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The Law Strikes Back
A Supercop’s Battle with Mumbai’s Deadliest
Speakers
Mumbai in the seventies and eighties was a city of sharp contrasts: glamour and gang wars, chaos and control. At the heart of it all was Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retd) Madhukar B. Zende, a sharp-minded officer with a knack for catching the city’s most elusive criminals.
Best known for arresting the infamous serial killer Charles Sobhraj, aka the Serpent, Zende’s career spanned decades of high-stakes policing. His new book, Mumbai’s Most Wanted, is a rich and gritty chronicle of life on the force.
From the mysterious murder of Shanta Devi to the capture of criminal kingpins like Arun Gawli, Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and Babu Reshim, his stories unfold like scenes from a noir thriller (except every word is true). There are riots, manhunts, and moments of doubt as well as unexpected grace.
This conversation is a rare look into a city in flux and a man who walked its fault lines, chasing justice in a time of smoke-filled bars, typewriters, and quick decisions.
For those who wish to engage further, a Q&A with the supercop himself will follow the discussion.
Speakers
Madhukar Zende
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
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.
