The Diary- 4

The gold and silver idol that you have found in that cave is mostly in the hands of a well-known craftsman of Shah Jahan and a famous craftsman of the state, who in that century used to melt gold and make it an idol.

During that period it emerged as a successful business.

Not only the royal family but foreign countries who came to do business took full advantage of it.

At that time, some foreign countries used to steal gold from India in the same way by making idols and precious showpieces.

They were said to be a gift from the royal family while being carried.

On one side we had too much confidence in the vigilance of our soldiers and we were all sure that he too could reach Mehfil.

It was as if the only doubt in my mind at that gathering was that he was somewhere here in this gathering, so my eyes were wandering only around Kohinoor".

The commander continues his story "Shalimar and Kohinoor were two such precious gems in India whose colour, size, weight could be known to every royal family in the world, British East India had the same information, both of these in England.

There was a lot of discussion about the precious gem, so finding a duplicate of these two gems was not that difficult task.

Often a similar wealth was displayed every year in many royal families in India, where a group of gem experts and guests of the royal family reached from far and wide to see these precious gems.

On that day too, there was a huge crowd of gem experts in the gathering for the anniversary of the emperor.

We had given a fake diamond that looked exactly like the Kohinoor to Amelia and just had to replace it.

Some soldiers had been put in the emperor's gathering for his help to the detachment so that no one could stop him while taking him to Kohinoor.

Days did not take much time to pass and the moment had come for which we, Aurangzeb and the anonymous robber were eagerly waiting.

A test hour had arrived at which the fate of the British East India Company was at stake and we were ready to play the bet.

Although there was an unknown fear in one corner of the heart, but today it had to be cros, it seemed that something similar must have happened to the robber, against whom I had a slight dilemma that if Kohinoor would not be involved in the treasure, otherwise our plan would be in vain and Amelia would not crush the Kohinoor.

What is it, when two thieves have their eyes on the same loot item, sometimes it becomes impossible to steal it.

The gathering was very well arranged, the raqasas from Turkey, Iran and many Arab countries danced all over, each one was beautiful, the Mughal sultanate reveled in beauty and the royal family's treasury

A substantial portion was spent on eating the harem.

In no time, the emperor came to his magnificent palace, everyone stood in his respect, this time the celebration was special because it was also in the joy of building a white Taj Mahal and placing the black Taj Mahal with black marble in its foundation.

As soon as this was announced, we saw Aurangzeb's face, there was anger on his face as well as a dangerous smile, it seemed as if he had hatched some dangerous conspiracy which I probably did not even know about.

The gathering begins after the royal decree is pronounced.

First of all, the famous singer of her time, Hira Bai started the festival in her melodious voice.

Sometimes we were looking at Heera Bai and sometimes Aurangzeb.

Like Hira Bai singing alone for Aurangzeb in a gathering, her attention was not going to anyone else, similar was the situation of Aurangzeb.

Apart from us, only the special person of Aurangzeb knew that Aurangzeb's love was going on with Heera Bai, only the emperor did not know about it.

If it had been known, then as before, there would have been a revolt in the royal family for love once again.

After a song of Hira Bai, one of the most talented singer of that time, Mehfil started , many more artists spread their charm and made it appear like a festival.

We had never seen such a wonderful gathering before.

After some time it was Amelia's turn, the emperor and all the men of his court were as lost as seeing Amelia's beauty and seductive dance, she attracted the people standing and sitting in every corner of the gathering by displaying her beautiful body.

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Seeing the seductive dance, the emperor himself stood up and praised him, as soon as the emperor stood up, all the guests of the gathering stood up to congratulate him, being happy, the emperor gifted him some asharfi and some diamonds.

That's how the festival progressed.

After sometime it was time to weigh the emperor, after weighing all the precious gifts like diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, pearls with precious gems, they were kept for the royal treasury, after which they were weighed with silver coins and the king was weighed.

Equal coins were distributed among the subjects, now it was Asharfi's turn of gold, from which many times the weight of the emperor was separated for keeping in the treasury, after that it was weighed twice with silk cloth, a part of which was distributed among the subjects, reshmi

After the clothes came the turn of jewellery, which included diamond pearls, gold, silver and other jewels of necklaces, rings, bracelets, bangles, earrings, etc., equal to the weight of the emperor, almost twice the emperor was weighed with these ornaments.

