The Desi Crime Podcast

On the night of November 25, 1981, an Air India Boeing 707 descended toward Mahé in the Seychelles expecting a routine refuelling stop—and instead flew straight into a war zone. Below, a coup was unfolding. As tracer bullets and mortars lit up the night, Captain Umesh Chandra Saxena circled overhead with dwindling fuel, receiving only cryptic warnings from a control tower that had already been seized by the mercenaries. With minutes of fuel left and no safe alternative, he made a life-or-death decision to land on a battlefield. What followed was one of the strangest hostage crises in aviation history. This is the story of Air India flight 224.

On a winter evening in January 2011, a university campus in British Columbia was slowly winding down. Classes were over, lights glowed softly inside lecture halls, and students moved through parking lots thinking about nothing more than getting home. In a space meant to feel ordinary, familiar, and safe, something unthinkable was about to happen—quick, targeted, and irreversible. That evening, a young woman was gone, and an entire community was left to understand how this violence arrived. This is the story of that one evening, of that one campus, and of Maple Batalia.

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Recorded live at Apple BKC, Mumbai
It began as a routine evening in Surrey — the kind that never makes headlines. Manjit Panghali stepped out, expecting to return home like she always did. But she didn’t. At first, it was brushed off as a delay… a missed call… a misunderstanding. But as hours passed, the silence grew heavier. What unsettled investigators wasn’t just that she was missing — it was where the trail stopped and who noticed the absence last. This is the story of that seemingly ordinary day, that woman who should’ve returned, and the one person hell bent on making sure she didn’t. This is the story of Manjit Panghali.

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This is the story of Freemont’s real life Dexter. This is the story of a 29-year-old Indian-American engineer, Varun Suresh. Get your hands on our favorite gum: https://neurogumindia.com
For extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudios or join our YouTube family https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/joinFor fastest updates, follow our socials at: https://www.instagram.com/desicrime/Aryaan https://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisra/Aishwarya https://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/To buy Desi Studios merch, visit: https://kadakmerch.com/collections/desi-studios

Order our book, Desi Crime, available now on Amazon:https://amzn.in/d/0WyttKWGet the audiobook with our lovely voices: https://www.audible.in/pd/B0FK4L77SY?source_code=ASSORAP0511160007 On some nights, life moves quietly — the kind of quiet that feels ordinary, almost comforting. Streets settle, houses dim, and the world eases into its familiar rhythm. But every so often, a night begins just like that… and ends in a way no one could ever imagine. In the town of Luton, one such night unfolded. Nothing seemed out of place. Nothing warned of the shock that was about to ripple through an entire community. But behind a closed front door, in the span of a few irreversible moments, everything changed. A life was ended. And the questions that would follow would hold the nation in disbelief. This is the story of Saima KhanFor extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudios or join our YouTube family https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/joinFor fastest updates, follow our socials at: https://www.instagram.com/desicrime/Aryaan https://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisra/Aishwarya https://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/To buy Desi Studios merch, visit: https://kadakmerch.com/collections/desi-studios