Hyderabad, Janaury 19: A 22-year-old pretty youngster leaves for her aerobics class. Suddenly, a middle-aged man on a motorbike starts following her like a ghost. He then follows her wherever she goes for the rest of the day. He also sends regular updates to his boss about the girl’s whereabouts. You would be mistaken to think this happened only in films. The man is a real-life detective and he is not the only one executing such missions.
Emergence of independent and bold young girls in recent times may not have found favour with everyone, especially prospective grooms. A typical urban girl speaks her mind, does not shy away from attending parties or flaunting her male friends and even boyfriends. If assignments handled by detective agencies are any indication, more marriageable boys are knocking on their doors, for background checks of the woman he is going to marry.
“Presently, we get about 20 to 25 cases pertaining to matrimonial related investigations every month. Out of these 70% cases are from the boy’s side who wants to make sure about the character, lifestyle and past of the girl before taking the plunge,” says Tarunpal Singh, managing director, G11 Detective Agency.
According to Singh, there is a shift in trend as previously it was the girl’s family, who usually hired detectives to get complete information on the prospective groom.
Each of the clients approaching detective agencies have different requirements, as K Srinivasulu, managing partner, Private Spy 007 Intelligence Bureau puts it.
“The guy’s side primarily wants to know the character of the girl, whether she is having or had love affairs and what kind of places she frequents. They are also very particular in asking us to find out if she smokes or drinks alcohol. While some liberal families are okay with social drinking, the same cannot be said of the girl who smokes,” he adds.
“Of late, marriages have become a costly affair. So, I see no wrong if each side was aware of the other. The family background of the girl and her nature is also checked so that it does not later lead to a divorce or create bad blood between families,” points out K Venu Gopal, director, Hitech Detectives.
He also says that with increasing number of marriages failing, it is only evident their services are needed like never before.
———–Agencies