After this, the king was weighed with every precious thing on the earth.

Shortly after this, there was some stir in the gathering, Aurangzeb's special military team was a bit upset, repeatedly coming on stage, one of his soldiers used to speak something in the ear, then Aurangzeb would send him saying something, when the matter must have got out of hand.

So Aurangzeb himself went with him.

At first I was a bit scared that Amelia might be caught, but it had been a long time since she had left the palace and the palace, she had to spend the night in my bungalow.

Then I thought in my mind that whatever happens, we have to go and see, then we also followed Aurangzeb.

He was going towards his treasury, as soon as he went some distance, about two dozen soldiers were lying dead in front of the gate of the treasury.

A soldier who saw the treasure from inside said "Some part of Huzoor's treasure has been looted and taken out of the fort".

Looking at me, Aurangzeb said, "Commander immediately speak to your soldiers and make a blockade, the robber may not have gone too far, we can catch him".

We ran away and went on a tour of the city ourselves with the British soldiers present in the fort.

They spread around to catch that robber.

A military contingent was placed on the roads of the city and the forest.

The night was very bad and everything was done but this robber had ruined what he thought and what happened, I thought tonight would be spent in delicate arms of Amelia, but this robber had got night duty.

Together we were also wondering whether Amelia might have stolen the Kohinoor, if so, she needed to be smart.

The commander continues the story "Even after patrolling all night, the robber did not catch up. I asked my junior officer to take over the post so that I could take a round of my bungalow to find out if Amelia stole the Kohinoor?

As soon as I reached my bungalow, Amelia came running and rested her head on my chest, then said "What took you so long, I waited for you whole night, my love", I told everything to Amelia about what happened after she left the grand celebration.

Then I asked her about Kohinoor. Amelia replied "What do you think Brad, we could have stolen that diamond, I risked my life so far away from England and stole the diamond just for your sake, but you are on duty since then ".

I took Amelia in my arms and kissed, then took Kohinoor from her and looked at her well because this one precious stone must have shed the blood of many people, I don't know how many kingdoms must have fought, it is a bloody stone.

It was a stone which used to be the pride of the one who did not hesitate to shed blood.

One of our plan had worked and now there was no doubt that luck was with the British East India Company.

Now the robber was to be accused of stealing it too.

After a while a soldier of the emperor came from the fort and told that the emperor had remembered immediately.

I reached the emperor's court with my senior.

After going there, it came to know that a large part of the treasure had been looted, which was not well known last night, along with the treasure the priceless Kohinoor was also looted.

The king reprimanded our senior and said, "British company was making big claims that it will catch the robber, there will be peace in the state, what happened now, how our unfulfilled dream of black Taj Mahal will be built, tell is there any answer, now those posts will be ruled by the soldiers of the Mughal Sultanate, until the British East India gets clues related to that robber and treasure or no action is taken to catch the robber", the emperor was furious with anger.

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After the end of the court, Aurangzeb called in private then told us "Why the commander will now rule the posts of the soldiers of the Mughal Sultanate, I have a suggestion for you, tell your officers to guard the city and protect the emperor from them,it is not only in the minds of the soldiers of the Mughal Sultanate that Foreigner will not be able to do anything in this, well now that the emperor has given the order, then it will have to be implemented, go and find out that robber, see if there is any clue or not.

It is not possible for British , the soldiers of the Mughal Sultanate know the work of the people, Firangi will not be able to do anything in this, well now that the emperor has given the order, then it will have to be implemented, go and find out that robber, see if there is any clue or not ".

I fell into a deep thought for a while because Aurangzeb had a taunting attitude, it seemed as if he knew all, where the treasure was or who plundered it, then said, "Soon you will get it, it is still the same, it will be around the city because check posts have been put on every way out of the city, all the routes of the forest have been sealed, order has been given to search all the houses of the city, after all the damage from that robber is only royal, not only to the Mughal families but to the British company as well, we are now going to get this robber's surveillance work done more vigorously", I said and went straight to my head quarters.

Gathered all the soldiers and junior staff and asked them to bring information about that robber, asked them to increase surveillance of the city, made them realize that it was a question of the honor of the British East India Company, otherwise there were posts in every city, or the Mughal and other soldiers would have the right.

The matter had become quite serious, although today was the first day but it was quite disturbing.

