Rajani Pandit

Rajani Pandit was born in 1962 in Palghar, in the Thane district of Maharashtra. She grew up in a middle-class family, and her father, Shantaram Pandit, worked as a sub-inspector in the local police department.

As a child, she loved reading mystery and spy novels. She once took it upon herself to investigate cheap counterfeit merchandise that was circulating in local markets, and successfully located the source.

She studied Marathi literature at Ruparel College in Mumbai where she first became interested in detective work when, in 1983, she investigated a classmate who was involved in prostitution. Concerned about her classmate's behaviour – and afraid that the girl was being "taken advantage of" by others – Pandit informed the girl's parents. When this was not enough, Pandit proceeded to gather photographic evidence, which convinced her classmate's father to take action.

Although her father initially expressed skepticism at her desire to become a detective, Pandit's mother supported her in the endeavor.

After college, Pandit worked as an office clerk, but this changed after she agreed to help a colleague in need. The woman had noticed that money was going missing from family accounts, and she suspected her daughter-in-law might be the culprit – but had no proof. Pandit patiently tracked the daily schedules of all the woman's family members, and discovered that the youngest son was the true thief. This was her first paid case as a private investigator, and it motivated her to put her skills to use on a more regular basis.

Pandit says that when she solved her first "case" in college, the grateful family of the girl that she investigated encouraged her to go into detective work as a profession. She found that "No qualification is required to be a detective. It requires concentration, hard work, struggle, in-depth knowledge and dedication towards the profession." As a result, Pandit started her agency, Rajani Pandit Detective Services, also known as Rajani Investigation Bureau, in 1991. She set up an office in Mahim, Mumbai and, by 2010, employed a staff of 30 detectives and was handling about 20 cases a month.

Pandit sometimes encountered resistance due to her gender: in 1986, a newspaper refused to advertise her brand new detective agency, incredulous that a woman would ever choose an investigative career.

In a 1998 interview, Pandit said her firm had handled "domestic problems, company espionage, missing people and murders" throughout India and abroad, sometimes in disguise."I've played a maidservant, a blind woman, pregnant woman, dumb woman—fear is not a word in my dictionary", she remarked. Discussing her work in a Times of India interview, Pandit spoke of a case where a woman was allegedly involved in her husband's death where Pandit worked undercover as a maid in the home for six months. In another case, she pretended to be a lunatic to investigate two business executives.

More recently, Pandit has begun training and hiring other women to work as detectives.

Call data record scam

On February 2, 2018, Pandit was arrested by Thane police in connection with a scam in which several private detectives had allegedly obtained and sold call data records illegally. Pandit was released on bail after spending 40 days in jail.

Based on her experiences, Pandit has written two books: Faces Behind Faces and Mayajal. The former has won two awards, while the latter has won six awards.

In addition to honours for her books, Pandit is a recipient of the Hirkani award from Doordarshan that honours women achievers. She is the subject of a documentary film made by Dinkar Rao, titled Lady James Bond.. Her investigations are going to be made as feature film named as Kuttrapayirchi. The actress Trisha will be reprising the character role of Rajani Pandit.

Pandit is single, stating in interviews that she doesn't want to become divided between family and work.