The Tandoor Murder: The Crime That Shook the Nation and Brought a Government to Its Knees - Maxwell Pereira

THE DEFINITIVE INSIDER’S ACCOUNT OF ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING CASES TO ROCK INDIA—WRITTEN BY THE IPS OFFICER IN CHARGE OF THE INVESTIGATION.

On a hot July night in 1995, the brutal murder of Naina Sahni and the gruesome discovery of her body being secretly burned in a clay oven (tandoor) at a restaurant in the very heart of New Delhi shook the country’s conscience and completely galvanized India's criminal justice system. The sheer depravity of the crime sent shockwaves through the highest corridors of power, sparking unprecedented public outrage.

What exactly happened that fateful night? How did the prime accused—Sushil Sharma, Naina’s partner and a powerful, well-connected Youth Congress leader—manage to stave off a final conviction for more than a decade? What were the hidden twists, turns, and systemic roadblocks in the case, and how did the police team manage to keep the investigation steadily on course against all odds?

In The Tandoor Murder, retired IPS officer Maxwell Pereira gives us an unfiltered, gripping insider’s account of events as they truly unfolded. Relying directly on his personal investigative notes, official police reports, forensic breakthroughs, and contemporary media files, Pereira pieces together a definitive real-life procedural. Forthright, dramatic, and intensely fast-paced, this page-turner offers unexpected nuggets of information and deep, eye-opening insights into the complex inner workings of the policing, legal, and political systems in India, delivered by a legendary lawman who has seen it all.