I waited till evening at the head quarters for some good news to be conveyed by the soldiers, but nothing came to fruition, I understood that he is not one of those who come so easily, to catch him a different trick will have to be applied .

Surveillance and search work in the city will have to be continued till he or one of the members of his team is found.

After thinking through everything and consulting my seniors on this and finishing the duty from the head quarter, I headed straight to my bungalow where the beautiful beauty Amelia was waiting for me , she would only stay in India for a week.

I thought would spend a moment of laughter, but this robber ruined everything.

After so many years, the two lovers had reunited, used to meet almost daily in London.

I knew Amelia even before joining the British company.

We used to be neighbors, used to come and visit each other's house, but life progressed, I joined the company, traveled abroad and came to India and Amelia became a stage artist there in London itself.

While going towards my bungalow, I was going thinking about this whole thing on the way that suddenly saw some shadows from the fort riding on horses and going towards the forest.

These people were going through the forest using the secret passage of the fort, I also made my horse run after them, they could not know from the sound of the horse racing that I am following them.

Galloping the horses, they went deep into the forest and stopped near a deserted cave where some people had already gathered and torches were burning all around.

I hid in the forest at a reasonable distance from the unknown cavalrymen from where they could be easily tracked.

Those horsemen hid their faces with masks.

His chief gets off the horse and takes care of all his men standing in front of the cave.

Then he slowly removes the mask from his face.

Then what I saw was enough to move the land under the feet of the Mughal Sultanate, the head of the masked cavalry was Aurangzeb and in that cave the looted treasure of the emperor was kept, which was guarded by some soldiers of Aurangzeb's special troops.

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Those people stayed there for a long time, then the same horsemen rode on their horses and left for the fort.

I stayed there for a while to get a better understanding of the area and those soldiers.

When I was completely convinced that there was no one other than those numbered 30 soldiers, then we left silently from there.

I was very happy in my mind that the looted treasure was found, now British East India will have the right over all those posts.

But there was a dilemma in the mind that if Aurangzeb had looted the treasure, then he would have known about Kohinoor also, the emperor was also taking the name of Kohinoor in that looted treasure.

This means that Aurangzeb is also suspected of disappearing Kohinoor on that robber.

But now is the time to tread very carefully because I knew that Aurangzeb was against the construction of the Black Taj Mahal, so did it, but I did not know what was going on in his mind, now that I know it was known that the treasure had not gone very far, it was still within the limits, so now was the time to do everything very thoughtfully, not in a hurry.

First the treasury had to be taken out of this forest, then after getting some chance, it had to be presented to the emperor, to win his trust and to get the British East India Company right of all those posts.

The next morning I went straight to the Head Quarter and made a list of some of our special soldiers, who were more than one brave soldiers , so far the treasure had not been given to anyone, whatever had to be done was to be done in secret.

Around the cave, the troops used to keep a good light lit at night to avoid wild animals and everything was well visible at night, so there were enough archers to eliminate them, still I did not want to take any risk

So some gunmen were also included together.

Archery would have been done peacefully, the gun makes unnecessary noise, so my plan was to make Aurangzeb's soldiers the target of a group of archers during the night and take the treasure from there to nine two eleven, if things got worse with the hands, then the gunmen would be allowed.

The team was about to take over.

Now it was just waiting to be night.

As soon as night fell, according to the plan, the archers and gunslingers entered the forest from the other direction, this path was long but suitable for horses.

In the night, the cries of animals were coming all around, we were moving slowly so that the enemy would not be alerted by the sound of the horses running fast, after some time we reached near the cave.

There was silence all around, it did not seem that the night before there was such a contingent of soldiers.

Still, we got down from the horse, proceeded towards the cave in the dark, after some time an English soldier found a torch and lit it with a match lying in my pocket, then saw the corpse of the Mughal soldiers lying all around.

There was not a single soldier left alive, everyone was killed, the treasure was also missing from there, we just found a gold Asharfi lying in that cave.

We all did not consider it appropriate to stay there for a long time, so after checking from there, we immediately went towards the city because Aurangzeb might have been dizzy once in the night.

I immediately understood that now this work belonged to that anonymous robber, Aurangzeb himself had looted the royal treasury and put the key of the lock of the royal treasury in his hand.

All my hard work also went in vain.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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