Allies and Enemies

The story broke at 6 AM across twelve publications.

The Explosion

The coverage was coordinated for maximum impact.

Major newspapers led with investigations of their local colleges—evidence that the shadow network operated in their cities. Tech publications focused on the technical sophistication of the system. Business outlets highlighted the financial scale.

And at the center: my story. The student who discovered the Somaiya node, investigated it alone, and was framed when he got too close.

By 8 AM, it was the lead story on every news channel. By 10 AM, government officials were making statements. By noon, police raids had begun at suspected network locations across five states.

The Allies

I had not realized how many people were waiting for this moment.

Students who had suspected fraud but had no proof. Faculty who had been silenced when they raised concerns. IT staff who had noticed anomalies but feared speaking up.

They came forward. Hundreds of them, within the first day. Adding their testimonies to the record, corroborating what the evidence showed, expanding the scope of the investigation.

My three classmates—Riya, Amit, Priya—were among the first. They had been silent during my persecution, but they had preserved evidence of their own. Now they spoke publicly about what they had helped me discover.

I was not alone anymore.

The Enemies

But the network fought back.

Legal threats arrived within hours. Defamation claims from Vikram Shetty, demanding the story be retracted. Cease and desist letters from the consulting firm that operated the external servers.

More concerning: the political connections became visible.

A state minister released a statement calling the investigation "media sensationalism." A college administrator with government ties filed a complaint accusing me of "criminal conspiracy against educational institutions."

The network had protectors. Powerful ones.

The Battle

The next two weeks were a war of attrition.

The police investigation moved slowly, hampered by legal challenges and political pressure. Evidence was "lost" from some locations. Key witnesses developed sudden memory problems.

But the public pressure was relentless. The media coverage continued. More victims came forward. Independent cybersecurity experts validated the technical evidence.

And international attention arrived. The scale of the fraud—affecting students whose credentials were used globally—attracted investigations from other countries.

The network could suppress local authorities. They could not suppress everyone.

The Testimony

I was called to testify before an investigative committee.

The hearing was broadcast live. Millions watched as I explained what I had found, how I had found it, and what had been done to silence me.

The committee asked questions for eight hours. Some were sympathetic, genuinely trying to understand the system. Others were hostile, trying to discredit my testimony.

But I had the evidence. Every claim I made could be verified. Every accusation had documentation.

By the end of the hearing, the committee announced they were recommending criminal prosecution of multiple individuals and organizations.

The Arrests

The arrests came gradually, over the following month.

Vikram Shetty was detained at an airport, attempting to leave the country. He was charged with fraud, unauthorized computer access, and criminal conspiracy.

The consulting firm's leadership was arrested. Multiple college administrators who had facilitated the network were suspended and charged.

And the network itself was dismantled. The shadow servers were seized. The external connections were traced and shut down. The infrastructure that had corrupted records for nearly a decade was finally destroyed.

The Cost

Victory came at a price.

My academic career was derailed. Even with the charges dropped, my formal education had been interrupted. Catching up would take years.

My reputation was complex. To some, I was a hero—the whistleblower who exposed institutional corruption. To others, I was a troublemaker who had betrayed my institution.

My relationships were strained. Friends who had supported me were dealing with their own consequences. Family who had stood by me were exhausted from the ordeal.

And the trauma was real. The surveillance, the frame-up, the isolation—these left marks that would take time to heal.

The Unexpected

But there were unexpected blessings.

The resistance group that had helped me became a permanent organization. We continued to investigate digital corruption, to help others who discovered similar systems.

Job offers arrived—from security firms, from media outlets, from technology companies who wanted someone with my skills and my ethics.

And at Somaiya itself, things changed. New security systems. New oversight procedures. New leadership committed to preventing this from happening again.

The institution that had tried to destroy me was being rebuilt.

The Lesson

Looking back, I understood what this experience had taught me.

Corruption persists because good people stay silent. Because exposing truth is costly. Because power protects itself and punishes those who challenge it.

But corruption also falls. Not easily, not quickly, but inevitably. Because enough people, working together, can overcome any cover-up.

I had been one student with a question. That question had become an investigation. That investigation had become a movement. That movement had changed an institution.

All because I had noticed an anomaly in the attendance system.

Allies emerge when you commit to the fight. Enemies reveal themselves when you threaten their power. Both are necessary parts of the truth.

Next: The truth—what we finally discovered about why this happened.