Private detectives: A Pre-Nuptial Priority for Some in India

NEW DELHI — The wedding, to be celebrated in sumptuous Indian style, was due for June and everything was progressing smoothly until the groom suddenly lost interest.

Suspicious of an affair, the bride did what increasing numbers of anxious lovers and nervous families are doing in India: she rang a private detective to find out why.

In a country where nine out of 10 marriages are still arranged and modern social pressures are putting the institution under pressure, the industry of snooping on lovers has expanded fast over the last five years, say insiders.

In this case an investigation by the agency AMX -- "marriage is a gamble," says its website -- revealed that the groom had recently discovered he was HIV positive.

The discovery was made by an attractive female undercover agent sent by the agency, who befriended the groom and found his medicine.

The wedding was eventually called off, like 20 percent of cases after a probe, AMX boss Baldev Kumar Puri told AFP.

"A pre-matrimonial investigation is your duty," Puri said. "A post matrimonial investigation is much more costly."

Puri and others, like Kunwar Vikram Singh, director of the New Delhi-based Lancers agency, are in a growth industry being driven by social changes and the way in which weddings are arranged.

In cities, families are relying increasingly on small advertisements in newspapers and websites or specialist dating agencies to find the perfect match for their children.

The problem is that everyone exaggerates, or even lies, about their qualities.

"Unlike the old days when a close-knit society meant that marriages were usually held between known families, these days marriages are increasingly being arranged through unknown, unfamiliar sources," said Singh.

"There is an increased risk involved in dealing with strangers."

To bridge the trust gap, private detectives are taken on to assess candidates without their knowledge.

Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

The Online 'Pre-Marital Detectives' Making Marriage a Safer Proposal

A surge in the number of arranged weddings brokered online has given rise to India’s first web-based “premarital detective” service — a supplier of private eyes who will snoop on prospective in-laws.

A multitude of matrimonial websites have sprung up in recent years, catering to every niche of Indian society from the obese to lovelorn eunuchs.

The sites are populated by an estimated 40 million singletons, whose online profiles specify everything from their regional roots and caste to their academic achievements, skin tones and professions. In a country where 95 per cent of marriages are arranged by parents such tools have proven hugely popular.

With online matrimony, however, nothing can be taken at face value. The number of internet-enabled marriages — many of which involve the payment of a large dowry by a bride’s family — has paved the way for misrepresentation on a massive scale, experts say.

Read more here and find and follow us on Twitter!

For A New India, A New Calling: The Wedding Sleuth

Ajit Singh knows about the lies people tell.

He has followed them through the littered, mildewed mazes of New Delhi's middle-class neighbourhoods. He has photographed them as they leave their lovers' apartments. He hears them exaggerate their salaries and hide their illnesses.

A thin man in an ill-fitting suit, Singh works out of a crowded office around the corner from a muffler shop. An incense stick burns behind his desk. A sign in slightly fractured English warns the staff: "Walls Has Ears And Eyes Too. BE ALERT."

Singh has spent years honing his skills: disguise, surveillance, misdirection. With just a few minutes' notice, he can deploy teams nearly anywhere across the country.

Because in modern India, where centuries of arranged marriages are being replaced by unions based on love, emotion and anonymous Internet introductions, where would a wedding be without a private detective?

"Today, there's a need to check if people are telling the truth. And that is where we get involved," said Singh. "Does that boy really have an education? Is he really earning that big salary? Is that boy or girl running around?"

Read more here

India Uses PIs to Stop Terrorism

When you go out dancing this Navratri, the woman swirling next to you in a backless choli could well be a private eye looking for suspicious elements wanting to unleash terror.

With Navratri this year being held in the backdrop of serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and terror attacks elsewhere, many garba venues will be monitored closely, with policemen, private security personnel and desi James Bonds mingling with dancers dressed in all the finery to keep vigil.

“Undercover agents, both male and female, will be dressed in traditional kediya-dhoti and ghaghra-choli,” says M M Khan of Blackcat Secret Services. In Gujarat, private eyes have been hired over years, but mainly by worried parents to trail teenage children, NRIs to keep an eye on would-be brides and spouses suspecting their partners of infidelity.

However, the shadow of terror over the festivities this year has changed their brief, with most detectives being asked to keep their eyes open for a potential bomber rather than a cheating wife or a teenager out to have fun.