I'm a Master in India

"What was he arrested for?" Ron had just returned from Uttar Pradesh and wasn't very familiar with Bollywood entertainment news.

"You know, he likes guns and collected some at home. It just so happened that the bombings occurred around that time," Anu tried to explain.

But Ron knew things couldn't be that simple, otherwise this Bollywood star wouldn't have been arrested so easily.

He came from a film family; his father, Sunil Dutt, was a national treasure-level Indian film actor and director, as well as a member of the Congress party and a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha.

With so many dazzling halos, none could protect his own son, which shows that Sanjay Dutt's case was definitely not a misunderstanding.

"Miss Chandra, did someone ask you to find me here, or..."

"No, it was me," Anu quickly waved her hand. "Sanjay has always treated me like a sister. Our two families have been close for a long time."

Anu's family members were also all elites – writers, journalists, directors. It wasn't surprising at all that they were close with Sanjay Dutt's family.

What's more, Anu's husband, Vinod Chopra, is also a film director. They both work in Bollywood, so it's perfectly normal for them to have a connection.

"Director Vijay Kaushal said he saw you at Thackeray's villa, and you had a very pleasant talk," Anu continued.

Okay, Ron had a bit of an impression now.

He had met that Vijay Kaushal when he was dealing with Baniya's electronics factory, and they had exchanged business cards.

Bollywood's network is incredibly complicated; no matter where you go, there are connections.

But wasn't this exactly what he wanted now?

Sun Productions was still too weak.

The film "Mother of the Difficult to Reach" only allowed him to step halfway into the circle. To truly integrate into Bollywood, he still needed to collaborate with major directors.

Only with them taking the lead would Sun Productions have the opportunity to truly participate in the investment of Bollywood blockbusters.

He couldn't keep investing and producing by himself, right? What if he made money this time but lost it next time?

Ron wasn't familiar with Bollywood films either; he couldn't even cheat if he wanted to.

"Anu, be honest with me, was Sanjay involved in the bombings?"

"No!" She shook her head very firmly.

"Ron, I can guarantee that too," Vikram nodded at him.

"Okay, I think I understand."

Ron had to get their guarantee; he couldn't just casually get involved in this kind of matter.

If he stepped in and Sanjay was ultimately found guilty, wouldn't that be very awkward?

"Sanjay has a bad temper and smokes pot, but he would never do something like indiscriminately killing innocent people," Anu said.

"I heard his mother is a Muslim?" Ron asked after getting a hint from Mary.

"Yes, that's where Sanjay's trouble lies; the police don't trust him," Anu admitted.

"It is indeed troublesome," Ron mused.

Sanjay Dutt's father was a Punjabi Brahmin, but his mother was a Muslim. This combination was a bit too strange.

According to North Indian tradition, these two sides could never be connected.

Speaking of which, Bollywood is fundamentally monopolized by Punjabis and Sindhis. It was taken over by refugees during the Partition of India and Pakistan and was once considered a low-class industry by the Mumbai elite in the 1940s.

From this perspective, Bollywood is to Punjabis what Hollywood is to Jews.

Currently, Bollywood still has a large number of practitioners from Punjab, such as Anu's husband, Vinod Chopra, which also explains why they are close to the Dutt family.

They are from the same region, so geographical closeness is normal.

Even Ajai's father, Old Lal, is also a Punjabi and a Bollywood director.

Many Punjabis are descendants of Aryans; the men are tall and handsome, and the women have fair skin, are beautiful, and have long legs.

Ron's appearance also falls into this category; with a slight change in style, he could be mistaken for a foreigner.

Now that Sanjay Dutt, who has half Punjabi and half Sindhi (Muslim) blood, is in trouble, his fellow Punjabis in Bollywood are doing their best to help him out.

Actually, they could have just gone directly to Ajai Lal, after all, he is also considered half Punjabi.

*Cough*, just kidding. Given Ajai's character, he probably wouldn't pay much attention to these people.

"I can't guarantee anything, I can only try," Ron left himself enough room.

"That's very good, Mr. Sur," Anu thanked him gratefully.

Ron gained a lot from today's tea salon.

He could still help by making some connections.

He wasn't prepared to go directly to Thackeray to plead for him; that wouldn't be appropriate.

At the very least, he needed to understand the background details of the matter first. Relying solely on what the siblings Anu and Vikram told him might be biased.

Considering Sanjay's father Sunil Dutt's status as an MP, Ron quietly called Mumbai Mayor Sharad Pawar.

As expected, a very important piece of information had been overlooked.

Sunil Dutt was from the Congress party, and Bal Thackeray was a Shiv Sena boss. The two sides were naturally at odds.

Disgusted by the Shiv Sena's atrocities, Sunil Dutt angrily resigned as a Member of Parliament.

He married a Sindhi woman and had considerable prestige among Muslims.

Many Muslims had clearly stated, "Whichever party Sunil Dutt is in, I will vote for that party."

What is this?

These are sworn enemies.

Pawar, also from the Congress party, could humble himself before Thackeray, but it was difficult for Sunil Dutt.

He had expressed his dissatisfaction with the Shiv Sena in front of the media more than once and had resigned because of it.

Even if he was willing, Thackeray might not cooperate, so the two sides were at a stalemate.

