marieclaire.com.au 47shockwaves than in nations such as the
US due to India’s deeply traditional
attitudes. “Now people are falling for
strangers online who often make up tall
stories,” she says. “There’s much more
uncertainty and confusion, as well as
conflict with older generations who
don’t like their children’s choices.”
Moreover, she adds, extramarital affairs
are on the rise due to the ease of online
dating and messaging apps. “Love in
modern India has become a war zone.”
Khatri, 30, who exudes a mixture
of fearless energy and sharp humour, is
one of a growing number of Indian
women taking the country’s male-
dominated private eye industry by
storm. She runs her own agency, Venus
Detective, with offices in the capital
Delhi, Bangalore, and three other
major cities. The sleuth and her team
of 20 full-time, mostly female field
agents launch daring undercover
operations to expose illicit love affairs,
dating fraud, corporate corruption,
and other ills of modern Indian society.
In the process, they turn traditional
female roles upside down.
“We often disguise ourselves as
maids, vegetable vendors, college girls,
or cosmetics saleswomen to infiltrate
homes and offices,” says Khatri. “It’s
risky, but so far we’ve never been
caught. Targets rarely suspect women
of being professional spies.”
Delhi-born Khatri opened Venus
Detective in 2011 after learning the
trade at another firm straight after
college. A science graduate with an
MBA, she was drawn to the profession
“out of sheer curiosity”, she says. “I
always loved collecting informationVES Delhi
A
kriti Khatri
is on a stake-
out in a busy
neighbour-
hood in New
Delhi. It’s a
hot Sunday
afternoon in August and shoppers are
out in force. Khatri buys a watermelon
smoothie from a juice vendor and tucks
herself against a wall to avoid the^
cars and motorised rickshaws clogging
the street. The chaotic location is ideal.
“It’s easy to blend in and secretly watch
my target,” says Khatri, a private
detective, whose eyes, hidden behind
aviator shades, are fixed on a nearby
apartment block. “With luck, I will
catch the love cheat on camera coming
out of the building with his mistress.”
For centuries, arranged marriages
have been the norm in India, with each
partner thoroughly vetted in person by
family members and local connections.
In such situations, the role of “informal
detective” was often taken by barbers
who travelled from village to village,
gathering intel about a person’s
suitability for marriage while they cut
hair. “They’d find out things like
whether the bride was respectable, and
whether the groom was financially
stable, and whether both came from
decent families,” says Khatri. But now,
with couples increasingly meeting on
Facebook, Instagram and dating apps
like Tinder, the demand for private
detectives is skyrocketing.
The internet has created
“relationship chaos” in the diverse
country of almost 1.3 billion people,
says Khatri, causing far greaterOnline dating
sites have caused
relationship
chaos in India
and as a result
the demand for
private detectives
is skyrocketing.
Abigail Haworth
meets the women
who are taking
the private-eye
JACK PICONEindustry by storm
World report