Jul 24 2025 to Jul 24 2025 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retd) Madhukar B. Zende is best-known for his sensational arrest of the serial murderer Charles Sobhraj, aka the Serpent. He is also lauded for successfully managing the violent riots in Mumbai that broke out in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1993, and ushering in an era of peace.

But Zende has many more stories of crime and justice under his belt, and in the book, Mumbai’s Most Wanted, he gives readers a glimpse into what it meant to be a cop in the seventies and eighties. From the puzzling case of the murder of Shanta Devi to the kidnapping of a famous movie mogul to the capture of dark luminaries like Arun Gawli, Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and Babu Reshim, this session will explore the riveting account of a super cop who brought some of the city’s most dreaded villains to their knees.

A Q&A session with the audience will follow.

Speakers

Madhukar Zende
Ex-Mumbai Police, Author
Madhukar Bapurao Zende served in the Mumbai Police from 1959 to 1996. Over an illustrious career, he became the first officer to win a Police Medal for Meritorious Service and a President’s Medal for Distinguished Service in successive years. He now spends his time between the homes of his three children and in Pune. Hours of exercise, intensely tough sudokus, cooking, and meeting family and friends are his passions. This is his first book.

Raghu Karnad
Journalist, Essayist & Author
Raghu Karnad is a journalist, essayist and author from India. He was a 2022–23 fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. His first book, Farthest Field, tells the story of the Indian involvement in the Second World War through the lives of his maternal grandparents. He also writes for the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, the Caravan India, n+1 and elsewhere. In 2019, he received the Windham Campbell Prize for non-fiction from Yale University.
Raghu was part of the founding team of theWire.in, India’s leading non-profit news platform, where he has served as Chief of Bureau. He has also produced and presented video and podcasts. He is currently co-producing a documentary feature about astronomy and the night sky in Ladakh, with funding from the Sundance Institute.