to say?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You do know that this is a preliminary hearing and with the way you have divulged all facts, we may not call you again.”
“I do, ma’am.”
