Disappearance of Delhi's dignity

Recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman for non-fiction, author Sudeep Chakravarti, talks about documenting a crime that shook the nation, and how it impacted the capital

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tion, judicial process, and execution, which spanned four years, led to a situation where the entire capital was transfixed. Delhi and the Parliament came to a standstill for several weeks. Thousands of school and college students from across town gathered at the Boat Club, to protest against the death and to demand safety and security for the children of Delhi, while they were actually speaking for the children of India.

Why did the rape and murder of two children catch your interest for a book?

Geeta and Sanjay Chopra’s murder was horrific. Two people — Billa and Ranga — who were executed for it have become bywords in villainy in India. In fact, Billa and Ranga are used as descriptions of evil people to this day.

The people of Delhi couldn't believe that it could happen to the children of a naval captain. In our country, people meet with tragedies very frequently. But only when it happens to somebody like us, or whatever describes people like us in urban India, does it become visceral. It becomes something that we can relate to.

The killings, trauma, investigation.

It brought out the barbarity. Children had been killed. It was a very gripping story. That’s what drew me.