Khatri, founder of Venus Detective Agency, demonstrates a GPS tracker and audio bug device during an interview with AFP in New Delhi. Elaborate Indian weddings are big business, and for some families the first step of celebration is not to call a priest or a party planner — but a private detective.
— AFPFrom an anonymous office in a New Delhi mall, matrimonial detective Bhavna Paliwal runs the rule over prospective husbands and wives – a booming industry in India, where younger generations are increasingly choosing love matches over arranged marriage. The tradition of partners being carefully selected by the two families remains hugely popular, but in a country where social customs are changing rapidly, more and more couples are making their own matches. So for some families, the first step when young lovers want to get married is not to call a priest or party planner but a sleuth like Paliwal with high-tech spy tools to investigate the prospective partner. Sheela, an office worker in New Delhi, said that when her daughter announced she wanted to marry her boyfriend, she immediately hired Paliwal. 'I had a bad marriage,' said Sheela, whose name has been changed as her daughter remains unaware her fiancé was spied on.Paliwal, 48, who founded her Tejas Detective Agency more than two decades ago, says business is better than ever.In one recent case – a client checking her prospective husband – Paliwal discovered a decimal point salary discrepancy. 'The man said he earns around US$70,700 annually,' Paliwal said.'We found out he was actually making US$7,070.'It is discreet work. Paliwal's office is tucked away in a city mall, with an innocuous sign board saying it houses an astrologer – a service families often use to predict an auspicious wedding date.Hiring a detective can cost from US$100 to US$2,000, depending on the extent of surveillance needed.It is not just worried parents trying to vet their prospective sons or daughters-in-la