Rajani Pandit

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Rajani Pandit is an Indian private investigator who is regarded as the first woman private investigator in the state of Maharashtra, and sometimes even the first in India. She has been the subject of a documentary, written two books, received numerous awards, and is considered one of the most famous detectives in India.

Rajani Pandit was born in Palghar, in the Thane district of Maharashtra. Her father, Shantaram Pandit, was a criminal investigator with the Mumbai Police. She studied Marathi literature at Ruparel College in Mumbai where she first became interested in detective work when, in 1983, she investigated a classmate who was trapped in the business of prostitution. She informed her parents, who initially did not accept it, but later thanked her for informing them. Rajani says that it was the grateful family of the girl that she investigated who encouraged her to go into detective work as a profession. She found that "No qualification is required to be a detective. It requires concentration, hard work, struggle, in-depth knowledge and dedication towards the profession." As a result, she started her agency, Rajani Pandit Detective Services, also known as Rajani Investigation Bureau, in 1991. She set up an office in Mahim, Mumbai and, by 2010, employed a staff of 30 detectives and was handling about 20 cases a month. As of 2003, she had to her credit over 7,000 cases that she has successfully cracked.

Rajani single-handedly runs this private detective agency, and has women in her staff as well. The staffers are paid based on the number of cases they solve. Every staff member is provided with a mobile phone so they can keep in touch with her and give her minute-by-minute updates regarding the case on which they are working. In a 1998 interview, she said her firm had handled "domestic problems, company espionage, missing people and murders" throughout India and abroad, sometimes in disguise. "I've played a maidservant, a blind woman, pregnant woman, dumb woman – fear is not a word in my dictionary", she remarked. Talking about her sensational cases so far, Rajani says: "A 45-year-old woman had given supari to kill her son as she had an extra marital affair and her son objected to it. She planned to eliminate him. It was also reported that she was behind the mysterious killing of her husband. I was given the task to find out who her lover was. I worked as a servant in her home for six months. One day, I saw him and recorded their conversation, but I couldn't get chance to inform my clients. But after a week, when the killer came at night, I got a chance and informed her relatives. They came and arrested the accused." In another case, she acted like a lunatic at Juhu beach to listen to what two executives of a multi-national company were talking about. The company had given her the job of finding out if the two men were involved in a financial scam. The job was done successfully and she gained a few multi-national companies as her permanent clients. Daily, she meets with different clients at her office located at Shivaji Park. She has helped the Mumbai police in the past though she mostly deals with family affairs.

Rajani is single. She says: "I love my profession and if I get married, then I will be divided between family and profession. Therefore, I do not want to get married as I want to help society and investigate the hidden aspects in a person's life." Based on her experiences, she has written two books: “Faces Behind Faces” and “Mayajal”. The former has won two awards, while the later has won six awards. In addition to honours for her books, she is also a recipient of the Hirkani award from Doordarshan that honours women achievers. She is the subject of a documentary film made by Dinkar Rao, titled Lady James Bond.


Source: Wikipedia and Google search.