The Mogul
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 perspectives, The Mogul is a whodunnit set in the fractured world of power, money and crime.
The French translation of The Mogul, “Le Magnat”, won the prestigious Grand Prix for International Crime Novel at the Festival Polar de Cognac, making Dhamija the first Indian to win the prize.
Déjà Karma
Jay Singh is the best defence lawyer in New Delhi money can buy. But Jay Singh is a closet alcoholic with a dark and ominous past. His mother has been accused of and convicted for killing his father… something he still doesn’t accept, even after twenty years.
Flamboyant, wicked, lethal, Jay Singh never loses a case, though his methods might not always be legal. If the law is after you – guilty or not – there is only one man who can save you. If Jay Singh takes your case, witnesses for the prosecution disappear or turn hostile, evidence evaporates, and technology and science fail to provide cogent support. What’s more, Jay Singh can even provide you with an ironclad alibi.
And then he gets a case that could completely destroy him.
If he loses the high-profile case, he can kiss his career goodbye; if he wins it, he’d better keep his obituary ready.
This was Dhamija’s first legal thriller, which got him the moniker: “India’s John Grisham”.
Unlawful Justice
Baby, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Diwan family’s household help, has been raped and brutalised. Vansh Diwan, a criminal lawyer, finds himself torn between pursuing justice for the girl and representing a very powerful client. He cannot bring himself to proceed, at the risk of all he has secured for his family. His wife, Priti, distraught and devastated by her husband’s decision, turns to an old friend for help.
Akash Hingorani, a 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 becomes a murder investigation. A powerful legal thriller that moves breathlessly from crime scene to courtroom to homes, laying bare the difference between law and justice.
Cold Justice
Five years ago, when Akash Hingorani won a court case for his friends, Priti and Vansh Diwan, he fell for the presiding judge, Shilpa Singh. But the passionate start to their relationship would end abruptly. Then, nine months after the affair ended, Akash received a call for help from Judge Shilpa Singh. Arrested at the scene of the crime, with a knife in her hand, she was charged with first-degree murder. To make matters worse, the police seemed determined to ignore other evidence pointing to a corrupt politician who had threatened Shilpa while she presided over an ongoing trial against him. The murder charge against Shilpa could easily derail his trial.
Two of India’s best defence lawyers, Akash and Vansh, jointly took up the case, but they soon realised they were pitted against one of the sharpest prosecuting minds in the country, Ravi Nanda, who was always a step ahead of them and pulled the carpet from under their feet. Twice.
In this heart-stopping new thriller from India’s bestselling crime writer, the law itself is baffled, and a verdict seems impossible …
Unlawful Justice and Cold Justice have been optioned for screen adaptation.
Vish Dhamija 