Have you ever wondered how a detective works in Mumbai?

As a child, growing up reading Enid Blyton’s Mystery Series (Five Find-Outers) and even the Famous Five adventures, I was always fascinated about the life of a detective. Two Indian televisions shows, Karamchand and Byomkesh Bakshi, were also the talking point of a number of boys in school, who loved the carrot-eating Pankaj Kapoor and the suave Rajit Kapoor.
As I grew older, I began appreciating Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and the Feluda series by Satyajit Ray. I had even tried to coax my parents to buy me a chemical set, so that “I could understand forensics.” Fortunately, my parents, both extremely practical, said that while detectives appear to have wonderful lives from the books and TV shows that we watched, in reality there was no career prospect for me because I liked the comfortable life.

Are you being watched?
So there went my career as a private eye, but I still have a lot of admiration for the work they do in the city. As expected, most private detectives are hired by individuals who suspect that their partners are cheating on them. The detectives snoop on the ‘cheating’ partner and provide photographic and video evidence to the client and earn as much Rs. 5,000 per day per client. Some detective agencies even charge up to Rs. 90,000 per week. “The best thing is that people are prepared to pay so that they know the truth, whether they want to hear it or not,” explained one of the detectives who spoke to dna on the condition of anonymity.
Anonymity is something detectives pride themselves on. The agencies we spoke to refused to reveal the names of their employees, saying that it could expose their identity and thereby hamper a case.
Prashant Palekar, who runs Magnum Detectives in Lalbaug, added that his agency is hired to do background checks on families while conducting pre-matrimonial verifications. “We usually check to see if the families we are snooping on are not lying about their financial status. In addition, we follow them at a distance on a bike for a week to see if they are up to anything suspicious,” he added.
We tried getting in touch with Rajani Pandit, a Shivaji Park-based detective and the country’s first female super sleuth, but were unsuccessful. However, Pandit has to her credit an enviable 70,000 solved cases in her 25-year career. In a previously conducted interview with dna, Pandit had said that solving these cases would not have been possible if it weren’t for her strong network. “A private detective can never work alone,” she had said then.
Amit Sen, who runs AllianceOne, an Oshiwara-based detective service, said that while a bulk of his clients are suspicious partners, he also gets a number of corporate clients. “A number of companies hire us to do background checks on employees. In addition, we also track employees, who companies suspect are leaking out information to rival organisations. We also bug rooms in offices to ensure no improper information is leaked out,” he said.

The cop-detective connection
When asked if there have ever been issues with cops when it comes to solving cases, Sen said that his clients usually tell the police that they have hired a private detective. “The cops are usually relieved because they are typically short-staffed. So, they are open to taking our help, as long as we don’t interfere in their work.”
Sen added that since most detectives aren’t registered in India, they can only provide proof, but not interrogate. “An example of this is a case of theft that took place in a company. One of the suspects started living the lavish life, which we pointed out to the cops and then they questioned him,” he explained.