• Crime - English

    The Last Stop at Churchgate

    July 23, 2025 - By 

    Mithilesh Sharma 1 The last train of the day hissed into Churchgate station like a tired animal, exhaling its mechanical breath into the near-empty platform. The digital clock above flickered—11:17 PM. A young woman in a pale blue kurti stepped off the 10:45 PM Borivali fast local, clutching her jute bag close. Nikita Majumdar. Her phone buzzed once in her pocket, but she didn’t check it. The cameras caught her image in three places—exiting the ladies’ compartment, walking past the stationery kiosk, then disappearing behind the pillar near the service stairwell. After that, nothing. The next time anyone saw her,…

  • Crime - English

    Mirror of Shadow

    July 22, 2025 - By 

    Sujan Ganguly 1 The rain had just begun to tap lightly against the wrought-iron balconies of Ballygunge’s aging colonial mansions when Ayesha Dutta was last seen. It was a quiet Wednesday afternoon in late July, and the streets of the upscale South Kolkata neighborhood glistened with monsoon stillness. Ayesha, seventeen and self-possessed beyond her years, had told her mother she was going to visit a friend to discuss a school literary project. Instead, she walked into the ivy-covered gates of Ananda Apartments — a five-story heritage building, once home to freedom fighters and now to retired bureaucrats, eccentric artists, and…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    The Clay Idol Murders

    July 22, 2025 - By 

    Debasish Guha Chapter 1: The Cracked Clay The scent of wet earth and incense filled the narrow lanes of Kumartuli as the morning sun filtered through bamboo scaffolding and half-finished goddesses. It was five days before Mahalaya, and the air in Kolkata shimmered with anticipation. The idol-makers worked tirelessly, smearing layers of straw and clay onto skeletal bamboo frames, coaxing divine forms into being. But something had gone terribly wrong at Workshop No. 14. Apprentice boys stood frozen outside, whispering in hushed tones as their trembling eyes stayed locked on the massive figure of a half-finished Durga. The goddess’s eyes,…

  • Crime - English

    Panchlight Lane

    July 22, 2025 - By 

    Mukund Tiwari 1 The village of Gopalpur, tucked between the dry hills of Chhatarpur, had a peculiar glow that night. Not from electricity—no, that was a rare guest—but from a string of solar-powered panchlights flickering weakly along the dusty lane that led to the banyan tree near the temple. Beneath its sprawling roots, the villagers had gathered for the annual shukravaar bhoj, hosted as always by Sarpanch Ramesh Tiwari. Plastic chairs were arranged by caste rank, older men chewed pan and gossiped in Bundeli, and a cauldron of steaming dal bafla perfumed the air with spices. Nakul Pandey, the newly…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    The Architect’s Alibi

    July 20, 2025 - By 

    Meghna Rao 1 The skies over Bengaluru were unusually clear that Thursday morning as dignitaries, media personnel, and shareholders gathered beneath a white canopy set up in front of the city’s newest architectural marvel—Skyrise X. Towering fifty-four stories high, its glass façade shimmered like a knife under sunlight, cutting through the skyline of the tech capital with defiant elegance. Designed by the legendary Arvind Raghavan and funded by real estate giant R&R Infrastructures, the building was hailed as the future of vertical urban living—complete with rooftop gardens, automated energy grids, and helipad access. Cameras flashed, champagne flowed, and applause erupted…

  • Crime - English

    The Midnight Caller

    July 18, 2025 - By 

    Kunal Sinha 1 It was a humid, sticky evening in Kolkata when Maya Sengupta first noticed something was amiss. The streets outside her apartment were bathed in the warm golden light of the streetlamps, but the stillness of the night felt heavy, almost suffocating. The only sounds that punctuated the silence were the occasional honk of distant cars and the rustling of the trees swaying under the breeze. Maya had just finished her work for the day and was sipping on a hot cup of tea when her phone rang. The sudden noise startled her. It was late — too…

  • Crime - English

    The Haunting of Kolkata

    July 17, 2025 - By 

    Animesh Tarafder 1 The sun had barely begun to set, casting a soft golden glow over the winding streets of Kolkata, when Dr. Neelav Gupta received the call that would pull him back into a past he had long buried. A murder—gruesome, ritualistic—had occurred in the heart of the city. As a renowned criminal psychologist, Neelav was often called in for such cases, but there was something unsettling about this one. The victim, an elderly woman, had been found posed in an unnatural way, her body frozen in a grotesque contortion. Strange symbols, like the markings of a forgotten language,…

  • Crime - English

    The Chessboard Killer

    July 16, 2025 - By 

    Radhika Iyer One The monsoon had just started whispering over Chennai when Rudra Iyer walked into the Madras Chess Club for his final pre-tournament practice. The marble floor of the hall was damp from the humid wind sneaking in through the old lattice windows, and the scent of wet books, sweat, and varnished wood gave the room an odd comfort he had always known. At twenty-four, Rudra was already a Grandmaster and the brightest Indian hope in the upcoming Tamil Nadu International Grandmasters Open. But today, something felt misaligned. On the board, he played a quiet e4, the most classic…

  • Crime - English

    The Portrait of Her Silence

    July 14, 2025 - By 

    Kiran Mehra Part 1: The Parcel Wrapped in Silk The parcel arrived on a late Monday afternoon, wrapped in fading blue silk with frayed edges that smelled faintly of mothballs and sandalwood. Advaita Roy didn’t remember ordering anything. No note. No sender. Just her name—Ms. A. Roy—written in a dark ink that had bled slightly at the corners, as if the paper had once wept. She set the package on her studio table, brushing aside paintbrushes, restoration cloths, and a yellowing file titled “Reclamation: Bengal Portraiture, 1890–1920.” Her studio, perched on the first floor of a heritage building near Kolkata’s…

  • Crime - English - Suspense

    The Monsoon Murders

    July 14, 2025 - By 

    Swati Trivedi 1 The monsoon season had arrived in Shillong with an intensity that was both beautiful and foreboding. The clouds rolled over the hills like dark, heavy blankets, casting a shroud of mist that clung to everything. The town, famous for its relentless rains, seemed to hold its breath as the first wave of the downpour washed over the region. A body was found in one of the remote villages on the outskirts of the city, nestled deep in the mountains where few dared to go. Local authorities initially thought it was a landslide victim, a common occurrence during…