Hari nodded meekly.
“So you are now a free man. But here are the terms on which I’m letting you go …” explained Rupesh patiently.
Chapter 77
NISHA REACHED THE office in Worli a few minutes before closing time. What she would do for an Ajay-type figure now. She looked once again at the board that read Office of the Charity Commissioner, and crossed her fingers that she would be able to find what she was looking for. As was to be expected, most of the staff had left before closing hour. It was a well-known fact that Indian government servants reached their offices late and made up for it by leaving early.
A solitary senior clerk was still at his desk and looked up from the file on his desk as she approached. “I was hoping that you could assist me,” said Nisha tentatively, slipping a couple of thousands into his hand.
The man looked at the cash and pocketed it quickly. “What do you want?” he asked.
“Do all charitable trusts have to be registered here in this office?”
“Under section eighteen, sub-clause one of the Bombay Public Trusts Act of 1950, it is the duty of the trustee of a public trust to make an application for the registration of the trust at the Office of the Charity Commissioner,” replied the clerk mechanically. “So the answer is yes, registration is mandatory.”
“And is it possible to access the records of a given trust?”
“All trusts are required to submit their audited statement of accounts with this office. Information about income, expenditure, asset block, and trustees can be gathered from the annual audited statements submitted to the authority,” replied the clerk, almost rattling off the rule book. “What type of trust are you looking into?”
“I don’t understand,” replied Nisha. “You mean that there are various types?”
“There are Hindu religious trusts, Muslim trusts, those registered via trust deed, Parsi trusts, and Christian trusts. If you tell me the name of the
trust in question, I should be able to assist you.”
“It was established in 1891 and called the Sir Jimmy Mehta Trust,” said Nisha, pulling up the photograph of the orphanage signboard on her smartphone and handing it over to the clerk.
He scrutinized the photo for a moment. “Ah, that’s a Parsi trust. It would have been registered under the previous act—the Indian Trusts Act of 1882. Accessing information on that one is a little more complicated.”
Nisha pulled out some more cash that she handed over to him. “I was hoping that you could make it simple for me,” she said. The clerk smiled. It would be a happy Diwali season for him.
“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll need to consult the index first. From that I should be able to pull the file number. What sort of information are you looking for?”
“I need to know when the trust shut down and why. I also need to know who the trustees were,” said Nisha. Then she sat down on one of the uncomfortable visitors’ chairs and waited.
Chapter 78
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL entered his bedroom on tiptoe to avoid disturbing his wife. His aim was to avoid having to answer any awkward questions. A quick shower was in order.
He was out of luck. “Is that you, baby?” asked his wife, sitting up in bed and switching on the bedside lamp.
“Yes,” he replied. “Sorry, I got delayed in the office. That oil-exploration block case comes up tomorrow in the Supreme Court. The entire team had to work late.”
“What’s her name, you bastard?” asked his wife furiously. “Elina Xavier, Ragini Sharma, Devika Gulati, or something else?”
“That’s unfair, dear,” he answered. “I have had an extra long workday and I don’t need this badgering.”
“Oh, poor thing! You must be so tired … having fucked every woman inside your office and outside of it!”
“I’m going for a shower,” said the Attorney General.
He was heading to the bathroom when a small vase whizzed by him and smashed into the door. “You are an animal! Strange thing is that whenever I want it, you can’t seem to bloody get it up!”
“Is everything my fault?” he asked. “We did try for a child several times through the IVF route. What more do you want of me?”
“Love,” said his wife, dropping her head back into the pillow and breaking down.
Nalin stopped in his tracks for a minute, wondering about his next move. Then he went over to the bathroom door, opened it, and went inside for a shower.