RING OF DECEIT
Part - II

“Why do you say so?” Chandragupta asked baffled. 

“From what I know about King Veerbhadra, nothing was dearer to him than upholding his pride!  Hunting was his favourite sport, and I am sure that he would have taken along Shyamlal only to put on display his hunting skills before him. 

When Mukund’s father killed the leopard that was going to pounce on the merchant, more than a feeling of appreciation of saving his friend, the King’s pride would have been hurt very badly!  His ego would not have appreciated anyone else ensuring the safety of Shyamlal other than himself and made him construe the hunter’s otherwise humane act as a failure on his part to protect his friend!  He would have felt very embarrassed then. 

Being his bosom friend, it would not have been difficult for Shyamlal to understand his state of mind.  Thus, in such a scenario, how could he offer a gift as a token of gratitude to Mukund’s father and rub salt in the abashment of the King?  That seems virtually impossible.  If Shyamlal never offered his ring to Mukund, the theft that the latter is referring to is also unlikely to have occurred!”  Bakul concluded his views. 

Chandragupta could not help but appreciate Bakul’s astute analysis. “Waah! Even though I was aware of King Veerbhadra’s nature I never thought about it from this perspective! In that case, why is Mukund misleading us?” 

“He is the best person to answer that, Chandraguptaji.” Bakul replied with a grin. 

“What should we do next?” 

“Let me think about this tonight. By tomorrow, hopefully we will find a way!”  

Chandragupta agreed and got up to leave.  

 “These thoughts had crossed my mind on that very day when Mukund was narrating these events in the Durbar. However, I preferred to be silent for after all, you never appreciate my viewpoint, sire!” Bakul clarified with a tinge of sadness in his tone. 

Chandragupta looked down and was silent for a few moments. He then clasped Bakul’s arms and smiled at him nodding his head in understanding. Thereby, he took his leave. 

Bakul began to walk from one end of his chamber to the other, lost in deliberation. After some time, he stopped and the twinkle in his eye showed that he had gotten hold of a ruse to unearth the truth! 

On the morrow, Bakul met Chandragupta and had a small discussion with him. Thereby, arrangements were made to bring Mukund to the senior minister’s chamber. After he had come and they had exchanged greetings, Chandragupta began,

“We have good news for you, Mukund! A breakthrough has been made in your theft case!” 

“What is it?” the lad asked eagerly. 

“We managed to contact Shyamlal’s jeweler and he told us that the late merchant always preferred a specially designed butterfly as a design for his ring and not a falcon. That was preferred by his son, Ratan Lal.

In fact, he himself had made a similar ring for Ratan Lal not more than ten years ago!” 

Mukund’s face began to pale down as he heard this! 

“Therein lies the paradox, my dear friend!” Bakul chipped in, “…That day in the Durbar you told us that the ring was gifted to your father more than twenty years ago! That does not seem to be possible!” 

“Mukund faltered for an answer, “A..All t…that I know is from what my f…father had told me, sire!”” 

“You mean that your father had lied to you? Do you also wish to state that the jeweler is taking us for a ride?” Chandragupta snapped at him and then menacingly pointed his finger at him, “Look, Mukund! We know that you are misleading us! Do not try our patience! We have our own ways to extract the truth from you!

If you continue to deceive us, you will be accorded the most stringent punishment! Your life will be ruined!” 

The very next instance, Mukund fell at the feet of Chandragupta. “Pardon me, sire! I shall tell you the truth!” Thereafter, he apprised them of the facts. 

“A day before I came to the Durbar, as I was going to my little hut that is near the Kandahar jungle, I found two men walking ahead of me. One of them was making hand gestures while conversing with the other.

During this process, suddenly the ring that he was wearing fell off from his finger and rolled over to me! I picked it up and had a good look at the ring. By God’s grace I possess the ability to accurately remember things upon first exposure.

It was a beautiful golden ring and how I longed to own it! I knew that was not possible for me and looked up. I saw the person whose ring had fallen running towards me to whom I handed it over. He thanked me effusively and went away with the other person.  

Later in the evening as I was making my way out of the jungle after plucking fruits, I could hear some whispers coming from the other end of a huge tree which had an extremely broad trunk. As I came near the trunk, the voices became quite audible. 

“I hope selling this ring would not invite trouble for us!” 

“In what way? The person from whom we stole it died on that same day! From what I know Ratan Lal was the only surviving member of the family since his wife’s demise a few months ago. He has no children.

