The Grudges of Gajanan Godbole

After years of being married to an overbearing wife and wading through life pretending to be half-dead, Gajanan Godbole has finally found himself alone and, most importantly, free. Courtesy COVID.
Lucky to have survived the pandemic by the skin of his teeth, Gajanan now discovers a side of his personality he never knew existed. Like a snake shedding its skin, Gajanan casts aside his meek old self and embraces his new homicidal avatar.
To satiate his grudgeful urges, he compiles a list ‐ of people he feels deserve to be punished for having wronged him.
Apologize or die is his simple motto! For murder, he believes, is the perfect cure for nastiness...

The Kid Killer

“Don’t you think kidnapping and murdering a child is the most wicked crime in the world sir?” PSI Motkar remarked.
“Yes Motkar, killing a child in cold blood requires a higher level of depravity than murdering an adult,” Saralkar replied thoughtfully, “Also a total lack of ordinary compassion….! The strange paradox is that it is physically easier to kill a kid, but morally far more difficult….”
The bloated body of 11 year old Pranjal Bhatti is found in Pune’s Mutha river, within 72 hours after he disappeared on his way to his tuition class. Intriguingly, only one ransom call was made by the kidnapper. As Senior Inspector Saralkar and PSI Motkar take charge of the case, a baffling array of suspects and motives emerge, from the Bhatti family’s deceptively commonplace present as well as their tumultuous past.
Sinister facts tumble out and each suspect appears equally likely to have done the stomach-churning deed, yet clinching evidence and breakthroughs remain frustratingly elusive. Pranjal’s grotesque fate also triggers a chilling personal memory for Saralkar, of being kidnapped as a school-boy, making him even more determined to track down the kid-killer.
But just as Saralkar and Motkar set off in hot pursuit, a double whammy of setbacks threatens to derail the investigation and smash their hard-earned reputation as formidable homicide cops.
Will the two proud Pune police officers manage to put their humiliating blunder behind them and emerge triumphant? Will Saralkar be able to hunt down and nab the menacing kid-killer, who might well be guilty of ghastly pedicide, earlier too?

Murder Milestone

“Happy Hanging!” Saralkar growled with all the spite in his system and stormed out of the cell.
Weeks before serial killer Dharmesh Solanki is to be executed, he wickedly burdens Senior Inspector Saralkar with a macabre secret Saralkar would’ve been better off not knowing.
Impelled to verify Solanki’s disturbing claim, Saralkar and PSI Motkar reopen the sixteen-year-old case, for which the senior inspector had won a police medal. And out tumble intriguing leads and shocking facts, that had fallen through the cracks back then.
Worse, only a motley group of elusive characters might form the shaky bridge to the murky truth—a missing ex-constable, a gluttonous witness who had narrowly escaped being murdered by Solanki, Solanki’s biographer, the serial killer’s own son, and the daughter of one of his victims.
Meanwhile another dangerous murderer is busy prowling around for victims to notch up an impressive body count. In the midst of these crazy events, Saralkar’s marriage faces rough weather, while Motkar’s hands are full, investigating a trail of mysterious suicides.
As the duo struggle to cope, personal tragedy strikes Saralkar and a tip-off propels Motkar into confronting an astonishingly diabolical psychopath on his own.

The Sane Psychopath

MONSTER, MAD-MAN OR COLD-BLOODED KILLER?

When bus driver Shanker Lande goes on a deadly rampage through the streets of Pune, the city is left reeling. Ten people are crushed to death, seventy maimed for life before he is captured.
Varun Gupte, a young, ambitious lawyer, defies the bar association’s boycott and takes on Lande’s case, shocking everyone. With the trial fast-tracked to manage the public’s mounting rage, Varun races against time to defend Lande. As the case unfolds, Varun must confront difficult questions about justice, revenge and the human psyche.
In the process, he turns to Dr Shekhar Kanitkar, a psychiatrist who lost his own son in the same rampage. Will the two men unearth the truth?
This intense psychological thriller, inspired by a real incident, masterfully explores the blurred lines between insanity and reason, and debates uncomfortable truths about crime and punishment.

