Esha's point of view :
We all got in ma'am's big black Honda CVR car. Neha came and sat next to me, grinding the side of her body on the side of mine. She was looking very happy and had a cheeky smile on her face. Neha grinded so close to me that I started to feel indescribably uncomfortable. She looked directly at me in the eyes and gave me a mischievous smirk. Seeing that, I felt an extreme shiver going down my spine and followed by that I swallowed a gulp. But I didn't let her know that I was getting nervous and turned on by her action.
But then somehow I was able to gain control over myself and calm those sensations down.
Ma'am was driving the car. Mahdin was sitting next to the driver's seat. The four of us were sitting in the back seat. At some point, Ma'am began to say, "I'm so sorry I didn't give you the minimum time to study for this case. But let me tell you now. This case is not that complicated. My plaintiff has been charged with murder. I am fighting for him. We have to prove him innocent."
Mahdin said, "Ma'am, what that case is about?"
"My plaintiff's wife was strangled to death at her house on January 25 at around 3:00 AM, but at that time my plaintiff was in Jessore for official training. His wife's family accused my plaintiff and issued a case at the local police station. I have gathered enough evidence in the last few weeks...but my plaintiff did not get bail today due to a lack of evidence. However, in the language of the law, it is not considered with that much of importance. Almost insignificant."
I asked Ma'am, "What is that proof?"
"Let's go to the crime scene first and then y'all will automatically get to understand it."
After arriving at the crime scene, ma'am said, "This is my plaintiff's house. My plaintiff and his wife live in this house. They have no children. His wife belongs to a very rich family. My plaintiff is a government official. He is an executive at 'Roads and Highways'. On the day of the crime, my plaintiff left Dhaka for Jessore at 12:30 pm and arrived in Dhaka airport at about 1:10 am. His colleague Mr. Ramiz Uddin was in charge of receiving him from the airport. But Mr. Ramiz went to pick him up about an hour and a half late. Because there was a huge traffic jam on the Uttara Airport road for 'Ijtema' (Ijtema is the annual three-day congregation/gathering of Tablighi Jamaat (TJ). It has a strong appeal to South Asian Muslims.) that day. It was around 4:00 to 4:30 AM when he arrived at his home. "
Mahdin said, "Well ma'am, does the evidence collected from the crime scene match our plaintiff's biometrics? Such as fingerprints, DNA or even shoe prints?"
Ma'am said, "My plaintiff's name is Sohel Ahmed. From now on y'all should remember it. It'll be easier for you to understand when I give my speech. We only got the shoe print of Mr. Sohel from crime the scene. We did not get any other biometrics evidence. You all can write it down into your notebooks if you ever needed this."
Neha said, "Ma'am then it's very obvious that the shoe print came at the crime scene only when Mr. Sohel Ahmed entered the house. So it's more likely to be the weapon by which his wife was murdered must have fingerprints on it. And whose fingerprints matches with it, is the real murderer."
"If it was that simple, I wouldn't have bothered to do all these things. Speaking of which, the knife by which his wife Ms. Rahima Begum's throat was cut has no fingerprints on it. It means the murderer was wearing gloves on their hands."
Tonmoy said, "Ma'am do you suspect anyone who could be the murderer?"
"Look, the intuition of professional lawyers like us works very well. If we go to the crime scene for a few days, we will automatically get to know who can be a suspect and who cannot. But our main problem is the lack of evidence. The court can't justify anything without proper evidence."
Sadia said, "Then ma'am at least tell us who do you suspect? Then we can get some clues."
"My only major suspicion right now is my plaintiff's colleague. Mr. Ramiz Uddin."
Mahdin said, "Why do you think so, ma'am?"
"Ramiz Uddin disappeared a month after the case began. No one could find him anywhere. However, the police will not investigate him in this matter. Because he is not the accused convict in this case. And it has nothing to do with the crime scene. But you know what's funny? My plaintiff Mr. Sohel's wife Ms. Rahima Begum was involved in an extra-marital affair. Mr. Sohel somehow got to know about it. He was sure that his wife was having an affair with his colleague, Mr. Ramiz Uddin. One day he even caught them during a scene when they both were cheating on him. But his wife cried and begged apologized. She also promised that she won't do such a thing ever again. He forgave his wife out of pity, but his suspicions continued to grow. Moreover, he had a good relationship with Mr. Ramiz in the office, so he couldn't take any action in this case. Mr. Ramiz Uddin was his senior colleague with whom the director of the office had amity. He could have lost his job if he had tried to cope with his wife. So he just remained silent."
Sadia said, "Ma'am, this silent, calm form may one day have taken the shape of a fierce fire. The fire of rage and vengeance began to engulf his mind and drove him crazy so he couldn't hold it anymore. It turned out like that, one day he just killed his wife."
Ma'am said, "I would never have taken his plea if that was the case."
I said, "Ma'am, does Mr. Ramiz Uddin have any acquaintance with any of his wife's family members? Then I can stand a hypothesis and the story can be arranged in a fairly straightforward manner."
After hearing this, ma'am's face started to shine brightly. Ma'am shouted, "Your point is very logical. Mr. Ramiz Uddin is a childhood friend of Mr. Sohel's wife's stepbrother. Oh yes! I forgot to tell you one more thing. Ms. Rahima Begum's father owned a lot of property. He was married twice. After the death of his first wife, he remarried. Ms. Rahima Begum was the only daughter of him and his first wife, and the second wife already had a son, but they had no children after their marriage. Before his death, Ms. Rahima Begum's father wrote all his property in Ms. Rahima Begum's name."
I said, "Ma'am, the real murderer is not Ramiz Uddin. The real murderer is Rahima Begum's stepbrother. He had two plans. Plan A was to sue her sister's husband and frame him. And if that fails, then he had Plan B which was his childhood friend Ramiz Uddin who, he will manage to frame all of these issues and sue him, and then get rid of all the accusations from his own shoulders. I think he is the one who made Ramiz Uddin disappear. The real motive for killing his stepsister was that one thing. He'll be able to take all the properties of his stepfather into his own hands. Because if Ms. Rahima Begum is not there, eventually he'll own all the properties. It's that simple."
After finishing my speech I looked at ma'am. She had an expression on her face of being startled. She was staring at me for a while and blinked a few times. Then she said, "I'm really jealous of a little girl like you. You're really admirable. That's what I couldn't think of but you thought of it."
Tonmoy said, "Ma'am you said you had a lack of proof for which Mr. Sohel didn't get bail today. What is that?"
"That is nothing else, it was Mr. Ramiz Uddin. But now all the evidence will come together at one point in one source. We don't need Mr. Ramiz Uddin anymore. Because the main ringleader is Ms. Rahima Begum's stepbrother Mr. Hafizur Rahman."