When Priya sees her late son’s wife, Radhika, she’s stunned when the young woman denies knowing her.
Days later, she visits her son’s grave, only to see Radhika’s headstone nearby. Priya, seeking answers, turns to her son’s friend Rohit, but his suspicious behavior forces her to unravel the mystery alone.
Arjun was only 27 when a tragic accident claimed his life, leaving his mother, Priya, in endless grief. Everything around her seemed to fade to shades of sorrow, and her health had deteriorated as well.
|Buried Lies
After a year spent in an ashram to recover, Priya finally returned to the city to visit Arjun’s grave, carrying the weight of a mother’s loss. She traveled hundreds of miles, her heart pounding as she stepped off the train in the city where Arjun had lived and died.
As Priya walked through the bustling station, her eyes caught a familiar face in the crowd. It was Radhika, her daughter-in-law. Surprised, Priya hurried after her, wanting to embrace her son’s widow after so long.
“Radhika! Radhika? Wait!” Priya called out, touching the young woman’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know you,” the woman replied coldly and walked away, vanishing into the crowd.
“That’s odd,” Priya thought, unsettled. “I could swear that was Radhika! Same hair, same voice…” Unable to shake the eerie feeling, she continued to the cemetery, where an even greater shock awaited her.
Priya’s heart trembled as she reached her son’s grave. She knelt, her hands tracing Arjun’s name. It had been a year, yet the wound of his death was still fresh. Just then, she noticed another headstone beside his.
In Loving Memory of Radhika
January 8, 1995 – December 3, 2020
Forever cherished, forever missed.
Priya’s breath caught as disbelief washed over her. “Radhika? She’s…dead?” But if Radhika was gone, then who had she seen in the crowd moments ago?
In a daze, Priya approached the cemetery groundskeeper, a man smoking under a nearby tree, to inquire about the funeral.
“Yes, her body was brought here just last week,” he said, blowing smoke into the evening air. “But it was strange—no family came, just a simple burial by the funeral staff.”
Priya’s heart pounded. “Are you certain nobody has visited her grave since?”
“Positive, ma’am. I haven’t seen a single mourner here since that day.”
Troubled and needing answers, Priya decided to visit Rohit, her son’s best friend and business partner.
Rohit’s eyes widened as he saw Priya on his doorstep. He invited her in, but Priya sensed his uneasiness. Inside, she noticed suitcases by the door, signaling he was preparing to leave.
“I’m leaving the city, Aunty,” Rohit sighed. “It’s been hard ever since Arjun’s death. The company went under, and I’m left with nothing.”
“Went under?” Priya’s brow furrowed. “Arjun worked hard to build that business. How could it collapse so quickly?”
Rohit hesitated. “I didn’t want to trouble you while you were at the ashram. But after Arjun’s passing, Radhika inherited everything. She didn’t want to manage the business, so I took over. The company was barely surviving, and we were desperate.”
“What happened to Radhika?” Priya asked, her voice shaking. “Why didn’t anyone tell me she had passed away?”
Rohit looked away. “Radhika…she did something terrible, Aunty. She convinced us to take a large loan to keep the company afloat. But just last week, she withdrew all the money and disappeared.”
Priya’s heart sank. “What do you mean, disappeared?”
“The police found a burned car near the cliffside forest last week. Inside was a body, unrecognizable, but it was identified as Radhika by her gold anklet.” Rohit’s voice shook as he continued, “It was ruled an accident.”
Priya couldn’t believe it. The company Arjun had built was destroyed, and now Radhika was gone. Or so everyone thought. Yet Priya remembered the groundskeeper’s words—no one had attended Radhika’s funeral. Rohit’s tense behavior only deepened her suspicion.
“Rohit, when’s your flight?” Priya asked, glancing at the suitcases.
“6 a.m. tomorrow,” he replied.
“Would it be alright if I stayed here tonight? I don’t know anyone else in the city.”
Rohit hesitated but eventually agreed. Priya’s mind churned with possibilities, certain that the truth lay hidden somewhere in Rohit’s home.
That night, when all was quiet, Priya tiptoed to the living room. She carefully searched Rohit’s bags, her heart pounding. After what felt like an eternity, she found a hidden compartment in his suitcase. Inside, she discovered two passports bearing different names but familiar faces. One was Radhika’s—alive, under a new identity. The other was Rohit’s.
Her fingers traced over two one-way tickets to London, their flight scheduled for the following morning. Stunned, Priya quickly replaced everything and returned to her room, mind racing with a plan.
At dawn, Priya waited in the kitchen, ready with Rohit’s breakfast. She handed him a glass of juice laced with sleeping pills, watching as he slowly drifted into a deep sleep on the couch.
Moments later, his phone rang. The name “Sonia” flashed on the screen—Radhika’s alias. Priya answered the call but kept silent.
“What are you doing? Have you overslept? I’ll come over right now,” Radhika hissed before disconnecting.
Smiling to herself, Priya called the police and positioned herself behind the front door. When Radhika arrived and entered the house, Priya closed the door behind her and, without a word, struck her on the head with a nearby vase, knocking her out.
The police arrived minutes later. As they took Radhika and Rohit into custody, the entire plot unraveled. Faced with evidence, Radhika confessed.
“We staged the accident,” she admitted. “Rohit bribed a morgue attendant to swap a homeless woman’s body with mine. We burned the body, and the police thought I was dead. We planned to escape to London with the money.”
“But why would you betray Arjun’s legacy?” Priya asked in disbelief.
“Greed…arrogance…I thought we could get away with it all,” Radhika muttered, defeated.
As the police escorted Radhika and Rohit away, Priya walked to the cemetery to lay flowers on her son’s grave. She whispered a silent prayer, feeling a strange relief in her heart, as though Arjun himself had guided her to uncover the truth.
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