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In Thriving India, Wedding Sleuths Find Their Niche
Bhavna Paliwal of New Delhi is one of a growing number of private detectives being hired by Indian brides to vet their suitors.
(By Emily Wax -- The Washington Post)
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Pandit Ram Gopal Atrey, the head priest at Old Hanuman Mandir temple, one of thousands of neighborhood temples in New Delhi, has seen it happen often.
"We have 50 cases a year of brides being duped. This never was the case in the past," Atrey said. "When this happens, it's like an act of terrorism in the life of the girl and her family. They are shamed and left with nothing after the dowry is paid."
For Paliwal, the worst part of the investigations is breaking the news.
Recently, she had to reveal the truth to the computer engineer. The solidly built detective sat the would-be bride down in the back of her office with a box of tissues. First, she showed her the photographs: the groom partying at nightclubs, hard liquor sloshing in his glass, flirty cocktail waitresses lingering at his table. Then she showed her the worst of it: the housemaid's tearful videotaped confession that she was having an affair with the groom.
"Better luck next time" was Paliwal's hardened way of consoling the shattered young woman.
Paliwal, along with other detectives from her agency, spent days befriending the intended groom's maid and videotaping her with a spy cam. Paliwal was undercover when she chatted up the maid, telling her she was looking to open a business in the area.
"The bride was so upset, but we might have saved her from a lifetime of misery," Paliwal said as she fielded a call from another prospective client. "You don't want to wait till marriage to know the real picture."
The bride-to-be, who was so humiliated she didn't want to be named, said she was devastated and entered therapy. "But without their investigations, I would be dealing with these truths in my daily life," she said.
The investigation involved a team of four female detectives, led by Paliwal. Since it was a rush job and included the use of high-tech recording equipment, Paliwal's agency charged about $1,200.
But the bride's brother, Prem Sharma, said what the agency found out was worth every rupee. "We would have been lost without our lady detective. This was not the right boy for my sister," he said.
Paliwal said being a wedding detective has turned out to be her dream job. In college, she studied to be an investigative journalist but then found herself spending too much time on routine stories for a neighborhood newspaper.
She learned of some reporters who had become crime sleuths, a common move in India because the police are so understaffed. She then applied for a job at a private eye agency she had heard was hiring. Today, her boss is Pradeep Sharma, a retired intelligence officer who said he's been impressed with female street detectives.
