Page 186 of Lawfully Yours

The first witness was called — Pavithra, Sadhna’s former makeup artist.

Maanya began, “Miss Pavithra, you have been Sadhna’s makeup artist for years. You know her very closely. So, tell the court, during your employment, did you ever witness Mr. Mukherjee behaving aggressively toward Sadhna?”

Pavithra hesitated. “There were… arguments. Once or twice, he yelled—”

“Yelled,” Maanya repeated dramatically, “in public?”

“Yes. At the vanity van, on set and also in public parties where I’ve been with Sadhna Ma’am.”

“Thank you,” Maanya cut in, glancing at the judge. “Aggression, Your Honour, habitual and public.”

Now it was Kushal’s turn. He stood, straightening his lawyer coat.

“Miss Pavithra, you saidarguments. Would you say theybothraised their voices?”

Pavithra blinked, turning to Manya and Sadhna, unsure what to say. Kushal blocked her view and smirked.

“The court is waiting,” he said.

She swallowed before nodding. “I suppose… yes. But, Anant sir was always the one to begin it.”

Anant shook his head from his seat, unable to believe this.

“When an argument happens, both parties tend to raise their voices at each other, Pavithra,” Kushal countered. “Okay, forget that. Tell me, did you witness Anant ever physically harming or threatening Sadhna?”

She was again in a fix what to reply but Kushal coaxed further. “Be sure before you reply, because we have enoughevidence to show the court that you were paid for testifying against Anant today.”

Pavithra panicked. Murmurs spread around the courtroom.

Maanya rose. “Objection! He is misleading the witness, your honour!”

Judge Meera held up a hand. “Overruled. Answer the question, witness,” she said, looking at Pavithra, who wiped the sweat beads from her face.

“No.”

Kushal grinned, turning back to the judge.

“So, there was no violence or abuse before the witness ever, your honour. Just a husband and wife disagreeing on a set, which is very common in every marriage.”

He then walked towards Arundhati, who presented him with a file. He took it before submitting it for the judge to take a look.

“Your honour, these flight tickets and upcoming hotel bookings in Bali, Indonesia, costing more than 5 lakhs for her entire family trip, were booked by Mrs Sadhna, as a bribe to testify today in this court against my client Anant.”

Maanya immediately rose in shock. “Your honour, my client, Sadhna, has done no such bookings.”

Kushal presented another document to the court. “Your honour, the bookings were done from Sadhna’s driver’s credit card.” He turned towards Pavithra again. “Now, why would a driver pay for your vacation? Unless…”

The fear of being linked to the driver anyhow when there wasn’t any such thing, Pavithra, in fear, told the truth.

“No, your honour. Sadhna Ma’am herself had asked the driver to make the bookings from his card. That’s all I know.”

Maanya clenched her jaw, whereas Sadhna sat speechless.

“That’s right, My honour. If Sadhna was so sure of the physical abuse she had faced in her marriage, why did she have to bribe her staff to testify against my client, Anant? Unlessshe knew she had no such true evidence because it was all a fabricated lie. A lie, your honour, to just bargain for a higher alimony.”

The judge nodded, before nothing something down and then turned to Maanya again.

“So you have any more witnesses?”