Beware, a detective might be spying on you during Navratri

It’s Navratri time and once again, reports are emerging that more and more people are hiring detectives to keep a track on their near and dear ones. Whether it’s parents who want to know about the whereabouts of their children, or would be couple checking on prospective partners, the trend is on the rise in India.

“We are mostly hired by parents who want to keep an eye on their children, or by spouses who have trust issue with their partner,” said Rahul Roy, who runs a private detective agency in Mumbai.

“Parents think their children are in love with someone. Then there are cases of extra-marital affairs where our help is sought,” Roy added.

These private eyes start spying on the people from their homes.

“We follow them, click their photographs and send those pictures to their families,” said Durgesh Kamalkant Pandey, a detective.

Out of more than 15,000 cases of spying in a year, 500 are reported during Navratris. The detectives use spy cameras to broadcast live footage of a person to his/her family members who want to check if that person is really at a Garba event.

This may seem straight out of a reality show Emotional Atyachar, where people who doubt their partner’s loyalty participate in a secretive experiment with the television show’s crew, the detective agencies are welcoming the booming business during this period.

Some of them are booked for an entire month.

These agents are also contacted by employers who wants to check on their employees, to know what they are doing during holidays. Then there are parents who fear that their children don’t attend classes or are in bad company, or those who just want to know about the whereabouts of someone.

“I have come to this detective agency because I want to check where my boyfriend goes during Navratri celebrations. Who he meets, what he does… it’s not that I don’t trust him,” said a woman who visited Roy’s agency.

This trend is specially picking up among those who are about to get married. They want to know more about their future partner - who he/she hangs out with, where they spend most of their time, just to be sure. And this, they think, gives them mental peace and satisfaction that they know all about their partner.