01x01 - Episode 1

[bunniefuu]

[cars honking]

-[car honking continues]
-[intense music]

[man 1 narrating] There are some stories
that get stuck.

And I think this is one
of those kind of cases…

that society will not forget.

-[soft music playing]
-[birds chirping]

Because… on one side was this passion

from a woman…

[birds chirping]

and another side was this
very calculated move at every stage.

It shows that every woman
who enters into a relationship…

should be cautious…

because nobody knows…

when people slip.

[whir of video cassette]

[soft music continues playing]

[woman 1] She really was
a larger than life character.

When you'd speak to her,

you'd feel that she was not interested
in anyone else who was around.

She was just interested
in what you were telling her.

You couldn't overlook Shakereh.
You just couldn't overlook Shakereh!

[woman 1] She was extremely charming.

[soft music continues playing]

[man 2] She was very fond of vintage cars.

And she had one car called Lagonda.

And she loved picnicking.

She liked going for picnics and…

and meeting people.

A very social person,
a very lovable person.

[camera clicking]

It's really

beyond my thoughts and my thinking

that something so dastardly…

[dramatic music]

would happen to someone
so loving and lovable.

[dramatic music intensifies]

[static sound]

[woman 1] It was only when the news broke…

you know it was such a sensation!

[reporter 1] Presumed missing
Shakereh Namazie--

[reporter 2] Shakereh Namazie,
a high profile,

wealthy and beautiful was missing…

[reporter 3] Granddaughter
of the former Diwan of Mysore,

one of the oldest aristocratic
families of Karnataka…

-[man 1] This was extraordinary…
-[indistinct chatter]

because the family from which she came--

She had everything in her life.

-[sirens wailing]
-[static sound]

[indistinct chatter]

[woman 2] People were shell-shocked.

It was such a massive story

because of the gruesome
nature of the crime.

[woman 1] I don't think any
of us ever imagined

what would happen, would happen.

-[camera shutter clicking]
-[sirens wailing]

[theme music starts]

[theme music continues]

[theme music continues]

[theme music fades out]

[vehicles honking]

[birds chirping]

My name is… Kodandaramiah.

I was working as an Additional Director
General of the Police Administration…

in the DG's office in 1993.

[indistinct chatter]

-[siren wailing]
-[car honking]

And a few days after I landed there…

I was attending to my work

and then suddenly I heard a woman's voice.

[eerie music]

Shouting uh… aloud
and abusing the police department

and the officers.

[woman speaking indistinctly]

I called the orderly and said,
"Who is shouting there?

Call her in."

[woman continues to speak indistinctly]

Then she came in
and straightaway abused me.

-[woman speaking indistinctly]
-"You are all scoundrels.

You are all corrupt.

I came here to shout at you

because I have no faith
in the police department.

My mother Shakereh Khaleeli is missing.

[intense music]

And your predecessor…

did not bother to detect the case.

And I don't think
you're any better than them."

-She told me.
-[woman speaking indistinctly]

Then she broke down.

Cried for a long time, wept…

endlessly for some time.

And then she collected her uh… cool,

and then she'd started talking.

Her name was Sabah.

[intense music continues]

Sabah is a model in Mumbai,

and she is here to find out
where her mother was.

And she is not getting any clue about it.

So, I talked to Sabah…

-[woman continues speaking indistinctly]
-[clickety-clack of keyboard]

[intense music continues]

[woman] I think this was one scoop
which I'm very proud of…

because in the same family,
we got two different looks of women.

You know there is one part of them
which says be modern

and there's one part of them
which says be traditional,

but the confusion is what creates stories
like Sabah's mother's story.

She used to talk about her mother,

she was worried,
she would drop out of a show,

she had, maybe, a lead
or she was going somewhere.

[soft music playing]

While I was talking to Sabah,
there was this pain in her eyes.

And she was vulnerable,
she had been hurt.

I apologized. I said,
"I know this is not easy for you."

But she wanted to talk.

