• Crime - English

    The Midnight Autopsy

    July 29, 2025 - By 

    Shanaya Rao 1 The fluorescent lights buzzed faintly overhead, casting an antiseptic glare over the chilled walls of the AIIMS mortuary. The smell of formaldehyde clung to every surface, a scent Dr. Ira Bhaskar had long since stopped noticing. It was nearing midnight, and the corridors were mostly deserted, save for the hum of distant refrigeration units and the soft thud of her footsteps echoing in the tiled corridor. Inside Autopsy Chamber 4, a body lay under a white sheet — Case #N-4521, a twenty-two-year-old woman named Niharika Sharma, found murdered in a park near South Delhi. The case had…

  • Crime - English

    The Third Immersion

    July 29, 2025 - By 

    Aparajita Tiwari One The train to Prayagraj rolled into the station just before dawn, its rusted wheels screeching softly against the tracks as if whispering secrets to the holy city. Nandita Mukherjee stepped out, clutching her leather satchel and the fading warmth of a voice note from her brother, Neel. It was barely thirty-six seconds long—his voice low, deliberate, and edged with urgency. “They’re watching me… The third dip is a front. Too many missing faces. If anything happens…” Then silence. No location. No follow-up. Just those words, haunting and cryptic. The air smelled of smoke, camphor, and wet earth…

  • Crime - English

    The Cochin Conspiracy

    July 28, 2025 - By 

    Krishnan Iyer 1 The coastal air of Fort Kochi carried a certain salt-heavy stillness that morning, interrupted only by the frantic footsteps of an old caretaker rushing through the arched corridors of St. Francis Church. Sunlight filtered lazily through stained glass, casting jewel-toned halos on the ancient tiled floor as birds fluttered from the rafters. The caretaker, Murali, breathless and trembling, pointed to the raised altar where a priceless relic once stood — the intricately carved Pietà, gifted by Dutch colonists in the 17th century, now gone without a trace. No broken locks, no forced doors, not even a footprint…

  • Crime - English

    The Last Signal from Kalka Mail

    July 27, 2025 - By 

    Sagnik Basu The Kalka Mail pulled out of Howrah Station at exactly 7:40 p.m., its long, rattling compartments groaning like a creature awakened from slumber. Among the many passengers boarding that evening was Anant Vashisht, a man in his late sixties, lean and upright, with a faded Nehru jacket and an expression that gave nothing away. He moved quietly through the First AC coach, berth 42, settling into his compartment with the calm precision of someone trained to disappear in plain sight. He carried one thing of interest—a brown leather briefcase with steel corners, chained to his wrist. Fellow passengers…

  • Crime - English

    Shatranj Ke Khiladi 2.0

    July 26, 2025 - By 

    Mayurakshi Sharma 1 The monsoon had painted Lucknow in sepia — wet alleys shimmering under rusted streetlights, the scent of damp earth clinging to the city’s bones. Zoya Rizvi sat on the floor of her small apartment in Hazratganj, hunched over a half-broken laptop and sipping over-steeped chai. The newsroom she once called home had shuttered six months ago; now, freelance gigs and occasional bylines were all she had to show for her stubborn honesty. She was finishing a piece on encroachment near the Gomti when her encrypted ProtonMail pinged. The subject line read simply: “1994. Truth rots slowly.” Attached…

  • Crime - English

    The Frequency Killer

    July 26, 2025 - By 

    Kalyan Mukherjee One The rain had turned Hatibagan into a mosaic of puddles and reflections. Rickshaws creaked over slick tram tracks, and yellow taxis honked in frustration as they weaved between vegetable carts and slow-moving pedestrians. Amrita Dutta stood before the rusting iron gate of her grandfather’s house, staring up at the dark, crumbling façade as though it might swallow her whole. It had been over a decade since she’d stepped foot in this neighborhood, and yet the smell of damp paper, incense, and frying telebhaja felt too familiar. She entered cautiously, key in hand, pushing open the heavy door…

  • Crime - English

    Salt in the Wound

    July 25, 2025 - By 

    Mukta Joshi 1 The sun had not yet risen over the vast white plains of the Rann of Kutch, but the world was already glowing. A ghostly sheen hung over the salt flats, where the land met the sky in a silent, horizonless stretch of emptiness. Abdul Rehman Shaikh squinted into the distance, the crunch of salt beneath his sandals breaking the stillness. He had walked this path for over thirty years, guiding workers and checking the progress of the salt beds, but this morning something was different. There was an unnatural stillness near the third trench—where the water had…

  • Crime - English

    Cyanide at Chowpatty

    July 25, 2025 - By 

    Akash Tripathi 1 The salty breeze of the Arabian Sea drifted through Girgaon Chowpatty, curling around sizzling pans and the spicy perfume of crushed coriander and garlic chutney. Tara Joshi stood behind her grandfather’s chaat stall, apron tied around her waist, expertly arranging plates of sev puri with the finesse only years of helping at the stall could teach. The sky had turned a buttery orange, and the usual crowd of couples, college kids, and beach walkers had begun to gather around the row of food carts. Dattatray Joshi—Dada to everyone—stood beside her, his wrinkled hands moving steadily, his voice…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    The Last File of Officer Rane

    July 24, 2025 - By 

    Nabin Mishra Chapter 1: The Cassette The rain had returned to Mumbai like an old debt collector—persistent, uninvited, and soaked in memory. Officer Vinayak Rane sat by the rusting grill of his Dadar flat, the yellowed curtains barely swaying as he watched water trickle down the windowpane like the slow bleed of time. His apartment was a museum of silence, its walls lined with worn furniture and an old transistor that hadn’t caught a frequency in years. He smoked his first cigarette of the day at 4 p.m., his back aching from sleep he never remembered falling into. When the…

  • Crime - English

    Red Threads of Malappuram

    July 24, 2025 - By 

    Prakash Iyer 1 The heat of the festival hung heavy in the air, thick with sandalwood smoke, jasmine petals, and the rhythmic thud of chenda drums echoing off ancient temple walls. Women moved through the temple grounds in waves of red and gold, their sarees shimmering under strings of hanging oil lamps. In the courtyard of the Thirumandhamkunnu Temple, amidst the pulse of ritual and devotion, a body lay sprawled near the banyan tree where devotees tied threads for wishes. The crowd had not noticed her at first, assuming she was just another woman overcome by the rush of the…