The Desi Crime Podcast

Episódios

• Chai & Chithi 34 | The Haunted Painting 30.05.2026 27min

  Welcome to Chai & Chithi, a segment where we read some of the scariest, most terrifying, and most haunting stories that YOU send in to us. In this week’s episode, we’re reading: To send us your scary stories to read, write to us at staydesi [at] thedesistudios [dot] 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
• 193. The USF Double Murder: Nahida Bristy & Zamil Limon 24.05.2026 39min

  On April 13, 2026, somewhere in Tampa, Florida, a 26 year old American man typed a question into ChatGPT. What happens if a human has put a black garbage bag and thrown in a dumpster. The chatbot told him it sounded dangerous. He typed back. How would they find out. Three days later, two Bangladeshi doctoral students at the University of South Florida — two young people who were quietly planning to spend the rest of their lives together — would disappear. This is the story of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, and the machine that, allegedly, was asked to help plan their deaths.
• 192. The Vanishing of Justin Alexander Shetler 16.05.2026 45min

  In 2016, a man who was equal parts survivalist and seeker, a man who traded a six-figure tech career for a life in the wilderness, a man who was phenomenal at surviving in nature, disappeared in it forever. This is the story of that man. But this is also the story of the Parvati Valley—a sliver of the Indian Himalayas so staggeringly beautiful and so consistently deadly that the list of people who have walked in and never walked out reads less like a police register and more like a haunting. And it is the story of a phenomenon called India syndrome, a kind of spiritual psychosis that has been quietly consuming Western travelers in India for decades, blurring the line between enlightenment and madness, between choosing to disappear and being disappeared. This is the story of Justin Alexander Shetler. 
• 191. The Tragic Death of Matthew Perry 09.05.2026 33min

  On October 28, 2023, the world woke up to the news that one of the most beloved sitcom actors in television history was found face-down in his hot tub. Matthew Perry. Chandler Bing. 54 years old. The initial assumption was simple: a troubled man, a long battle with addiction, a tragic but unsurprising end. But the investigation that followed pulled at a thread that unraveled something far bigger than one man's overdose. Behind that body in that hot tub was a supply chain so elaborate, so layered, that it involved 2 doctors, a middleman, a personal assistant, and at its center, a woman who operated out of a North Hollywood apartment with a gold money-counting machine and a clientele list that read like a Hollywood afterparty. This is the story of the ketamine network that pervades Hollywood, and the kingpin that sits atop it. Except in this case, it's a queen. The Ketamine Queen. This is the story of Jasveen Sangha.
• 190. The Reality Show Triple Murder: Villupuram Case 11.04.2026 54min

  In a small village in Tamil Nadu, three people walked into a house in 2008 and were never seen again. No missing persons report was ever filed. No investigation was ever launched. For four years, the world moved on and a family ate dinner every night literally above the truth of those 3 missing people. What finally brought it to the surface wasn't a detective or a tip or a breakthrough in forensics. It was a reality TV show. A reality show where, one may afternoon, the cameras rolled, the conversation began. And then, under the searing studio lights, in front of a live audience, on a show whose title promises that whatever is said will be the truth, a 17 year old girl named Bhargavi began to speak. What she said went on to crack open a triple murder that has been lying buried for four years, literally buried, in the soil outside her own home. This is the story of those 3 missing people, that one reality TV show, and that one 17 year old girl with the courage to crack it open. This is the story of the Villupuram Triple Murder Case.
• The Murder of Jayaraj & Bennix: The Full Story (2026 Update) 08.04.2026 1h 2min

  We first covered the brutal custodial killings of Jayaraj and Bennix in 2020, and then again as an update in 2022. In light of the recent updates on the case that have shaken the country, this episode is a compilation of all Desi Crime episodes on the story, followed by a segment on what we know now as of April 2026.
• 189. The Fairfax Family Massacre 05.04.2026 33min