[static sound]

[static sound]

[Sabah] My name is Sabah Khaleeli.

My mother's name is Shakereh
and her maiden name is Namazie.

I'm her second daughter.

I went to Bangalore in July
on a surprise visit…

and found my mother missing from home.

The last time I saw my mother,
she was full of love and care for me.

Both of us wanted
to rekindle our relationship.

I feel emotionally tensed and my…

my health and my life
have not been the same since then.

My mother belonged
to the clan of Sir Mirza Ismail.

[slow music continues]

My name is Abbas Shirazi.

I live in Bangalore, as of now.

And Shakereh, she was like an aunt to me.

A very loving and a very dear aunt.

[intense music playing]

[piano playing]

I'm Rebab Al Khamaini.

My paternal grandfather and Shakereh's
maternal grandfather were brothers.

So, we were second cousins.

Mama… your name.

Your name and how you--

-you have to speak loudly.
-I am a little hard of hearing.

I am Syeda Mirza.

Umm… my husband
and Shakereh's mother were cousins.

First cousins.

[Rebab] Shakereh studied in Singapore.

Most of her schooling was there.

[Syeda] She was quite an admirable person.

She had a presence
that you couldn't ignore.

We know them as people down the road.

She was the granddaughter
of the Diwan of Mysore.

[Nabila] That's a huge position to hold.

He was a revered personality
and someone who was integral

in forming several beautiful
architectural monuments.

Even roads that are named
after her grandparents.

[vehicles honking]

She came from the most
prestigious family in Bangalore,

or maybe the country.

[Habib] And such a beauty queen!

And daughter of a multi-millionaire.

And it is just that family…

they have inherited

wealth, properties!

This is inherited by Shakereh.

[Rebab] She was 19, I think,
when she got married.

[Abbas] Ambassador Khaleeli
is a walking encyclopedia.

He's a man of knowledge
with contacts, far and wide.

Very influential
with the government of India.

[soft music playing]

[Nabila] He was a very
popular personality himself.

He spoke very well,
gave several interviews.

He was a television personality himself.

People knew who Akbar Khaleeli was.

It was an amazing wedding.

Describe the wedding.

[Rebab] It was really an atmosphere
of so much happiness.

-[people laughing indistinctly]
-[indistinct chatter]

They seemed so comfortable with each other
the way they were talking to each other.

I was with Shakereh and Akbar Bhai
was in a different room.

And they looked so good together.

During the wedding and even afterwards.

-[people continue laughing]
-[people chatter indistinctly]

[Rebab] As a bride, she was very happy.

[people chattering indistinctly]

It was really amazing.

That picture of the two of them
as a newly married couple,

it just goes around in my head.

[music fading away]

From what it looked like,
from the outside,

they were a beautiful family.

-[slow music]
-[birds chirping]

[Nabila] She had four beautiful daughters.
Beautiful daughters!

[Rebab] All of them have something about

-[Syeda] Shakereh.
-[Rebab] Shakereh. Yes.

Sabah, the second daughter
looks the most like Shakereh.

I thought they were the ideal couple.

I really did.

I never thought…

what would happen, would happen.

[music fading away]

Akbar Bhai being in the Foreign Service…

they were posted
in so many different countries.

[intense music]

I'm Liveleen Bhagat…

and I'm a homemaker,
but I'm much, much more than that.

I think it's very hard
for the diplomat's wife.

If I was asked again,
"Do you want to be a diplomat's wife?"

No way!

[Liveleen] Men go through
their rigorous training,

but we come as total novice!

You know, the man comes,
he dresses up a certain way.

He gets a briefing
from the foreign ministry or whatever.

They do External (Affairs) Ministry.

They go into an office!

But for a woman,
it is setting up a whole house.

And then you dress-up beautifully.
You have to be very well turned out.

And if the list is given of 20 guests
or 30 guests or whatever it is…

you cook a wholesome, good Indian meal.

It is very constricting.

And of course, we had to follow the line.

[music continues to play]

[Liveleen] I found them to be,
like, very different.