3 AND A HALF MURDERS

Two corpses . . . a woman lying dead on her bed, a man hanging from the ceiling fan. A suicide note cum murder confession! And a name . . . Shaunak Sodhi!
When the case comes their way, Senior Inspector Saralkar has just been diagnosed with hypertension and PSI Motkar is busy with rehearsals of an amateur play. What appears at first to be a commonplace crime by a debt-ridden, cuckolded husband, who has killed his unfaithful wife and then hung himself, soon begins to unfold as a baffling mystery.
As clues point to a seven-year-old unsolved murder in Bangalore and other leads emerge closer home, Saralkar and Motkar find themselves investigating shady secrets, bitter grudges, fishy land deals, carnal desires, the dead woman Anushka Doshi’s sinister obsession with past life regression and her husband’s links to a suspicious, small-time god-man, Rangdev Baba. And then, suddenly, the murderer resurfaces and yet another life is in grave danger…..
Can Saralkar and Motkar get to the bottom of an unimaginably shocking motive and stop the malevolent killer from committing the fourth murder . . .?

THE MURDER OF SONIA RAIKKONEN

The mutilated corpse of a young Finnish tourist found in a public garden gets Pune Homicide Unit’s maverick cop Senior Inspector Saralkar and PSI Motkar into action. There are no clues except for a white sandal found on the scene of the crime. As they start looking for suspects, things get murky. Inspector Patange, Saralkar’s old friend and colleague, seeks his help to establish the identity of another murder victim—an old man found by a wooded hillside on the outskirts of Pune. Not only do the old man’s stab injuries match the wounds inflicted on the Finnish girl, he is also found wearing the other white sandal.
As Saralkar and Motkar struggle to find the link that connects the two murders, nothing is what it seems. The truth that seems to be emerging is far more dangerous, the motive far more bizarre. Who murdered Sonia Räikkönen and why? —the bone-chilling mystery will keep you hooked till the very end.

KILLING ASHISH KARVE

Senior Inspector Saralkar is back at his desk after spending a rather annoying week at a ‘Secrets of Living’ course, especially for police officers and is itching for some action now. Luckily, an exciting new case turns up right away!
The body of Ashish Karve, a local businessman has been found in the back seat of his car. To PSI Motkar, Saralkar’s diminutive assistant, it seems to be a straightforward case of suicide. But Saralkar’s sharp mind is agog with the dark possibility of murder.
As the case unfolds Saralkar finds enough motives for people, be it Ashish’s business partner, his wife, his brother, his friend, his brother-in-law or even strangers to want to do away with him!
Is the senior inspector becoming too fanciful in his imagination or is he on the right track in assuming that Ashish was killed? Delve into this deliciously thrilling whodunit and walk along with Senior Inspector Saralkar and PSI Motkar as they set out to sift the truth from lies and half truths.

LOST LIBIDO AND OTHER GULP FICTION (2012)

An incredible collection of stories about people caught in the chaotic, cultural flux of urban India and their reactions to the problems, temptations and tricky choices that life throws at them.

MURDER ON A SIDE STREET

Barely a year out of college, six close friends—Sandeep (Sandy), Divya, Kapil (Kaps), Sharmeen, Jerry and Aarushi—are bored of their jobs.
But deadly excitement is just around the corner when Sandy's abusive boss, Ravinder Wadhwa is found murdered after a nasty argument with him. The police arrest Sandy. His friends realize that the only way to save him is to investigate Wadhwa's murder on their own.
Soon, a maze of chilling motives emerges—from domestic violence to sexual harassment to underhand dealings and much more. The friends battle danger and doubt, wondering whether they'll be able to prove Sandy's innocence and catch the real killer.