Ritual by Uttaran Das Gupta

 

Book Name: Ritual

Author: Uttaran Das Gupta

Publisher: Pan Macmillian

Price: INR 350.00

Set in the year 1989, the story focuses on the political turmoil and police investigations that take place when a murder occurs in the "City of Joy", Calcutta. At the very onset when we discover a body of girl lying in bush or in a pond, the first thing that comes to mind is physical torture. But how does the investigation takes place when it is found that the heart is missing from the body and it was surgically removed. the story begins when a body of a girl is found in Hindustan Park, Kolkata by kids who were playing cricket. After initial post mortem and conduction of regular police investigations, the file starts collecting dust. Similar happens even after two more bodies turns up with surgically removed heart. On request of the director of NGO "Pratham Prakash", ACP Asutosh and his subordinate Pradip starts investigating the case. Initially it was assumed that it was a case of organ trafficking and following multiple organ traffickers were arrested. But the body count refuses to stop. While their investigation they stumble upon a cult named Vasant Sena that has grown its roots in every corner of the country as well as the globe. Various activities of this cult starts coming to light starting from attacking the Dalits in Bihar to organizing mass suicide in New Zealand. During investigation we also get a glimpse of the ordeal of a daily labour who has escaped their attack and how he was able to escape to Calcutta. Various ordeals of the religious cults and self declared god men have also been brought in focus. The investigation hits multiple roadblocks before seeing the light of the day. In the end the question looms, what purpose did the little hearts served a) Was it sold in black market? b)was it used for any ritual?. The story is divided into three parts. The first part speaks about the reason for the investigation i.e. the turning up of dead bodies. The second part focuses on the ongoing investigation and the third part focuses on the turns in investigation. The life of each and every characters have been beautifully crafted and detailed. One thing that sets the book unique is its pace and narration. The author has reminded the reader time and again that its a first person narration. With this I like to conclude that the book in so thrilling that I had to complete the book at a single go.

Rating: 4.5/5