Chain of Custody
Anita Nair
What does thirteen-year-old Nandita’s disappearance have to do with the murder of a well-known lawyer in a gated community? As Gowda investigates, he becomes embroiled in Bangalore’s child-trafficking racket. Negotiating insensitive laws, indifferent officials and uncooperative witnesses, he finds himself in a race against time to rescue Nandita from one of the most depraved criminal rings he has ever encountered. Children often pick up by scouts on trains or abducted on the streets of villages are brought to the city. If lucky they are forced into slave-like domestic service or factory work--the boys mostly. The less lucky—the girls, end up in brothels, under heavy and brutal guard. Gowda’s splendid detective skills are tested to their limit in this fast-paced story.
