Rajani Pandit

Early life

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 involved in prostitution.

Career

Pandit says that when she solved her first "case" in college, the grateful family of the girl that she investigated 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, Pandit 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.

In a 1998 interview, Pandit 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. Discussing her work in a Times of India interview, Pandit spoke of a case where a woman was allegedly involved in her husband's death where Pandit worked undercover as a maid in the home for six months. In another case, she pretended to be a lunatic to investigate two business executives.

Books

Based on her experiences, Pandit has written two books: Faces Behind Faces and Mayajal. The former has won two awards, while the latter has won six awards.

Awards and recognition

In addition to honours for her books, Pandit is 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.