1982. Three teenage girls planning a flight from the Soviet Union to the West end up being sold in Mumbai’s red-light area instead.
The murders start a quarter of a century later.
The victims are all men. All of them tricks, waiting for trysts with high-class escorts. DCP Rita Ferreira is quick to recognize the serial-killer strain; the media isn’t far behind. The news sends shockwaves through the city. The first serial killer in living memory of Mumbai is out on the streets.
As Rita grapples to establish the killer’s pattern through Bhendi Bazaar, the killer gives her twenty-four hours to stop the next murder.
Can she do that before she becomes the next victim?
Baby—the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Diwan family’s household help—has been raped and brutalized. Vansh Diwan, a criminal lawyer, finds himself torn between a shot at justice for the girl and a very powerful client. He cannot bring himself to proceed at the risk of all that he has secured for his family. His wife, Priti, distraught and devastated at her husband’s decision, turns to an old friend for help.
Akash Hingorani, top criminal lawyer and best friend to Priti and Vansh, must step up. He is Baby’s last chance. But things quickly unravel as Akash’s probe into the rape suddenly turns into a murder investigation.
This powerful legal thriller moves breathlessly from crime scene to courtroom to lay bare the difference between law and justice.
DCP Rita Ferreira is called into the investigation after a third corpse is discovered in Mumbai, which confirms it is the work of the same killer who paints his victims’ lips with dark red lipstick.
The Lipstick Killer, like all serial killers, is fast decompensating—the time interval between the murders shortening, the victims shifting from street-side hookers to high-heeled wives … and he watches everything and everyone—the news of his exploits, Rita, the investigation—and talks. However, he only talks to you: “When I’m gone, some people may tell you that I was evil, perhaps even call me a psychopath. Don’t believe them. I am not. I am anything but irrational and impractical; perhaps only slightly more detached than your average guy on the street.”
Prem Bedi is the “Mogul”—the third-richest man in the country. He commands both fear and respect, and at fifty-three, he still looks handsome and aristocratic. But Bedi’s smoothly run empire comes to a screeching halt when he’s accused of killing his ex-wife and her husband, and dragged into a court battle. The ever-present spotlight on him grows brighter and harsher, and the questions grow louder—“Did he do it?” A story unfolding through several different perspectives, The Mogul is a howdunnit set in the fractured world of power, money, and crime.
Prem Bedi is the 'Mogul' – the third richest man in the country. He commands both fear and respect, and at fifty-three, he still looks handsome and aristocratic. But Bedi's smoothly run empire comes to a screeching halt when he's accused of killing his ex-wife and her husband, and dragged into a court battle. The ever-present spotlight on him grows brighter and harsher, and the questions grow louder – 'Did he do it?' A story unfolding through several different perspectives, The Mogul is howdunnit set in the fractured world of power, money and crime.
