CHATURBHUJ
- Culprit Exposed!

After Vigneesh entered the chambers, Salya made him sit comfortably and King Narendra’s minister began in hushed tones, “With regards to the ring, King Narendra is very pleased with you!”   

Hearing these words, Salya’s face lit up in excitement, “Oh!  So, he has seen what I had sent him?” 

“Of course, sire!  I did not come here to enquire about your King’s well being!  King Narendra has sent me here only to meet you and thank you for the ring!”  Vigneesh disclosed the purpose of his visit. 

“That’s good news!  Tell your King to keep the ring safely and not proclaim as for now that he is it’s proud owner.  If King Sukhdeva learns that his ring is with Narendra, he may start suspecting me.  Now tell me about Narendra’s future plans.”  “Please give him some time, sire!  Now that he has the ring he would soon decide upon his future course of action.”  Vigneesh felt.

“Tell your ruler to attack this kingdom quickly.  Before anyone comes to know of his intentions, let him fulfill his desire.  If he attacks now, he will take King Sukhdeva completely by surprise.”    Salya spoke softly. 

“I will tell him about it, sire! However, till the time he attacks, please ensure that no one learns about his intentions.  He, indeed, wants to take the enemy by surprise.”  Vigneesh pointed out. 

“That’s why I am asking him to hurry up in his task.  I have done my job.  It is now his responsibility to display caution and make moves without the knowledge of his enemies.”  Salya reasoned. 

“Alright, sire!  I will now take your leave.  It would not be proper if I stay in your chamber for a long time.”  So saying, Vigneesh got up and bid Salya adieu.

Salya now appeared very excited.  Gone was the look of tiredness in his face and he lay on bed lost in some pleasant thought.  After a few moments, from the corner of his eye he could feel that some one was coming towards him.  He looked in the direction and found King Sukhdeva and Chaturbhuj nearing him.  He got up from bed and was alarmed to see an expression of rage lit on the face of the King.  He looked at Chaturbhuj and from the twinkle in his eyes could make out that the minister had discovered something.   He nervously bowed before the King and was aghast when Sukhdeva shouted at him, “Why are you bowing before me like this, Salya?  Is this to show me some respect?  If you had indeed any respect for me, you would never have thought of betraying me!” 

“M…Maharaj, what are you saying?  I have betrayed y…you?”  Salya asked amused.  Sukhdeva looked straight into the eyes of Salya and said, “Vigneesh is not a minister of King Narendra!  He is my aide!” 

The moment he heard these words, all of Salya’s energy drained away and he could barely stand.  “I could have so well suspected either you, Chaturbhuj and even Sukhram to be behind this theft!  But I did not do that for the trust and faith I had in all of you! Oh Salya!  I never admitted it but let me tell you this today.  I had regarded you to be my most trusted and favourite minister! Is this how you repay me for it?”  asked the King in an emotional tone. 

Salya did not respond and hung his head down in shame.  “You must be wondering as to how we started suspecting you!  The credit for this has to go to Chaturbhuj. ” 

Even as Chaturbhuj looked at Salya calmly, the King asked him to tell everything.  The wise minister began, “Till yesterday evening, I never suspected you to be the ring thief for I had great respect and honour for you.  Since the culprit had to be you, me or Sukhdeva, I had suspected the servant to be behind this theft.  He had been to the inner chamber of the King daily, where the ring was kept in the locker, to clean the floor.  Therefore, I felt that he must have observed both the locker and it’s handle quite keenly all these days.  On the day of the theft, I thought that he must have been to that chamber for his routine cleaning work and found that the handle of the locker was not in the position it used to be normally. Suspecting that the locker may not have been locked properly he opened the locker in the greed for some valuables and found the ring.  I was of the opinion that he may have either sold the ring in some shop or given it to a money-lender for want of money.  With this in mind, yesterday I had enquired in some jewelry shops and money-lenders of Sukhram’s locality about the ring but in vain.  This made my suspicion on Sukhram wear off.  Then, yesterday evening my falcon came flying to my chambers with a piece of note tied in it’s legs.  I, at once, realised that one of my spies had sent an important message through this bird.  I read the note and was confounded at it’s contents.  It was mentioned that King Narendra had already come to know that our King has lost his ring!  How he learnt this fact and what he intended to do now were not yet known.  I could not believe that Sukhram could have any links with Narendra and thus I was compelled to suspect you.  After much thought, it dawned on me that you did have good contacts with Narendra for you had been to his kingdom on quite a few occasions as our King’s representative.  My spies had informed me that Narendra not only had an eye on our kingdom but also on the ring.  Assuming that you were quite close to King Sukhdeva, it could be that in one of your visits to his kingdom, King Narendra offered you a very handsome and tempting gift if you somehow learn about the location of the divine ring, get it and pass it on to him.