Because Mr. Khaleeli
was always so proper in his

sherwani and his kaali topi.

And here was this person who is trying
to establish herself as something.

I didn't see much of them together.

[Rebab] Then I think mostly
Akbar was posted in Iran or--

He was in Iran, right?

-[Syeda] He was in Iran.
-[Rebab] He was the ambassador there!

So, a lot of the time he was away.

[slow eerie music]

[Syeda] But she always had a lot
of company around her and…

laughter and…

So, we didn't know if she had been…

you know, lonely and uh…

desperate.

[Rebab] I think…

the rot probably set in after she met…

Mr. Shraddhananda.

[intense music]

[eerie music]

[woman narrating] He came
into our lives in 1983.

My parents and I visited the house
of Begum of Rampur in Delhi.

[eerie music continues]

It was there
I saw him for the first time.

[eerie music continues]

He appeared to me
as a person of divine power.

This was an image of a God-man.

[Sabah] He was always nice.

But you know, over nice.

You know, and he…

you know, like, saccharine.
Like so sweet you could get diabetes.

[eerie music continues]

[Abbas] He was a very smooth talker.

He said he had many disciples
all over India…

and they liked him very much.

[intense music]

[Syeda] You know, I didn't like him
as a person.

To me, he didn't look particularly honest
or trustworthy.

I don't know.
It was just a gut instinct, maybe.

[Abbas] He was asked to come
to help my aunt,

take care of her real estate problems
and other problems as well.

And that was the mistake
what, I guess, we made

by calling him here in the first place.

[eerie music continues]

[Sabah] My father was working abroad
as the Union of India ambassador to Iran.

My mother, me and my sisters
arrived in Bangalore.

We stayed in our father's house
at Sankey Road.

A few days later,

Swami Shraddhananda visited Bangalore.

-[door creaks open]
-[soft music playing]

[music intensifies]

He visited our home,

and on several days he would stay back.

[music intensifies]

He came across as a soft person who…

who was always eager to help
in matters related to our household.

[music intensifies]

[Abbas] And then he was sort of taking
care of the estate in Bangalore, and…

always running errands for her.

[Sabah] Whenever he came to Bangalore,
he started staying in our house.

My mother insisted
on him staying at our place.

[eerie music]

It was as if…

as if he was a family member.

[Abbas] See it's like this,

you know, make hay
while the sun shines, right?

And the sun was shining on
the Swami, Murli Manohar Mishra.

He made a most of opportunity
that the husband wasn't around,

and, you know,
he gained his mileage.

[Sabah] He started plaguing my mother's
mind by appreciating her beauty and…

criticizing my father
for being away from all of us.

[music continues to play]

[Abbas] Ambassador Khaleeli…

being a diplomat
and living in Iran, at the time

and not having any control
on what is happening in Bangalore…

[woman speaking indistinctly]

that relationship become a bit strained,
and things did not match.

They clashed.

[eerie music continues]

[Sabah] Till he came in our lives
we were a happy family.

My father was transferred abroad
and my mother was here.

So, he played on that.
That she was alone.

Then he got them divorced.
They were such an amazing couple.

[Rebab] Being the wife of a successful,
charismatic, well-admired person,

maybe lack of an identity which she felt…

She might have thought, "Why am I not
doing something with my own life?"

So she walked out of that marriage.

She never went back.

I'm sure that if I had spent some time
with her alone,

maybe… I don't know if she was happy,
she was unhappy.

For me, it was-- She looked okay.

[eerie music continues]

When my mother
annulled her marriage with my father,

my father was
the Ambassador of India in Italy.

We moved to Italy
and joined our father there.

This was in 1985.

The daughters were--
They were all devastated.

The whole family was devastated…

at what had transpired.

It was something nobody
ever fathomed would ever happen.

[Syeda] I don't know
what her parents thought, but…

other people just…

They were shocked and surprised,

but what could they do?

[Sathya] It's a big leap for women.

You immediately become the powerless…

non-person.

