The rising trend in cybercrimes has the country grappling with a situation where protecting its populace against financial losses is turning out to be a tall order
As one of the most prolific and influential golden age writers that modern times have forgotten about, noir plots crafted by master storyteller James Hadley Chase strive to bring forth the universal truth that crime never pays.
Typically centring around crime, betrayal and moral ambiguity, mostly featuring a cynical protagonist caught in a web of deceit and danger, and often involving a femme fatale, his stories are characterised by a dark, pessimistic atmosphere, with themes of corruption, disillusionment, and the destructive nature of desire.
The yarns he spun around plots which have morally ambiguous characters cocksure about their criminal schemes incapable of going wrong at any stage laid the foundation for stories which continue to amaze readers even today. Exploring the dark side of human nature, he very succinctly managed to put across to his readers – through the ordeals of his characters – that crime is not a rewarding or sustainable path.
Nevertheless, stories about crimes and criminals have consistently captivated humans throughout history. Suffice to say that this enduring fascination has led to the popularity of various forms of crime narratives, whether in print, electronic media or on the silver screen.
Books, and subsequently films, featuring heist as the central theme have not only been entertainers but are believed to have given ‘ideas’ to ‘aspirants’ with a criminal bent of mind to emulate them, but with disastrous consequences.
With modern day felons on the prowl and envisaging novel plans to bamboozle the law enforcement agencies with, it is amusing to note that only the period has changed, the dramas unfolding continue to be the same.
Conniving to give shape to some of the more outrageous acts in criminal history, the new corps has given enough evidence of their resourcefulness at leveraging advancements in technology for concealment and evasion. Even otherwise, for a country which prides in asserting its zero-tolerance for corruption on every available platform, the regularity of financial scams that rocks it is not less surprising either.
With increased digitalisation, reliance on remote work and the sophistication of cyber criminals, the rising trend in cybercrimes has the country grappling with a situation where protecting itself and its populace against the financial losses incurred is turning out to be a tall order.
While financial frauds and cybercrimes cropping up frequently in various avatars serve to amaze one over the ingenuity of the whole ‘operation’, it is observed that interests in cases of crimes of passion do not lag far behind, at least when it comes to the shocking nature of some of them.
As a criminal act committed in the “heat of the moment,” often in response to a strong emotional provocation, crimes of passion are, however, drawing as much of attention as the ‘premeditated’ variety where the element of planning and intent differentiates it from the former.
Ironically, crimes that deeply hurt one’s senses have always elicited more ‘interest’. The morbid curiosity where one feels revolted by horrific crimes while simultaneously feeling drawn to know more about them cannot but be described as a complex psychological response.
With the type of media coverage they garner, such cases become overnight sensations. The suspected involvement of a ‘prominent’ personality in the case serves to add spice to the whole incident. The ‘Tandoor Murder’ of 1995 is one such case!
Rape, murder, filicide, serial killings; the nation has had its own share of gruesome incidents shaking its collective conscious. Yet it is the manner in which the public has lapped up the ‘proceedings’ which says more about the ‘appeal’ factor of the case than the gruesomeness of the act which finds favour with the masses.
If the ‘Nanavati case’, as modern India’s first upper-class crime of passion over six decades back, held the nation in thrall as an ‘epic tale of love, betrayal and vengeance’ played out during the long-drawn-out trial; the sentencing of naval officer Emile Jerome Mathew, convicted in the sensational Neeraj Grover killing case along with his Kannada film actress fiancée, prompted public outrage on what was considered a light verdict given the heinousness of the crime.
More recently; with cops looking into other angles beyond ‘love affair’ in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case, investigation into the ‘Meghalaya Honeymoon Murder’ is turning out to be one with enough twists and turns befitting a crime drama.
Over the years, many such cases have been inviting unwavering public attention with the ‘popularity’ of the macabre incidents translating into cinematic themes for the dream merchants to rake in a moolah out of these sordid sagas. By allowing the audience to draw their own inferences on the matter, cinematic adaptations of the ‘Aarushi’ murder case has, however, kindled enough interest in the ‘Noida double murder case’ of 2008 for it to remain in public memory even now.
The enduring appeal of crime and criminal stories needs no further elaboration. As a mirror to the grim realities of human behaviour, they will continue to maintain a powerful grip on the collective imagination, reflecting both, the darkest facets of society and the complexities of justice.
(Pachu Menon is a senior columnist and author based in Goa.)
