164. The Mysterious Death of Sunanda Pushkar

Sign up for book launch tomorrow in Mumbai: https://forms.gle/aR9diWGWKGApso3j6Time: 6:30 pmLocation: Title Waves, Bandra

OCTOBER FREE EARLY ACCESS: https://music.amazon.in/podcasts/23e00040-1692-4d3e-9a87-3b169e644500/the-desi-crime-podcastOrder our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWGet the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 On a chilly February morning in 2002, a lone figure stood before a burnt corpse on a hospital gurney. The air was thick with the smell of smoke and charred flesh. The face of the body was unrecognizable – blackened and battered beyond identity. As a mother gently placed her palm against the body's hand, her intuition cut through the horror. The hand’s shape and size – not much larger than her own – told her what she dreaded most: this was her son, Nitish. Two nights earlier, he had vanished from a wedding. Now, in the soft dawn light, Neelam realized her life had been irreversibly halved into before and after. The boy she had raised and loved was gone, in the most brutal way imaginable. This is the story of that February morning, that boy, and that one mother’s fight for justice. This is the story of Nitish Katara.For extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudios 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

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWGet the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 October free early access: https://music.amazon.in/podcasts/23e00040-1692-4d3e-9a87-3b169e644500/the-desi-crime-podcastSpring break in the Caribbean — warm waters, neon nights, and a kind of freedom that feels endless. For most, it’s a fleeting escape. But for one young woman, it became the last place she was ever seen. On a quiet stretch of sand in Punta Cana, as dawn crept over the horizon, a 20-year-old student from the University of Pittsburgh vanished without a trace. Clothes left behind, stories that don’t quite align, and a search that has raised more questions than answers. This is the story of that island, that spring break, and that student. This is the story of Sudiksha Konanki.

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon: https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKW Get the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 This is the story of Raghunandan Yandamuri – an aspiring techie, a doting friend… and the first Indian-American on death row. It’s the story of Baby Saanviand her grandmother Satyavathi, and a botched ransom plot that became a double murder.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

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKW Get the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 Delhi’s winter evenings have their own rhythm—narrow lanes cloaked in silence, the air heavy with woodsmoke and the scent of dinners being prepared behind closed doors. But on one such night in January 1996, that stillness was broken by something unspeakable. Inside a quiet home in Vasant Kunj, a nightmare unfolded—one that everyone around had feared, one that the victim herself had warned of, and one that, chillingly, would go on to change the country. This is the story of that quiet winter evening in Delhi, that Vasant Kunj home, and the one woman who found herself stuck behind its walls in the presence of pure evil. This is the story of Priyadarshini Mattoo.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

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWGet the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 It is a still summer day in Bihar. The year is 2007. A mother returns to a classroom and finds her baby’s cot empty. Panic ripples through the village as neighbors scatter into the fields, calling the child’s name. In the middle of the chaos stands a boy no older than eight, watching with a smile that doesn’t belong on a child’s face. Within hours, he will confess to a string of murders that will shock the world and earn him a chilling title — the youngest serial killer alive. This is the story of Amarjeet Sada.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

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWGet the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 In Delhi, luxury hotels are meant to be escapes from reality—spaces of glittering chandeliers, muffled corridors, and the quiet promise of privacy. But on a cold January night in 2014, one such corridor led to a room that would become the center of a mystery still whispered about years later. Inside lay the body of Sunanda Pushkar—socialite, businesswoman, wife of one of India’s most high-profile politicians. Her death was sudden, shocking, and wrapped in layers of intrigue. Was it illness, despair, betrayal—or something far darker? This is the story of Sunanda Pushkar.

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWGet the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 The case we have for you today is of a successful, driven and happy couple who were doing their best, their very best to raise their son and live their life to the fullest, until one day, their lives and the lives of everyone who knew them were turned upside down. This is the story of one of Bangladesh's most infamous crimes. This is the story of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.

Desi Crime Book, out now: https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKW Audio book, only on Audible: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007Houston’s late-summer heat can feel suffocating—thick air clinging to the skin, the city humming under streetlights. On one such night in August 2024, a brief, trembling phone call shattered that quiet. The building manager of a modest apartment complex near Texas Southern University picked up to hear a stranger’s voice: there was a dead body in his apartment. Moments later, he was standing in the doorway of a crime scene that would haunt an entire community. This is a case that would send shockwaves through Houston’s Nepali community, ignite an urgent manhunt, and unravel a story that touched on immigration, vulnerability, and predation. And at its heart was the life of a young woman who had crossed oceans to build a future—only to have it violently stolen. This is the story of that Texas evening, that phone call, that one girl. This is the story of Muna Pandey.

Order now, on Amazon India: https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWAudio book, only on Audible: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007Head over to your nearest book stores in India and pester the shopkeepers to buy the physical copy yourself. If you’re an ABCD or NRI or just happen to be a lovely human being abroad, here are the links where you can get em:- USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/936113325X- UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/936113325X