It was a stigma and families would worry.

If you were a divorcee… [inhales deeply]

uh… you were considered fair game
by most of the men,

especially in social circles.

One child after the other is not a joke.

You know you don't have time to breathe.

Her husband was traveling a lot,
for his reasons related to his job.

It must have been hard for her
to bring up her daughters all by herself.

I personally feel that
somewhere she also…

rebelled.

[Prerna] She was looking
to now take control of her life.

[Rebab] I just… I just couldn't get
my head around…

How could she do this?

What did she see in him?

[fire crackling]

[Sabah] My mother,
within six months of her divorce,

married Swami Shraddhananda.

[eerie music]

[music intensifies]

[Syeda] Horrified. Horrified, really!

That this was the person she had…

[Rebab coughing]

left Akbar for.

[Abbas] A lady of her stature
is no match to this guy.

Looks wise, they're not compatible.

Emotions wise, thinking wise,
not compatible.

She was very honest
and a very straight person.

This guy was just the opposite of her.

In terms of emotions, in terms
of sentiments, in terms of character.

[fire crackling]

And after she married him…

the Shia community in Bangalore
did not believe what happened!

The whole of Richmond Town
was in a total shock.

That's the one thing the family
could not come to terms with.

If you look at it through
that prism of love,

then you would say that
she did what she wanted to do.

She went out of family norms,
defied the family's decision,

and married a man outside the religion.

If a woman from the Muslim community
would want to marry outside the community,

it's still considered a taboo.

Especially if you're a practicing Muslim.

[fire crackling]

[music intensifies]

[Rebab] I don't think any parents
would have accepted it.

She was not permitted to meet the family
or speak to the family.

[man on phone] It was a very
shameful thing to talk about.

She was boycotted by everyone.
She was not allowed.

Nobody wanted her around.

What's wrong with her?
Why is she doing this?

[Sabah] My mother and Swami Shraddhananda

started living together
as husband and wife

in the Richmond Road house.

[soft music playing]

[Nabila] Richmond town is known as
the heart of Bangalore city.

And the entire stretch is dominated
by the Shia community.

The black gate there?

It's… it's extremely hard to enter.

There's no way that you can venture in.

[vehicles honking]

And it's been left vacant for…

for years.

Decades, in fact.

-[soft music playing]
-[vehicles honking]

This house around the neighborhood,
it could be haunted.

We know that there was something
so cruel that happened down the road.

-[vehicles honking continues]
-[birds chirping]

Because this is a Shia
dominated community,

it's all the more painful
for the community itself to know

that this had happened
right there to one of their own.

[man speaking faintly]

[man 1] The road is in that direction.

[man 2] You cannot do that.
Don't sh**t here.

[indistinct chatter]

[Rebab] It's in litigation.

There are huge walls around it.
So, you can't see into it.

-[eerie music]
-[birds chirping]

[man on phone] She was on Richmond Road,
in that small little house.

She just didn't come out in public.

She wouldn't be seen by people,
but we all knew that she was living there.

Everyone thought that, you know
he had done something to her.

Mesmerized her
or got her into a trance or…

I don't know what he did to her.
Probably black magic or something.

To convince the lady of her stature
to marry a man like him.

[music intensifies]

My name is Sanjay Hegde.

I'm a lawyer in the Supreme Court.

I handled this case for the prosecution.

Leaving the father
of four of your daughters,

and going off with another man.

I suppose there were many moral judgments
which were being made.

I don't think the rest of the family…

acknowledged her or kept up with her.

Despite the family
having cut off all ties with the mother,

Sabah kept up with the mother.

[airplane whooshing]

[Sabah] In 1990, my sisters, along with me
returned back to India from Italy.

[phone ringing]

During that time,

my mother used to speak to me
almost every day over the phone.

-[footsteps approaching]
-The both of us were constantly in touch.

[bangles clanking]

My mother advised me
to continue my studies in London.

She repeatedly asked me
to leave my modeling career.

