Disguised behind a burqa, feigning illness or even pretending to be blind, private detective Rajani Pandit will stop at almost nothing to find out the truth.
“Social media is affecting life a lot,” she tells Catherine Scott on Tuesday’s Dateline. “What is shown is not necessarily the truth… it’s easy to mislead.”
Concerned families come to her office in Mumbai with stories of their children hiding what they’re doing on their phones or concerns that their lovers may not be who they seem.
“It’s mostly parents who come to me,” she says. “I will find out everything… and report to the client.”
Rajani has now solved over 7,500 cases, including her own nephew’s. Adi only found out during Dateline’s filming that even his fiancée had been investigated.
“I wanted to know all about her and her family. So I checked all that out, and only then I said yes,” she reveals to his surprise.
So-called ‘love marriages’ are increasingly challenging India’s traditional arranged marriages, where the potential bride or groom is already known to both families.
“In arranged marriages the facts about the girl are known, her character and how she will adjust in the family,” Rajani says. “Love marriages are blind… and when they learn the truth, many are in for a shock.”
Breaking from a marriage that’s already been arranged can lead to serious social stigma.
Technically her work isn’t legal and she’s never been properly trained, but Rajani is one of an increasing number of lady detectives across India.
"Love detectives can bridge the gap between the old and new generations,” she says. “Mostly parents come to see me... they really care about making sure that their children are not taken advantage of.
”In Delhi, Akriti Khatri is known as the capital’s Nancy Drew. She runs her own agency, Venus Detectives, and sees big business in India’s urban transformation.
“Infidelity is going on at a very high rate. It's like every next house you can find it out, ” she tells Catherine. “It’s now more of a business instead of a profession.
She dreams of creating training schools to pass on techniques like the ‘honey trap’.
“There are females coming to us that want to know whether their boyfriend or their fiancés are loyal to them or not, so for them we have to do this honey trap,” she tells her team of agents.
“If their boyfriends, fiancés, husbands get trapped by us, obviously they are not loyal.”
Some ask if such lady detectives are liberating or stifling Indian women when it comes to love.
And Rajani herself is unusual for India - at 48, she’s chosen not to marry.
“I’m not married, I don’t want to marry. I’m married to my profession.”
What will she uncover about Rajesh’s sister? And is the man Aunty wants investigated telling the truth? Follow Rajani and Akriti at work on Tuesday’s Dateline at 9.30pm on SBS.