  February 23, 2026. Fairfax County, Virginia. It is 5 in the morning and it has been snowing. A young police officer, Nicholas Brazones, is walking toward an apartment building in the suburbs. Dispatch has told him almost nothing: domestic assault, 2 victims. He has handled these calls before. You show up, you separate the parties, you take statements, you file a report. Most of the time, the situation has already cooled by the time you arrive. Most of the time, nobody is actively dying when you open the door. This is not most of the time. What Nicholas is about to walk into, what his bodycam is about to record, is a scene that the Fairfax County Police Chief will later describe as "beyond imagination." A scene he will call a "bloodbath." This is the story of a family that came to America from Nepal looking for a better life, and found something no one could have predicted on a quiet suburban street in Virginia. This is the story of the Thapa family.
• 188. The Pramod Mahajan Murder 23.03.2026 1h 6min

  April 2006. Pramod Mahajan is 56 years old. He is the organizational brain of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The man who brought the BJP into the digital age. The man who brokered the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance that conquered Maharashtra. The man who organized Advani's Ram Rath Yatra. The man who, as India's Telecom Minister, helped put a mobile phone in every Indian's pocket. Corporate India courts him. Delhi's power corridors bend around him. He is being spoken about, in hotel lobbies and drawing rooms across the capital, as a future Prime Minister. And for the last 6 months, astrologers have been calling him. One after another. All of them with the same warning: your life is in danger. From someone close to you. An insider. Pramod Mahajan ignores every single call.On April 22, a Saturday morning in Mumbai, Pramod sits in his Worli apartment with the morning newspaper. The doorbell rings. It is his younger brother Pravin. He is let inside. Tea is offered. And in 15 minutes, the most powerful political operative in India is on his living room floor, 3 bullets in his body, asking one question to his brother-in-law Gopinath Munde on the phone: "Mee asa kay gunha kela ki Pravin ne mala golya marlya?" What crime had I committed, that Pravin shot me?
• 187. The Murder of India's Badminton Star: Syed Modi 15.03.2026 51min

  Every year, on a Thursday in December, the best badminton players in the world, from China, Indonesia, Japan, Denmark, arrive in Lucknow to compete in a tournament. Flags go up. Stadiums fill. A name echoes across the announcer's PA system, repeated hundreds of times over several days, until it becomes just background noise to the people who have heard it their whole lives. That name is Syed Modi. What the crowds in those stadiums rarely talk about--what the gleaming trophy and the BWF World Tour branding don’t mention--is that Syed Modi was twenty-five years old when two men shot him dead outside a stadium gate in Lucknow on a July evening in 1988. He was India's greatest badminton player of his era. He was a Railway employee's son from a sugar mill town nobody had ever heard of. He was a husband who was betrayed. He was a father--of a two-month-old daughter he would never see grow up. And then, one evening, he was a body in a pool of blood. This is the story of Syed Modi. And it is also the story of everything India let get away.
• Chai & Chithi 33 | The Girl On My Ceiling 07.03.2026 37min

  Welcome to Chai & Chithi, a segment where we read some of the scariest, most terrifying, and most haunting stories that YOU send in to us. In this week’s episode, we’re reading: To send us your scary stories to read, write to us at staydesi [at] thedesistudios [dot] 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
• 186. The West Chester Quadruple Murder 01.03.2026 1h 6min

  West Chester, Ohio. A clean, quiet suburb where Indian families build their “American dream” one grocery run, one school pickup, one festival at a time. But on April 28th, 2019, that dream turned into a crime scene. Inside a single apartment, four adults from one Indian family were found shot dead— not together, but scattered like someone had moved through the home with purpose. A woman on the kitchen floor. An elderly aunt lying in the hallway. A mother-in-law in the living room. And the father-in-law inside a bedroom. There was no broken door. No struggle loud enough for neighbors to hear. Just a story that would shock an entire community and embroil a state. This is the story of the Westchester quadruple murders.For extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudiosJoin our YouTube family: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/joinFor fastest updates, follow our socials at: https://www.instagram.com/desicrimehttps://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisrahttps://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/To buy Desi Studios merch, visit: https://kadakmerch.com/collections/desi-studios
• 185. The Khairlanji Massacre 22.02.2026 1h 4min

