The Desi Crime Podcast

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon: https://amzn.in/d/cbJjyu3Get the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0FK4LYC19Under the soft July sun in Gurugram, as the kitchen clock ticked just past 10:30 a.m. on July 10, 2025, a quiet home in Sushant Lok echoed with gunfire. A promising young tennis coach, just 25, lay still on the kitchen floor—her dreams cut short in broad daylight. She had played for India. Coached the next generation. Laughed with friends hours before she died. And then—she was gone. No intruder broke in. No stranger fled the scene. The truth would unearth a betrayal far more devastating. This morning of unspeakable tragedy shattered a family, stunned a nation and ignited urgent conversation about autonomy, patriarchy, and violence against women. This is the story of that July morning and that one girl that has taken India by storm. This is the story of Radhika Yadav. 

He was young, brilliant, and fearless — an IIM grad who took a job no one wanted. One night, he vanished after a routine inspection in a small Indian town. What happened next would expose a chilling underworld no one was ready to face. Today’s episode of The Desi Crime Podcast is powered by Ryze — a nicotine gum for those looking to quit: https://weryze.comOrder our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWFor extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudios or join our YouTube family https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/join

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWDharmasthala, Karnataka. For centuries, its name has meant justice. It's a place where faith feels tangible, a sanctuary where a Hindu deity is served by a Jain family in a rare show of harmony. But in July of 2025, a story would emerge that threatened to turn this sacred ground into a crime scene. A story that suggests for years, while pilgrims prayed for salvation, others were being buried in shallow graves. It began when one man decided he could no longer carry the weight of what he had done, and what he had seen. A man who claimed that he held the key to over one hundred unsolved deaths. This is the story of the skeletons of Dharmasthala.

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWThe case that I have for you guys today is one that sent Pakistani authorities on the largest manhunt for Pakistan's most notorious serial killer. This is the story of a man whose only motive in life was to hear the cries of a hundred mothers. This is the story of Javed Iqbal.

Under the soft orange wash of a Rishikesh dusk, the air held its breath. A girl, nineteen, bright-eyed, new to the city and newer still to her first job, walked the narrow paths of Vanantra Resort, hemmed in by forest on one side and the rush of the Ganga canal on the other. It was the kind of evening where the world feels hushed, the kind where ordinary things--like a phone ringing unanswered or a light flickering on and off--begin to feel loaded with meaning. And for days after that dusk, the only thing louder than the silence surrounding her absence was the rising voice of a father searching for his daughter, denied help at every turn. No FIR. No urgency. Just a closed door at every police station he visited. The roads he walked were met with apathy, even as each hour that passed pulled Ankita further from reach. By the time the news broke, it had already been six days. Six days of unanswered questions. Six days of phone calls met with lies. Six days before the Ganga revealed what the system tried to bury. This is the story of that Rishikesh resort, that 2022 evening, and that girl. This is the story of Ankita Bhandari.

A chill wind whispered through the sugarcane fields of Uttar Pradesh, carrying with it the scent of rigid traditions belonging to a bygone era. In villages where life moved with the seasons and ancient customs held strong, a new tension was starting to build. For generations, the idea of freedom for women, the freedom to choose, to be, to experience the world around them as men would, was a forbidden thought, a dangerous secret. But in 2014, as the world outside moved faster, even these quiet places began to feel a tremor of defiance. It was a time when a simple phone could open up a world of possibilities, and with it, a rush of fear and anger. In a world desperate to control, some dared to dream of freedom, and for two young girls, that dream would become a terrible nightmare. This is the story of that little village in Uttar Pradesh and its open fields. This is the story of Padma and Lalli.

New Delhi, India's capital and a city of 30 million people is infamous for being the suicide capital of the world. Yet the case that I have for you today still gives me and countless other Delhi residents sleepless nights. This is the story of a banyan tree, a happy seemingly home, a mass suicide of 11, and a shared secret nobody still fully understands to this day. This is the Burari case.For extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudios or join our YouTube family at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/joinFor fastest updates, follow our socials at: https://www.instagram.com/desicrime/Aryaan https://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisra/Aishwarya https://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/To buy Desi Studios merch, visit: https://kadakmerch.com/collections/desi-studios

"If you don’t hear from me… they’ve killed me.” Those were a girl’s words. Not in a dramatic diary entry, not to a friend over a cappucino, but in a cold, trembling text to the boy she loved. She was eighteen. Eighteen and afraid — of the very people who gave her life. So when the sun rose on a quiet field in northern Italy nearly six months later, and a search dog started barking over a shallow patch of soil — no one said it out loud, but everyone standing there already knew whose body they were about to find. The spot was ordinary — the edge of a disused farmhouse, flanked by crop lines and fencing. But from under that earth came bone. Then plastic. Then hair. And in that moment, a message that once sounded like fear… became a prophecy. This is the story of an honor killing that shook Italy. This is the story of Saman Abbas.

To mark 5 years of Desi Crime, here is a special episode of Chai & Chithi. We bring to you the scariest, eeriest, most terrifying tales, sent in to us by our listeners, all while we recount some of our most pivotal moments at Desi Crime. From discussing its inception, to its successes, and its pitfalls along the way, Aishwarya and Aryaan welcome you to the 5 years anniversary special.For extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudios or join our YouTube family https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/joinFor fastest updates, follow our socials at: https://www.instagram.com/desicrime/Aryaan https://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisra/Aishwarya https://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/To buy Desi Studios merch, visit: https://kadakmerch.com/collections/desi-studios

Raja Raghuvanshi and his wife Sonam travel to the misty hills of Meghalaya for their dream honeymoon, but a frantic phone call from a remote jungle trail is their last contact with the world. After Raja's body is discovered brutally murdered in a deep gorge, a nationwide hunt begins for his missing bride. The investigation, however, unearths a chilling conspiracy that turns the search for Sonam from a rescue mission into a hunt for a killer hiding in plain sight. Was this the perfect honeymoon, or the perfect murder plot?For extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudios or join our YouTube family https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/join