Everything was going pretty well before the seed of doubt was planted in the mind of Mr. Khanna by one of his friends that his servant who was a north – eastern can prove to be harmful to the family. This was a stereotype that was being continued in our society for ages that North – eastern or the Nepali people are criminals and undertake many criminal activities like murders, robbery etc. The friend even quoted the example of an event that happened with a close friend of his and the servant who was a Nepali was the culprit. Mr. Khanna is a person of modern thoughts did not listen to his friend with concentration and got engrossed in his work but somewhere the seed was planted in his brain.
Coming back to the household. Prem was doing well in his new job and was able to impress all the members with his skills. He was a friend to the boys and would prepare them delicious Assamese delicacies and would even keep their secrets, he was good to get along. He worked with full dedication and never ignored any responsibility.
One day when he was coming back from the market after buying groceries for the household he overheard the driver and the conversation shocked him. He heard about a plan that was being devised by the driver with his friend to rob the house in the near future. He did not hear any date or time for the crime but was aware that it would happen sometime soon. Now it was on his shoulders, should he tell his master about this or should be quiet and observe the unfolding of events? He chose the second part and decided to be quiet until he got a solid proof against the driver. He never really heard anything like that after that day and that is the reason that he never really tried to get solid proof but kept a close eye on the driver.
He forgot everything and got engrossed in work as usual and one day the unthinkable happened. When the husband and wife were out to a party with their two boys (as the third one wasn’t feeling good so he decided to stay home) the third boy was murdered and the whole house was robbed. The family remembered of Prem being at home with the boy who now was nowhere to be seen or found and this was the time the previously planted seed grew into a tree and Mr. Khanna called the police and blamed their north – eastern servant Prem (without even thinking for a bit) for the robbery as well as the murder and handed over the verification letter which contained his information for further investigation.
This made the case very simple as the police had to just find the servant and punish him so they did not put much effort into its investigation. What both the police and the family was not able to see was that all the things and luggage of Prem were still in his quarter, if he ran after committing the crime then why did he left his luggage? This case was more complex than it seemed to be.
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