  On a quiet evening in September 2006, something horrifying happened in the small village of Khairlanji. By morning, four members of a single family were gone — and the village was silent. At first, the story seemed unclear, almost deliberately so. But as details slowly surfaced, the crime revealed something far darker than a simple act of violence. What happened in Khairlanji wasn’t just brutal — it exposed wounds that ran deep within Indian society, and sparked outrage that would shake an entire state. This is the story of the Khairlanji Massacre.
• 184. The Mysterious Death of Wasim Thajudeen 14.02.2026 52min

  It's 10 p.m. on May 16, 2012, and Havelock Town pulses with the electric hum of Colombo's nightlife, a cold breeze from the Indian Ocean fans across Sri Lanka’s capital city. Inside El Greco nightclub, Wasim Thajudeen, 27 and built like the rugby captain he is—broad shoulders and an easy smile—holds court at a corner booth. The clock ticks 11:30 p.m. "Gotta bounce, lads," he says to his friends. Hugs ripple through the crew; a chorus of "Drive safe!" and "Text when you're wheels-down!" fades as he weaves out in his black BMW X5. Nothing about that night appears unusual. There are no warnings, no raised alarms, nothing that suggests it will end any differently from countless other nights in Colombo. But something happens that night. Wasim never makes it to the airport the next morning. He never boards his flight. He never leaves the city. This is the story of Sri Lanka’s golden boy, a national rugby star. This is the story of Wasim Thajudeen.
• 183. Murder In A Church: Arlis Perry 07.02.2026 56min

  On an October night in 1974, Stanford University was quiet in the way elite campuses often are after dark—orderly, confident, almost untouchable. Students slept behind locked doors, bells stood silent, and the church at the center of campus felt like the safest place imaginable. Inside that church, a young woman sought nothing more than solitude, reflection, and rest. And by morning, she was dead. What investigators found was disturbing, ritualistic, and completely at odds with the image Stanford projected to the world. There were no signs of forced entry, no clear suspect, and no immediate explanation for how violence had entered a sacred space so easily. Questions remained for decades, until one development—long after most had stopped looking—changed everything. This is the story of that one pristine university church, that one night, and that one woman locked behind its doors who never made it out alive. This is the story of Arlis Perry.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
• 182. India's First Serial Killer: Ripper Chandran 31.01.2026 45min

  In the mid-1980s, families across North Kerala began dying inside locked homes, attacked while asleep, with no signs of struggle and no witnesses. This episode unpacks the Ripper Chandran case — the fear that gripped entire districts, the investigative blind spots of the time, and the moment India was forced to understand serial crime for the first time.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
• Chai and Chithi 32 w/Bhumi Satish Pednekkar 29.01.2026 33min

  Welcome to Chai & Chithi, a segment where we read some of the scariest, most terrifying, and most haunting stories that YOU send in to us. In this week’s episode, we’re reading: Watch Daldal: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Daldal/0KUJKS3SFBKRU9K87JENILIPYCTo send us your scary stories to read, write to us at staydesi [at] thedesistudios [dot] 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/
• 181. The Orange Sock Murders 24.01.2026 1h 1min

  A moonless night in the Rocky Mountains. January 6, 1982. Snow has been dumping for hours over Colorado as temperatures plummet. Far above the ski lights of Breckenridge, on a remote mountain pass, tragedy had already begun. That night, in the cozy bars of Breckenridge, as locals were huddling together to seek refuge from the storm, little did they know that two members of their community had just vanished. This is the story of that snowy night, that otherwise peaceful town, and those two victims tied together by a single clue. This is the story of the orange sock murders.00:03:35:23- chapter 1 SOS IN THE ROCKIES00:13:06:16- chapter 2 ANNETTE IS MISSING00:31:10:18- chapter 3 DEAD ENDS00:41:50:16- chapter 4 THE GENEALOGY GAMBLE00:51:47:23- chapter 5 DAY IN COURTFor extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudiosJoin our YouTube family: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/joinFor fastest updates, follow our socials at: https://www.instagram.com/desicrimehttps://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisrahttps://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/To buy Desi Studios merch, visit: https://kadakmerch.com/collections/desi-studios
• Are Cheaters Scarier or Ghosts? | The Last Sleepover Ep. 01 23.01.2026 58min

