Nestled within a bustling New Delhi mall, Bhavna Paliwal, founder of Tejas Detective Agency, leads India’s burgeoning matrimonial investigation industry, which plays a pivotal role in the country’s evolving marriage traditions.
With love marriages on the rise alongside traditional arranged unions, the demand for pre-marital background checks has surged. While arranged marriages rely on families vetting potential matches, love marriages prompt many families to turn to private detectives like Paliwal for reassurance.
“We are here to ensure the match is genuine,” Paliwal explains, highlighting the use of advanced surveillance tools such as hidden cameras and GPS trackers to uncover financial discrepancies, hidden relationships, or other red flags. Her agency handles about eight cases per month, charging between $100 and $2,000—significantly less than the lavish costs of Indian weddings.
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Clients often include concerned parents like Sheela, who sought Paliwal’s services to investigate her daughter’s boyfriend after enduring her own unhappy marriage. “I wanted to support her love, but not without proper checks,” Sheela says, reflecting the delicate balance between trust and caution.
Other agencies, like Venus Detective Agency, report similar demand, with around 25% of their cases focusing on pre-marriage investigations. Founder Akriti Khatri notes these can even include probing concerns about a partner’s sexual orientation.
Armed with cutting-edge technology, detectives navigate a fine ethical line. “We tread a grey zone between legal and illegal,” admits veteran investigator Sanjay Singh, whose work has both exposed dishonesty and prevented future heartbreak. “Somebody’s life is getting ruined,” Singh says, underscoring the gravity of their findings.
India’s urbanization presents challenges, with detectives devising creative methods to access guarded apartment complexes and gather intelligence. Despite the hurdles, arranged marriages—whether facilitated through traditional matchmakers or dating apps—continue to intertwine with caste considerations and financial inquiries.
For Paliwal, the job is about safeguarding relationships through transparency. “The more hi-tech we become, the more problems we have in our lives,” she observes, emphasizing that honesty is the cornerstone of a successful union.
“No relationship can work on the basis of lies,” Paliwal concludes, encapsulating her mission in India’s rapidly shifting matrimonial landscape.
