The man talking to Imran was tall, fair complexioned and looked to be around forty years old. His long hair was tied at the back in a ponytail and he was sporting a black bandana around his forehead. He was clad in a deep blue Pathani suit. He had a deep, clear voice and spoke in an unhurried manner. Imran could see what appeared to be the barrel of an AK-47 peeking out from under a pillow next to the man. He was introduced to Imran as Zaheer, or ‘Doctor’, by Roshan.

Roshan had met Atharv as promised, at the Qudsia mosque, two days ago. Of his own accord, Atharv had brought his two ‘brothers’ along for the meeting. Roshan was fine with Atharv’s decision to bring his younger brothers, Tahir – who was actually Nirav – and Sadiq – which was Anant’s alias. Both were introduced as engineers and greeted him with warm handshakes. If Imran was inducted by Zaheer, his brothers may join with him; the more the merrier, Roshan thought to himself and smiled.

Roshan had asked Atharv and his brothers to meet him the next day at noon at the taxi stand on Chakulia Road, from where they would take a taxi to go see an important man. The next day, as planned, Roshan and the three brothers took a cab to the Jogbani India–Nepal Integrated Check Post (ICP), which was 114 kilometres away, in the neighbouring district of Araria.

From Jogbani, the four men took another cab to cross into Nepal and travel to the city of Birat Nagar, which lay around seven kilometres from the ICP. Half an hour later, the cab reached its destination in Birat Nagar, Badi Husseini Masjid. The mosque was around a century old, with a large prayer hall.

It was in the mosque that the brothers met Zaheer. The five men were now seated in a room with white walls and no windows on the second floor of the Badi Masjid.

‘The mob killed my father during a communal incident back in Kerala. Goons regularly bully our people staying in Thrissur by taking out street processions through our settlements every second or third day. The processions last for hours and no one can object to them,’ Atharv, aka Imran, said.

‘What do you want to do? What can you do?’ the Doctor asked him.

‘What can I do? I don’t know. But I am ready to do anything,’ Atharv said. ‘I want to hit people who have been tormenting our community for the past decade. I want to hold each of them by his collar and tell him to show respect to our people. I want revenge,’ Atharv roared.