  Welcome to Moment of Silence x Desi Crime: The Last Sleepover.Remember those sleepovers where you stayed up way too late; swapping rumours, gossiping, and trying to spook your best friends with scary stories? This is our attempt to take you back to that feeling. Hosted by Aishwarya Singh, Aryaan Misra, Naina Bhan and Sakshi Shivdasani, this crossover slumber party takes you on a ride: Do ghosts exist? Does a bad date count as a paranormal experience? Is real life scarier or the afterlife? And who exactly is haunting the MOS studio? Featuring a woman with many names, a first date from hell, and a curse that came back to haunt a family - we’re bringing you a whole bunch of nightmares, strange encounters, and simple horrors otherwise known as human dating.  And because no sleepover is complete without summoning a spirit, a special segment called Afterlife Advice: where we try our hand at paranormal activity and answer your relationship dilemmas with a little help from our resident ghost. Dim the lights, grab a blanket + a hot bowl of something yum (and don’t forget to check under your bed for monsters). Sweet dreams.P.S: Drop a boo in the comments if you liked this episode + subscribe!!Chaptering- 00:00 – Something creepy went down in Lonavala00:18 – Welcome to The Last Sleepover01:48 – High school rumours: trips, condoms & drugs 04:21 – Touring haunted properties04:40 – Desi Crime’s haunted trip to Rajasthan07:03 – Revenge of a camera-shy spirit08:34 – Sushi barking at ghost from 2–3 AM 11:16 – Story 1: The girl with many names17:52 – Story 2: First date fate26:56 – Story 3: A highway accident that awakened a sixth sense34:10 – Story 4: Things you should probably reveal early on a first date39:12 – Story 5: Vengeful spirit: a pilgrimage turned nightmare49:35 – Would you rather know how you die or when you die?50:54 – Afterlife advice nobody asked for57:45 – Like, share, subscribe & summon us againAishwarya & Naina’s PJ sets - https://www.shopmauve.in/collections/pyjama-setsCredits: Follow MoS on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/momentofsilencepod/?hl=enFor Desi Crime on Instagram:   / https://www.instagram.com/desicrime/Aishwarya - Co-host, true crime fanatic and self-proclaimed best true crime podcaster https://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/Aryaan   / aryaanmisra - Co-host, the straight guy that manipulated his way into the girl’s sleepover https://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisra/Naina Bhan - Co-host and certified overthinkerhttps://www.instagram.com/nainabee?ig...Sakshi Shivdasani - Co-host, balancing out Naina’s overthinking with a healthy dose of not thinking  / sakshishivd.  .Director + Research & Writing - Aashna Sharma https://www.linkedin.com/in/aashna-sharma-913146179/Creative direction- Natascha Mehrahttps://www.instagram.com/natascha.zi...Produced by Handmade - Our personal cheering squad   / thehandmade.  .Producer - Amruta P. www.linkedin.com/in/amruta-bandivdekar-01879925Editor - Yug Verma https://www.instagram.com/bass_abhiyug?igsh=MnlibHdsbG56MjNl&utm_source=qrReels: Maria CasubhoyAnimation: Maria Casubhoy and Evan ThomasDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by guests are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts, the production team, or the brand. While we encourage open dialogue, we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information shared by our guests. Listener discretion is advised — especially if you're allergic to strong opinions.
• 180. Aviation's Weirdest Hijacking: Air India 224 18.01.2026 1h 5min

  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.
• 179. Diary of a Wimpy Kid Actress Murder: Maple Batalia 10.01.2026 46min

  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.For extra episodes, early access, silly bloopers, subscribe at: https://www.patreon.com/thedesistudiosJoin our YouTube family: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbfV0YvrxWMq3h0hmo13Jg/joinFor fastest updates, follow our socials at: https://www.instagram.com/desicrimehttps://www.instagram.com/aryaanmisrahttps://www.instagram.com/aishwaryasinghs/To buy Desi Studios merch, visit: https://kadakmerch.com/collections/desi-studios