Amit Rawat, a Mumbai-based Chartered Accountant, still rues the mistake of hiring the services of a lesser-known private investigation agency to solve a personal case. Let alone getting any substantial solutions, the hired agency fled away to some unknown destinations and that too, after collecting the whole servicing fees of the CA in advance. And to his utter disbelief, when he tried to contact the office in person, only a frail-looking peon could be found at agency’s one-room ‘shabby’ office. Such has been the extent of mental harassment that he swears to never take the services of any private detective agency in India, ever. From Amit’s experience, it’s obvious to ask, is he justified in his vow or people should still believe private detectives?

There are many similar cheating and fraud cases to recount by hundreds of people all over the city; however, mistakes of few can never blot the whole community of private detectives. Like any other profession, many money-spinning ‘crooks’ too are operating in this domain with the sole purpose of duping clients to make hefty sums before fleeing away to a new destination. More than such unethical agencies, the fault lies with those who, in the first place, select a lesser-known detective agency for solutions. In many cases, people blindly trust smaller firms who have zero goodwill and equally negligible presence in the market. Contrary to some established brands, these one or two-room-based agencies are actually set-up with bad intentions, never for good cause.

Despite being duped and cheated, Mumbai residents are still not against the private detective agencies in India; rather, they don’t want to trust small players anymore for now fully knowing their tricks and money-making orientation. “There are indeed some big players in the domain who consistently deliver impressive results, enjoy a huge clientele and to top it all, they are here to make a difference, not to make money only,” echoed a senior bureaucrat, when asked about the growing cases of fraud by small detective players.

As per our interview and market search, ‘hire only a reputed name’ seems the common consensus among the people on the matter of detective agencies in India. But the big question is how people can spot a big player or a reputed brand when almost all pretend to be the same? Proclaiming to be a big company does not make anyone so, but yes, infrastructure indeed does. Mr. Naman Jain, director of Sleuths India Detectives, has to say this: “Only a well-equipped company with proper set-up can survive in the detective domain. Today’s market needs cutting edge solutions, and this is not possible for smaller companies. It’s true that smaller detective agencies can’t match their branded counterparts due to latter’s strong market-presence, use of latest equipments and the inclination to serve the clients. “Small agencies can’t withstand the harsh competition as big players spend huge amount to maintain dedicated resources and equally big team to cater the needs of the players,” further equipped Mr. Naman Jain, director of Sleuths India Detectives. Any statement from the director of one of India’s foremost brand could not have gone off-target. And well, the message is loud and clear- don’t go for unknown or small players, and select only from the pool of big and established brands to get served in the best possible way.