• Crime - English

    The Goa Beach Murders

    August 20, 2025 - By 

    Pinaki Verma 1 The Goan sun dipped low into the Arabian Sea, painting the horizon with fiery streaks of orange and crimson as Anjuna beach slowly came alive with tourists gathering for the evening. Arjun Sen leaned back on the creaking wooden chair outside his shack, the smell of charred prawns and kingfish mixing with the salty air. Once, he had carried a badge, a gun, and the weight of justice on his shoulders; now he carried trays of seafood and glasses of feni to strangers. To most, he was just another shack owner—dark glasses hiding tired eyes, hair flecked…

  • Crime - English

    Chennai Submersion

    August 19, 2025 - By 

    Natasha Shrivastav Chapter 1 – The Waters Rise Chennai woke to a city unrecognizable, drowned in the relentless aftermath of the heaviest monsoon the region had seen in decades. The Marina Beach, usually a sprawling stretch of sand dotted with morning walkers and street vendors, had become a surreal tableau of destruction. Waves, tinged with debris and refuse, lapped angrily at the submerged roads, while low-lying neighborhoods resembled shallow lakes, rooftops and treetops barely protruding above the rising water. Families huddled on makeshift rafts, carrying children and belongings, as emergency sirens wailed through the humid, rain-laden air. The government had…

  • Crime - English

    The Missing Idol

    August 19, 2025 - By 

    Nirmala Iyer Chapter 1: The Festival Night The small temple town of Thiruvelli, nestled between rolling hills and fields of swaying paddy, had long lived in quiet rhythm, its people rising with the temple bells and sleeping to the lull of evening chants. But during Panguni Uthiram, the silence broke into a grand spectacle of devotion and festivity. From dawn, narrow streets lined with banyan trees overflowed with pilgrims who had walked for miles barefoot, carrying offerings of coconuts, garlands, and pots of milk. Stalls selling sweet jaggery pongal, jasmine flowers, and brass lamps dotted the lanes, their fragrances mingling…

  • Crime - English

    Tide of Silence

    August 19, 2025 - By 

    Rajesh Parekh Dawn came to Puri like a slow bruise as the Bay of Bengal heaved against the shore, and when the water pulled back it left more than shells and plastic cups; it left a girl whose hair spread like seaweed, whose red kurti clung like skin, whose cheek bore a crescent of sand as if the beach had tried to close her eyes. Sankar Pradhan found her because he was always earlier than the gulls, because nets do not wait for proper daylight, because the sea pays better attention to men who arrive first. He waded, shouted, and…

  • Crime - English

    Blood on the Expressway

    August 18, 2025 - By 

    Prabhat Mishra One The night on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was unlike the chaotic city roads it connected. Here, silence ruled the vast stretches, broken only by the occasional roar of engines and the rhythmic hum of tires on asphalt. The headlights of passing cars carved fleeting tunnels of brightness through the darkness, then disappeared, leaving the long, lonely highway in its natural emptiness once more. For truck drivers, these journeys were about endurance—keeping eyes open, hands steady, and minds sharp. One such driver, Ravi Yadav, was maneuvering his lorry past a half-lit toll booth when he noticed something unusual: a…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    Crimson Monsoon

    August 16, 2025 - By 

    Ayan Mehta 1 The rains had not stopped for three days, and in the heart of Kochi’s old port area, the swollen waters had turned every lane into a stream. On the fourth morning, as the sky remained heavy with dark monsoon clouds, police were called to a derelict warehouse by the shore. Inside, half-submerged in knee-deep water, floated the body of a middle-aged man. His face was bloated, his shirt clung to his chest, and his trousers bore muddy stains. A faint smell of oil and damp wood filled the air, mixing with the pungent odour of decay beginning…

  • Crime - English

    The Listener

    August 14, 2025 - By 

    Devraj Sinha Part 1 — The Echo in the Dark The gallery stood like a lone lantern in the sleeping street, its glass façade throwing pale squares of light onto wet cobblestones. Midnight rain had just stopped, leaving the air sharp with that metallic scent London kept after a downpour. Lena Brooks had been watching the place for an hour, hood drawn low, hands in her jacket pocket, the spray can warm against her palm. She’d chosen this night carefully. No security guard on the roster—she’d checked the rota online—and the CCTV camera above the side alley had been broken…

  • Crime - English

    The Accountant’s Funeral

    August 13, 2025 - By 

    R. K. Menon Chapter 1 The morning traffic on Outer Ring Road was its usual symphony of blaring horns, impatient engines, and the occasional curse shouted through helmet visors. Somewhere between a lumbering BMTC bus and a swerving goods carrier, Prakash Nayak’s modest grey scooter skidded. The police report would later write it up as a tragic but routine road mishap—oil slick on the asphalt, sudden brake, impact with a divider, helmet cracked clean through. For the few bystanders who stopped, he was just another middle-aged man in an ill-fitting formal shirt and worn office trousers, carrying a black backpack…

  • Crime - English

    Tandoor City

    August 12, 2025 - By 

    Manav Kashyap Chapter 1: The streets of Delhi were alive with the usual nighttime chaos—autos honking in frustration, chai stalls glowing under dim bulbs, and the muffled thrum of bike engines weaving between traffic. Rohan Batra leaned against a cracked wall outside a crowded momo stall in Lajpat Nagar, filming his closing shot for the day’s vlog. His channel, Hidden Heat, had once been his pride, a place where he exposed forgotten street food legends and secret recipes, but lately, the views had plateaued. The city’s food scene was becoming more curated, more polished, and he knew that unless he…

  • Crime - English

    The Fog Heist

    August 11, 2025 - By 

    Sahir Kaul Chapter 1 The night air in Surat carried the faint scent of the Tapi River and the metallic hum of industry, but inside the towering facade of the Shree Omkar Luxury Vault, silence reigned. The building’s polished marble lobby gleamed under low security lighting, the air-conditioned chill a stark contrast to the humid streets outside. At 11:48 p.m., a black SUV glided into the underground parking bay, its windows tinted beyond regulation. Three figures emerged, faces hidden behind sleek, black half-masks, their movements precise and unhurried. They passed through the biometric scanner using codes that should have been…