The Truth Be Heard

“As a kid,I was always the mischievous one,with a prank up my sleeve and I continued to crack jokes on people through adult life too,” says Thakur. The youngest in his family and the son of a policeman,Thakur’s family had no clue of his acts — of how he bullied his classmates,took advantage of his position as a Merchant Navy officer and accepted bribes,how a ghost scare orchestrated by him cost his course mate his career,how one rumour ruined the lives of two men,and one lie almost cost his ship Captain his job. “I did not know that the Captain’s wife was terminally ill and he desperately needed money. We pooled in resources but I never had the courage to say sorry. At the academy,my teacher became violently ill after I locked him in a tiny windowless bathroom. When I pulled a joke on my friend,I had no idea he was the only earning member of his family. My actions disrupted many lives and I never had the guts to own up to them,” says Thakur.

Sach Ka Saamna,he admits,has proved to be platform where he could stand in public and apologise. “I was a budding cricketer and was selected for the national camp but the coach was biased towards my friend and teammate. So,I started a rumour that the coach and cricketer were more than just buddies,” says he. Thakur’s one sexually laced lie snowballed into a huge controversy,with parents pulling their children out of the cricket academy.

He has been a classic case of what one lie grows into. “I knew they’d be asking such questions in the show,for they did in-depth research on me,put me through the lie-detector in the initial rounds and followed me around my daily routine. I was ready for it,” says Thakur.

Although he has won,he says that winning money was never the aim. “I’ll give it to my parents and friends in need,” says Thakur,who is now “set to right all wrongs”. Catch his confessions on April 1 on Life OK’s Sach Ka Saamna at 11 pm.