My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Try to touch the past. Try to deal with the past. It's not real. It's just a dream.”
----Ted Bundy
Puja Changoiwala, An Indian senior journalist-turned-crime-writer, pens a true crime story in her new book, The Front Page Murders in which the author weaves a bone-chilling account about one of India's most sophisticated serial killers, Vijay Palande, who preferred a glamorous Bollywood-themed life style and on the other hand, chose his victims with his victims through their bank balance, property, cars and other lavish and worthy material possessions. The account begins from Tikku Murder case until the last hidden pieces of human bone found in the Western Ghats and ends with the confession of the flamboyant serial killer's associates' confessions.
Synopsis:
'It takes a fearless mind to harbour such a dark heart, a heart that knows no nobility, no apology...'
Mumbai, April 2012. Over 21 days five murder cases were discovered that led to the unravelling of a spine-chilling tale of cold-blooded crime. Half-naked bodies; missing suspects; a desperate manhunt; connections with the underworld, police and Bollywood; and a seductress who lured victims - all led to a man named Vijay Palande.
Palande, who targeted dreamers, mainly Bollywood aspirants in Mumbai, had an uncomplicated modus operandi - he would befriend the target, gauge his wealth, murder him, hack his body into pieces, and abandon the remains in the Western Ghats. Equipped with the sophistication of Charles Sobhraj, the nonchalance of serial-killer Raman Raghav and the cruelty of Jack the Ripper, Palande had the country hooked.
In The Front Page Murders, Puja Changoiwala, who covered the story as it came to light, recounts in gripping detail one of the most sensational cases in India’s recent history and the personalities involved in it. In doing so, she delves into the functioning of daily crime reporting and police investigations, providing startling insights into the worlds of journalism and crime.
Arunkumar Tikku, father of the Bollywood actor, Anuj Tikku, was found murdered with lots of knife stab wounds on his chest, in his apartment in a posh complex in Mumbai. And as a resident had earlier witness the two tenants of the old man, hence the Mumbai police immediately arrests the two suspects and soon a thorough investigation leads the Mumbai police team to the doorstep of a lavish Bollywood-socialite-cum-crooked-businessman-cum-gangster-with-connections-to-the-Mumbai-underworld, Vijay Palande, who hatched a plan to steal the properties of the Tikkus by luring the son to a trip to Goa and asking his associates to pose as tenants to kill the father of the actor. Unfortunately his plan doesn't work out because of an eyewitness. Yet another case spills open right into the face of the Mumbai police when the disappearance of an wannabe Bollywood film producer named Karan Kakkad for more than 10 days, comes to light and with an instant, Palande and his alleged wife, Simran Sood, another fallen model of Bollywood world, come up and they are brought into custody. And gradually the bones of Kakkad are dug up from the Western Ghats followed by more murders and bones. We all know what the verdict says about Palande now, but the author has strikingly captured the twisted mind of a ruthless serial killer like Vijay Palande who loves to kill his victims in cold blood and then cut that body of the victim into pieces finally to bury them somewhere all the while making sure that no fingerprints or DNA prints are left back to trace it to the victim's original identity. A smart killer indeed!
The author, who was a then reporter of this sensational case that rocked the whole nation, covered the complete story and her journey through those terrible and struggling times to search along with her promising sources and the Mumbai Police for the missing film producer. The book is a sure shot page turner and will grip the readers mind right at the very beginning as the author gradually increases the real life tension of a journalist to find a breaking story amidst the competition from other leading daily newspapers and news channels. Although the Indian readers have gone through the case on a daily basis back in the year of 2012, this author makes this case like a first time one and the rush of story feels brand new from the readers perspective.
The author's writing is fresh, flawless and sensitively depicted about such a case involving human emotions and anticipation. The readers will find it easy enough to comprehend with the story line. The narrative, though is real-life, yet it is engagingly penned down to arrest the minds of the readers. The pacing is really fast as one after another case of missing person starts spilling out after the first murder.
The story is wrapped with so many layers which the author peels away one after the another thereby not at once the story will feel rushed or containing any loose-threads, instead it is thoroughly satisfying. The mystery is bone-deep and the details are penned by the author in a visually graphic manner so its best for faint hearted readers to skip this book, as some of the details are gruesome and really painful to read about those. The author has projected the case so cleverly and skillfully that each and every scene from the book comes alive right in front of the eyes of the readers and also the backdrop too is striking enough to make the readers feel the real-life thrill and rush of the events.
The characters from the killers to the suspects to the victims to the victims' kin are exceptionally painted with realism and emotions to make the readers look straight into the minds of those characters. The serial killer, Vijay Palande, is short, is sophisticated, clever and with a penchant to show that whatever he does, he does it for the country. His obsession towards money and other such material possession is very evident from the choice of his victims. Yet the readers will stay rooted to this story line as well as with this cool serial killer as the author digs deep into his childhood days, his background, his teenage days and the pain that he endured while growing up, finally figuring out the psychologically flawed mind set of this killer. The author also captures the sense of loss of a human being through the struggling and hurtful emotions of the victims' family members and how that death eventually affects their psychology and social well being.
Not only that, the author intricately conveys the modus operandi of a journalist who everyday runs through the city to look for a breaking news or front page-kind of story. Their lives are hectic and are subjected to insults and humiliations but that never deters them from their goal to achieve the raw and unedited version of a story. The readers will feel enlightened with the world of Indian newspapers' reporters' lives and their method of work and their ways of breaking a story.
In a nutshell, this true crime book is engrossing and will keep the readers glued to read about one of the most infamous Indian serial killers and his affluent victims' tragic plight.
Verdict: A sensational book of the season!
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Hachette India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Puja Changoiwala has worked as a senior crime correspondent with the Hindustan Times and has spent most of her career covering Mumbai’s sins and their casualties. Before she spotted her calling in Mumbai's appetite for felony, Puja worked as a political journalist and sub-editor with Asian Affairs, a London-based human rights magazine, and her writings have featured on BBC.com, Firstpost.com and in The Hindu, among other publications. Puja also holds an MA in Journalism from the University of Westminster, London.
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