• Crime - English

    The Vanishing of Viraj Mehta

    June 16, 2025 - By 

    Chapter 1:  It was the sort of evening that wrapped Mumbai in a damp silence—one of those monsoon nights when the rain doesn’t roar, but hisses steadily, like a whisper of secrets meant to be hidden. The streetlights near Colaba Causeway flickered through the drizzle, casting shimmering reflections across the wet tarmac. Viraj Mehta, the 42-year-old diamond merchant with a reputation as clean as the stones he traded, checked his Rolex for the fourth time as he exited his office building. He had ended his day like any other: signing off ledger sheets, taking calls from Dubai, and checking shipments…

  • Crime - English

    The Last Wave at Palolem

    June 15, 2025 - By 

    Vivaan Sharma The Body on the Shore The waves crashed softly against the rocks, their rhythm almost meditative under the hazy early morning sun. Palolem Beach was just beginning to wake—fishermen pulling in their nets, yoga teachers arranging mats on the sand, tourists stretching and sipping on bitter black coffee from the shacks. And then the scream. It sliced through the humid air like a blade. A local boy had found her—curled on her side near the rocky edge of the shore, half-buried in sand, her hair tangled with seaweed. At first glance, it looked like she had been sleeping.…

  • Crime - English - Horror

    Echoes of Teesta Villa

    June 15, 2025 - By 

    Maitreyee Basu Chapter 1: The Blood on the Floorboards   The monsoon clouds had just begun to roll over Kalimpong’s forested ridges when Dr. Arjun Roy’s taxi took the final bend toward Teesta Villa. The road, snaking through damp pine groves and moss-streaked colonial fences, looked like a forgotten memory. Arjun watched from behind fogged glasses as the worn iron gates of the villa emerged from a curtain of mist—weathered, crooked, and latched with a rusted chain that looked as old as the town itself. He stepped out with his leather satchel, the thick scent of wet soil, mildew, and…

  • Crime - English

    The Last Case of Inspector Rao

    June 14, 2025 - By 

    Rajiv Deshmukh Chapter 1: Thirteen Days Inspector Devendra Rao stared at the brass nameplate on his desk as if it were a stranger. The letters gleamed in the late afternoon sun—bold, authoritative, and now irrelevant. “Inspector D. Rao – Crime Branch.” Thirteen days. That’s all that remained before this title would be reduced to a fading memory and a dusty plaque on the wall of a two-bedroom apartment in Dadar. His colleagues were already taking bets on how long he’d last before boredom pulled him back in—if not officially, then at least as a “consultant.” The only paperwork on his…

  • Crime - English

    The Last Witness

    June 13, 2025 - By 

    Aditya Nandan. Part 1: The Opening Argument The judge’s gavel landed with a thud, cutting through the low murmur of the packed Delhi courtroom. Justice Arunabh Sen, silver-haired and unsmiling, adjusted his glasses and surveyed the room with the calm of a man who had seen too much and believed too little. “This court is now in session for the State versus Aryan Khanna,” he said. “Charged under IPC Section 302—murder. Let us proceed.” At the prosecution bench, Senior Public Prosecutor Asha Gautam stood up. She was in her early forties, sharply dressed in a black silk saree and an…

  • Crime - English

    The Alipore Ledger

    June 13, 2025 - By 

    Ishaan Roychowdhury 1 It started on a Wednesday, just as the first rains of June swept across the city like a waking god shaking off centuries of sleep, drenching Alipore’s colonial bungalows and whispering down the serpentine lanes that remembered secrets better than people did. ACP Ira Basu stood beneath the broken awning of the old Watchtower Lane police outpost, watching as constables cordoned off the site of yet another murder—this one more grotesque than the last, the body splayed like a crude offering on the steps of a crumbling cemetery wall, the eyelids meticulously removed and placed on a…

  • English - Crime

    The Last Passenger

    June 12, 2025 - By 

    1 The rain hadn’t stopped in twelve hours. It came down in long, dirty sheets, soaking the streets of Mumbai in a miserable, sticky silence. Neon signs flickered through misty glass. Puddles pooled over cracked footpaths. And somewhere between the dripping lamp-posts of Andheri East and the rust-red gates of Lokhandwala, a yellow-black Premier Padmini taxi came to a halt—and never moved again. That was the only fact the police could agree on. They found the taxi parked awkwardly on a side street near DN Nagar Metro Station. The driver’s side door was ajar, rain pooling in the footwell. The…

  • English - Crime

    The Kalighat Murders

    June 12, 2025 - By 

    Ritam Sen  The Body by the Ghat The tram squealed as it curved past the Kalighat temple gates, the clattering wheels echoing through the alleyways still soaked from last night’s drizzle. The city was stirring — morning prayers floated out from open windows, chai stalls hissed to life, and vendors set up shop like they had every day for years. Kolkata, in its timeless rhythm, was waking up. Inspector Arjun Dutta was halfway through his first cup of tea when the call came. The voice on the other end, a young constable posted at the Kalighat beat, was unusually tense.…

  • English - Crime

    The Howrah Hunting

    June 11, 2025 - By 

    Aritra Mukherjee Chapter 1: It was a sultry April morning in Kolkata, the kind where the air feels heavy enough to drown in, thick with humidity, sweat, and the dull weight of unspoken things. The city, always loud and unapologetically alive, had barely opened its sleepy eyes when the scream echoed along the concrete ribs of Howrah Bridge, bouncing off the iron like a banshee’s call, scattering a flock of pigeons into the early light. The chaiwalas had just begun their first boil, the fishermen were dragging their nets near the Hooghly’s edge, and fruit vendors were still unpacking their…

  • English - Crime

    Stardust and Shadows

    June 11, 2025 - By 

    Mira Devika The Girl Who Dreamed in Technicolor Aarya Vardhan arrived in Mumbai on a humid June afternoon, the kind where the sky smelt of wet rust and ambition. Dadar station was a swarm of people—hawkers shouting, suitcases clattering, children crying. She stepped off the train in worn jeans, a cotton kurta, and sneakers that had seen too many miles. Her suitcase was secondhand; her dreams were not. She stood still for a second, letting the city breathe on her. It smelled of diesel, dust, sweat, and something else—possibility. For a girl from Jabalpur with no industry godfather, Mumbai was…