Thus, who will complain about the stolen ring? Still to be on the safer side, we shall go in disguise tomorrow to sell it off! It will fetch us a good fortune!” 

“Hmmm! All right! We have rested enough here. Let us resume our walk now back home!” 

I slowly moved towards the end of the trunk and peeped slightly out. I could see the face of one of the duo who had turned his face while speaking with his accomplice. It was then I realized that he was the same person whose ring had fallen and rolled towards me earlier in the day!  

I returned to my dwelling and sat thinking about the strange events which had occurred that day! Then a plan struck me!  

I now knew of some facts quite accidentally which perhaps no one else knew except those two thieves themselves! Foremost, I knew that Ratan Lal’s ring was stolen. Secondly, I had also seen the face of one of the thieves very clearly and could easily identify him.

Thirdly, I had seen the merchant’s ring very closely and clearly remembered its design. Fourthly I knew that the ring was to be sold by the thieves incognito. Lastly, I was aware that the stolen ring may not be claimed by anyone!  

Why not use these factors towards my advantage, I wondered! If I came and told the King that my ring was stolen, I was certain that enquiries would be made in jewelry stores to see if the thief had sold them. I knew that eventually following the description I give about the ring, it will be retrieved from some jewelry store thereby proving the authenticity of my claim.

Although I never wanted those thieves to get caught, still to further strengthen my stand, I decided to partly disclose the body structure of the robber I had met so that it matches with that of the crook who sold it off. I was certain that this information would not help much to seize the culprit for there would be so many people with a similar body structure!  

The big question before me was to how I make everyone believe that a poor man like me owns such a priceless ring! To this, I decided to use a piece of information that my father had given me. He had saved the life of Shyam Lal, but neither the merchant nor the King offered him a gift for his humane act. I concocted facts and spuriously made those claims in the Durbar!  

I felt that if the administration believes my statements, then even if it fails to catch the robber the retrieved ring may be given to me! Thus, if fate sides with me, I could have the ring all to myself!” 

“Disgusting!” Chandragupta lamented. 

“Yes indeed!” Bakul agreed. “You could have used your exceptional memory for some good purposes which could have earned you name and fame in society. But alas! You used it for all the wrong reasons! The King would decide your punishment!”  He, thereby, turned to Chandragupta,

“He says that he overheard the robbers’ scheme in the Kandahal jungle. This could mean that they could be staying somewhere near the jungle! Let us direct our resources to bring them to book!” 

Chandragupta promptly agreed and dispatched a team to lookout for the robbers after getting a proper description of one of them whom Mukund had seen closely.  

Bakul, thereby, revealed facts to Mukund. “All that we told you about Shyamlal’s jeweller were untrue. It was done to make you blurt out the truth! If you can take us for a ride, so can we!  Tit for Tat, my dear friend!” 

Mukund closed his eyes tightly and shook his head in disgust.   

Eventually, the thieves whose conversation was heard by Mukund were caught while moving about in the jungle. Later, the two confessed that they had robbed Ratan Lal of his ring when he was approaching his house. As they threatened to harm him, Ratan Lal gave away his ring – which was the only jewel he was wearing – without much resistance.

As fate would have it, a little while later the merchant breathed his last in his house owing to a heart ailment. One of the robbers wanted to wear the ring for some time which is why they delayed selling it.

Later, in the evening as they were resting under a tree after a walk Mukund happened to overhear their conversation. 

The two also confessed that except in the jungle where there was no one around they never moved about together while executing their crime.  

The entire case was presented before the King in the Durbar. Narendra was taken aback to see how far a crooked mind can work to deceive others for meeting its selfish ends. He severely rebuked Mukund for his wrongdoing and accorded him six months imprisonment. 

“If you do not mend your ways, the punishment would be harsher!” The King warned the hunter. 

Narendra showered praises on both Chandragupta and Bakul for bringing this case to its logical conclusion. Thereby, the focus of attention moved to other issues in the Durbar. 

Later, Chandragupta met Bakul in his chambers. “I thank you for your support, Bakul! I always knew about the prowess of your intellect but never admitted it owing to my envy and ego. This is the first time that I managed to set aside my ego and approach you for help. How beautifully have you solved this case!” 

“Sire, I, too, have always held you in high regard. I feel honored that you considered me worth assisting you! Even in the future, I shall be extremely happy to work in collaboration with you!” Bakul reciprocated with great humility.  

Chandragupta smiled, gently patted Bakul’s shoulders, and took his leave.