I think that relationship
was always alive.

It's just that it was Shakereh
who had kind of…

switched it off
because she was involved in other things.

And Sabah-- I mean, who wouldn't want
to be back in your mother's fold again?

And as I said, Sabah is a gentle person,

she must have missed her mother.

[Sabah] My mother told me that she has
to settle some of her issues in Bangalore…

[eerie music playing]

and I must be ready to move
to London at short notice.

[Sathya] Shakereh assured her daughter

that she would arrange for them
to go off to live in London.

[car honking]

[Abbas] I was walking down
near my house at Leonard Lane,

corner, near Koshy's Bakery,

and Auntie Shakereh happened
to go in her old, antique car.

She called out to me.

She stopped her car near Koshy's Bakery.

And then she told me,

"I want to talk to you.
Please come and see me.

It's very, very urgent
and it's very serious."

She was crying.

She had tears in her eyes.
She started crying.

So I said, "Auntie, don't cry.
I will come and see you at the earliest."

I went up to her house
to meet her because she called me.

And then Swami comes out and tells me,

"Why are you here?
By whose permission you come inside?"

I said, "Is my aunt around?"

"No, she's gone to London.
She's not in Bangalore.

She's not here anymore.

And next time you come here,
ask the watchman for permission.

-If I give permission, then come inside.
-[door creaks shut]

-Don't just walk inside the house!"
-[door shuts]

[eerie music fading away]

She doesn't make an appearance.

That's when the whole graph
starts changing.

She used to call me two-three times a day.

And suddenly one day no calls!

So I called up…

-[intense music]
-[phone ringing]

[phone ringing continues]

-[phone ringing continues]
-[phone clicking]

Mr. Shraddhananda, Swamiji,
as I used to call him,

and I refuse to call him now…

-[phone ringing continues]
-was around.

[phone ringing continues]

And he was, you know, saying,
"Yes, yes, your mother has missed you.

You must come back."

[intense music]

I'm CV Nagesh,

appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor
to conduct this case.

As and when…

she calls Shraddhananda…

on the landline from Mumbai…

"I would like to talk to my mother,
please put her on phone."

He would give evasive answers.

[phone ringing]

[Sabah] Four to five days
after her phone calls stopped,

I called her up.

[phone ringing continues]

Instead of my mother,
Swami Shraddhananda took the call.

He told me that my mother had gone
to Hyderabad for a relative's wedding.

[phone ringing]

Again, I phoned her Bangalore residence.

[phone keys clicking]

[phone ringing]

This time, he told me
that she had gone ahead

to attend a wedding of a very big
diamond merchant in Kutch.

[static sound]

-[phone keys clicking]
-[phone ringing]

The next time I called, my mother
was facing some income tax problem…

because of which she was feeling really
low and was in no condition to speak.

-[phone ringing]
-[intense music]

[Nagesh] In this fashion,
he goes on giving

evasive answers or evasive replies.

She could not withstand
this trick anymore!

What she did was,

she would come all the way
from Mumbai to Bengaluru.

[airplane whooshing]

[Sabah] I went to my mother's
Richmond Road house.

[intense music]

But my mother could not be found anywhere.

[intense music continues]

[Sathya] She would question him
whenever she met him.

"Where is my mother?
I want to see my mother."

Here is a girl who would
have been going through hell

because, you know, you chafe at the bit.

You want someone to do something.

[intense music continues]

[music intensifies]

[Nagesh] When she comes home,
he would say,

"I was not interested in telling you
all these details on the phone…

because…

after several years, you see,

she became pregnant."

[music intensifies]

She knew of her mother's
blind craving for a male child.

[suspenseful music]

[Sabah] I really thought maybe
she is pregnant.

Maybe she really--
Because we are four girls, you know?

So, I really presumed that
maybe she wanted to have a son.

[birds chirping]

[soft music]

[Nabila] She had four beautiful daughters.
Beautiful daughters!

Umm… and she did want a boy.

And that's not unfounded
for an Indian woman.