Pawar also told Ron that Sanjay's arrest was likely a setup by Sharad Pawar.

This person, also from the Congress party, was in fierce competition with Sunil Dutt for the position of party leader.

Sunil Dutt's approval rating was remarkably high, so the former could only resort to underhanded tactics.

And just like that, as soon as Sanjay was arrested, his father's reputation was damaged, and his approval rating plummeted.

Damn, there are too many twists and turns in this.

Sanjay, his father (Congress party), his father's political rival (Congress party), Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Bollywood friends and family...

Everyone had their own motives, and from their perspective, it seemed perfectly justified.

Even Ron wanted to build some goodwill and then use the opportunity to let Sun Productions take root in Bollywood.

It was all about "profit."

Well, Ron was also a common person. He decided to pay a visit to Ajai Lal.

Ajai Lal had been promoted again. He was now a Deputy Commissioner, overseeing hundreds of police officers and detectives.

Bandra, Juhu, parts of South Mumbai, including Ron's Sur Electronics, were all within his jurisdiction.

His rapid rise, like a rocket, was of course due to his功劳 in investigating the bombings.

Dawood's guilt was basically confirmed, and the Indian government had already issued a repatriation request to Dubai.

This former Mumbai gang leader was perhaps now in a state of anxiety.

Also implicated in the bombings, Sanjay Dutt was one of the 186 suspects personally arrested by Ajai.

He was indeed a selfless police officer. No matter who called, Ajai ignored them all.

This included his superiors and various other officials.

Then Ron came.

Ajai was sitting in his garden drinking tea. Upon seeing Ron, he immediately gestured for him to come over and have tea together.

"That Amol you asked me to investigate last time, here's his information," Ajai handed him a document.

"How is it?

That guy is a Brahmin, but he lives in a slum. It's too abnormal."

"No problem. It's probably because he was implicated by his old man," Ajai waved his hand.

Ron flipped through the information and scanned it, understanding a bit.

It turned out that his father had committed a murder in his hometown, and the victim was also a powerful figure.

Their family's influence was no match for the other side, so they could only hide in Mumbai.

Alright, after experiencing the baptism of Uttar Pradesh, Ron didn't really care about such small matters anymore.

"By the way, did you arrest Sanjay Dutt?" Ron asked.

Ajai turned his head, put down his cup, and stared at him.

"Are you here to plead for him too?"

"Someone came to me," Ron shrugged, "but not to plead. I'm just asking about the situation."

"That guy is a bad seed," Ajai stated unequivocally.

Perhaps by his moral standards, out of Mumbai's 14 million people, 13.99 million were bad seeds.

This was a city of sin, and the people in it were accomplices to each other.

Ajai had checked Sanjay Dutt's information very thoroughly, leaving nothing out from his childhood to adulthood.

He told Ron that Sanjay was extremely rebellious in his youth.

He first smoked marijuana, and later escalated to cocaine.

He made excuses for himself, saying that the successive deaths of his mother and wife caused significant trauma and shadows in his heart.

Not only did he smoke, but he also later sold drugs, spending his days with a group of Sindhis.

Fortunately, this guy hadn't fallen too deep.

He voluntarily asked his father to send him to a rehabilitation center in Mississippi, USA, where he stayed for a full two years.

After coming out, he was completely changed and, with his father Sunil Dutt's connections, made a comeback in Bollywood.

"But this guy isn't honest, you know? He hid several 'guitars' at home."

Ajai gestured with his hand, making a gesture of holding a submachine gun.

"Uh..." Ron didn't know what to say. He actually had quite a few guitars himself.

"If it were just that, he wouldn't have been implicated in the bombings," Ajai said.

"Is there something more?" Ron asked curiously.

"Those guns were sent to Mumbai by courier after Sanjay called Dawood's brother Anees and his deputy Abu and asked them to send them.

They hollowed out a Suzuki car, refilled it with submachine guns and grenades, and drove the car from Pakistan to Mumbai.

Naturally, they couldn't unload on the main road, so they thought of using Sanjay's garage.

And Sanjay, like countless people in the film industry, was full of curiosity and yearning for the underworld.

Now you know why he was arrested, right?

Even if he didn't participate in the bombings, he can't escape a charge of complicity."

*Hiss*, Ron was numb. As a bystander, he got new gossip every time.

None of those people's information was reliable; it was either missing an arm or a leg.

"Didn't you say Sanjay was framed by his father's political rival?" Ron asked again.

"Saying that isn't wrong either.

That political rival, Pawar, promised Sanjay's father after the incident: as long as Sanjay pleaded guilty, he could get him out of prison within two weeks.

So Old Dutt believed him. He told his son, who was filming in Mauritius, to come back, saying he would only be at the police station for two hours before he could go home.

But the order I received was to take two hundred armed police officers to the airport. When Sanjay came down the escalator, his fate was sealed."

Damn, these politicians are really sinister.

"Will Sanjay be sentenced?"

"He can't escape it, at least eighteen months."

Ron frowned, his expression helpless.

"Okay, I won't get involved in this matter, nor will I plead for him.

But I might take someone to see Thackeray, you know that Tiger."

"Of course. No problem, tell him to come," Ajai said with a calm expression.