Bhupen Patel’s book The Anatomy of a Sting sheds light upon various types of rackets, from mental asylums admitting patients without proper medical examinations to the extent of uncovering scandals such as, an illegal network network of agents that arrange ‘temporary’ wives for Arab men. Bhupen Patel has led many undercover operations in the course of his career.
Here are a few accounts as told by the author himself which will leave you stunned!
In December 2006, while working for Mumbai Mirror, Bhupen Patel was given the task of investigating a case of a possible scam of a fake audition where aspiring actors were being robbed of their money. Patel, with the help of a female partner went to the location of the audition with spy cameras and later, wrote a detailed report about the shocking scam such small-time crooks pull to rob innocent people of their money.
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In the wake of the the 2003 blasts in Mumbai, Bhupen Patel, who was then working for the Mid-Day, decided to go to Dubai to further investigate the case, as the convicts responsible for the blasts hailed from Dubai and were recruited by a group there. Staying at the same hotel where the convict Mohammad Hanif Ansari used to work as an electrician, Patel began his investigation by asking around the hotel regarding details about the Mohammad Hanif Ansari. Patel was however, arrested by the police in Dubai and later released after an inquiry which was carried out against him. Son after, he returned home with valuable background information about Hanif Ansari.
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During late 2014, Bhupen Patel was asked to investigate the increasing number of cases regarding new-born children getting stolen from hospitals and kids being kidnapped in Mumbai. After a thorough plan of carrying out a sting operation where Patel and his colleague would pose as a couple who are desperate to adopt a baby, he was successful in uncovering the truth behind such disappearances. His article exposed the underbelly of various hospitals and orphanages which aide in conducting such rackets where children are sold to childless couples with an easier way around the adoption process.
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While investigating the ugly underside of the film industry, Bhupen Patel ended up exposing the reality of aspiring actresses who have to suffer at the hands of insincere casting agents. Posing as a budding producer and his friend pretending to be a director, Patel unraveled how girls from small towns aspiring to make it big in the film-industry have to ‘compromise’ and are taken advantage of by casting agents with the promise of casting them in their films.
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Cyber crimes had been on the rise in the late 1990s when an increasing cases of hacking were filed giving way to the establishment of a cyber crime cell by the police. In a bid to dig deeper into the cyber-crime of hacking, Bhupen Patel single-handedly managed to find out the hacker responsible for hacking the Mumbai police website.
Each account from The Anatomy of a Sting will keep you on the edge of your seat and allow a glimpse into the life of an investigative journalist.