Our society is such.

[soft eerie music]

You know, everybody has this complex.

I mean, 90% of Indian women

must be carrying this complex
that I want a son.

She did want to have a son. It…

it was a sort of…

I don't know.

Was it an obsession?

[Rebab] Yeah, Mama?

Was it an obsession?

Yeah, I think she did want to have a…

-[Rebab] She did want to have a son.
-[Syeda] son.

Uh… basically, you know…

the rumor was-- The thing was that
people are talking about it all the time…

that he had promised her a male child,
you know, if she married him.

[soft music]

[Rebab] Sabah managed to contact
the Roosevelt Hospital in America

where her mother was supposed to be.

[Sabah] He gave me the name
of a New York hospital,

Roosevelt or something like that.

[suspenseful music]

When I tried that hospital…

she was not there.

[suspenseful music intensifies]

I said, "Swamiji,
you told me this hospital--"

Roosevelt or something like that.
I said, "How come she's not there?"

So then he was like,

"Oh, I was just playing the fool because,
you know, I knew you try and contact her,

and the rest is so crucial that
I didn't want to tell you where she is.

She's in London.
She's perfectly fine."

Then I started seeing
his behavior was a little fishy.

[Nagesh] "Alright. I would like
to talk to her in the hospital.

Come on, call her.

Give the number."

He'd dial some number…

and he'd say, "Hello, hello?

Shakereh? Hello?
One minute. Sabah is here.

Hello? Hello?
One minute. Sabah is here.

Come on, talk to her."

[suspenseful music]

[phone disconnects]

He himself would disconnect the line.

He would say, "No, today she
has gone to her friend's house.

She has gone to this club.
She has gone to that club.

She has gone to this place
and that place."

Or in New York.

Or in Delhi.

She might not have got
a connecting flight.

Alright, as soon as she comes back,
I'll ask her to call you."

"Today, she has said that she is landing
in Bangalore with a male child."

Nobody came. What happened?

"No, I don't know. She probably
must have missed the aircraft."

In this fashion,

he goes on giving evasive answers
or evasive replies.

[suspenseful music continues]

The Swami was telling her,
"No, don't interfere.

Suppose something happens
to her or her baby,

you might end up blaming yourself."

[Sathya] The dilemma that Sabah
was facing, to believe or not to believe.

There's no reason to disbelieve

because then you are
opening up a Pandora's box.

And your mother has believed him,
trusted him, married him.

And to be after a man
whom you have known

as your mother's husband!

Sabah chose not to believe,
and refused to give up the search.

[suspenseful music]

"I will find her", she said.

And she relentlessly kept trying.

[Sanjay] And then, accidentally,
Sabah found that the passport…

was still in the house.

[suspenseful music intensifies]

That's when she knew that her mother
had not gone to the US.

After nine months, I said,
"That's it, I'm going to the cop station."

[ambulance siren wailing]

-[vehicle approaching]
-[car honking]

My name is Imran Qureshi.

My focus was with crime stories
for a number of years.

It was much later that Sabah realized that
she has not been in touch with her at all.

And then subsequently,

she went and filed a police complaint…

[clickety-clack of keyboard]

saying that her mother is missing…

and that she suspected…

Shraddhananda Swami.

It didn't strike me
that my mother was missing.

It was a very gradual process.

[eerie music]

[Syeda] We just didn't know
what had happened to her.

[Rebab] And the girls, they must have
knocked on every possible door

trying to find out what had happened.

[suspenseful music]

[Kodandaramiah] Suppose she had
not screamed or shouted at me that day,

I would have not bothered
to know about this case at all.

It happens.

[man] When I spoke with Sabah Khaleeli
on the phone…

the whole story unraveled.

It's unbelievable.
I get goosebumps even while narrating it.

I can't believe that someone
could actually do this.

When this story was
first reported, it was called…

"Dancing On The Grave."

-[static crackling]
-[dramatic music fades in]

[dramatic music fades out]

[theme music]

[theme music ends]