Suhaib Ilyasi proved too clever for the fugitives Suhaib Ilyasi proved too clever for the fugitives

Sushila Chedda'swas simple: stay in a posh locality in Mumbai, become a confidante of the neighbours, get their original housing documents, insert her own name in the photocopies and then sell or mortgage the flats to real estate agents using the fake papers. She would probably have succeeded again.

This time as Pratima Shah in Geeta Colony in Anand, Gujarat. Having convinced the residents of being a devout lady, she borrowed money to launch a herbal cosmetics export business. She also promised to give six gullible girls a break in the movies.

But there was one loophole Sushila forgot to plug: television - and a programme on it called India's Most Wanted (IMW). A neighbours happened to see an episode on Sushila's activities in Mumbai. The face seemed suspiciously familiar.

Only the hair was a bit longer and she was sporting glasses now. Yes, the Sushila who had duped people of about Rs 4 crore in Mumbai was none other than the lady next door. The police were promptly alerted and Sushila found that her game was up.

So did nine other criminals before her. And all of them courtesy IMW, a unique interactive show which airs every Tuesday night on Zee TV. It recreates unsolved crime cases and solicits public participation in getting vital leads about absconding criminals. Result: 10 outlaws have already been caught in a span of seven months and 33 episodes.

The show is faring equally well on the other yardstick of success - the TRPs - getting a rating of 10-12 on an average on the INTAM scale. It figures among the top 10 programmes in cable and satellite homes across India.

"Its ratings have been steadily climbing and for October it was Zee's second most watched show after Amanat," says Ranjan Bakshi, Zee's Vice-President, corporate communications. Producer-director Suhaib Ilyasi claims the serial earns about Rs 70 lakh per week as ad revenue for the channel, fetching Rs 70,000 for a 10-second spot. No wonder Zee has decided to extend its 52-episode run to 104 now. "The show will run as long as there are criminals and cases," declares Bakshi.

Ilyasi himself has come a long way from managing the show on his own to having a 30-member team to back him up. "Initially I visited several states to collect the stories," he says. Now the viewers and a regular network of 300 freelance journalists constantly bring home all the information.

His show has already covered 50 cases and he has material for 200 more. "On an average we receive about 15 important cases a month," he says. The channel itself has set up a special cell to handle the viewer response to the show.

The Track Record

Sushila Srivastava

Telecast date: April 7

Arrested: Some time in June

She'd swindle infertile couples posing as a doctor. IMW was tipped off about her operations in Bareilly, where she was caught by the police.

Anoop Kumar Roy

Telecast date: July 16

Arrested: July 16

Roy was wanted for a murder in Delhi.

IMW got a fax after the telecast that Roy was working in a city hotel. He was arrested the same night.

Deepak Lal

Telecast date: June 23

Arrested: July 6

He exploited young girls after promising them modelling assignments. Through an IMW viewer, Lal's address in Mumbai was found and he was arrested by the city police. Rakesh Goeyla

Telecast date: July 7

Arrested: July 22

He had swindled his friend of Rs 50 lakh and disappeared. Information received by IMW said he was to meet a friend at Delhi's North Avenue. Goeyla was arrested by the police. Yashpal

Telecast date: July 28

Arrested: July 31

Involved in six murders, Yashpal was nabbed by the Gajraula police after a viewer provided information.

Shri Prakash Shukla

Telecast date: September 8 and 15

Killed: In a police encounter on September 22

IMW's biggest yet. The Uttar Pradesh criminal, involved in 26 cases of murder and abduction, was killed in an encounter with the police at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. All following a tip-off from an alert viewer who said he'd spotted Shukla's car at Delhi's AIIMS crossing.

Kiran Pardi

Telecast date: October 6

Arrested: Some time in October

He was involved in the murder of five members of the Kalra family in Delhi in 1996. IMW got information about the Pardi criminals. Kiran was arrested after an encounter with the Madhya Pradesh police in Guna.

Rakesh Srivastava

Telecast date: April 14

Arrested: October 13

His finance company had swindled crores of rupees from some 5,000 small investors and was wanted by the CBI. IMW repeatedly featured him and passed vital clues from the viewers to the CBI. One viewer called in to say that Srivastava was in Allahabad where the CBI eventually nabbed him.

Dhan Bahadur

Telecast date: October 13

Arrested: October 16

A case of mistaken identity but an arrest was made nonetheless. A viewer informed the police about a criminal named Krishna featured in IMW. Instead, the man arrested turned out to be Dhan Bahadur, a domestic help who was wanted for the murder of his employer.

Sushila Chedda

Telecast date: October 27

Arrested: October 30



"Any letter could be a tip-off," says Bakshi. The channel receives 10,000 letters a day for the show, of which about 600 detail viewers' own experiences of fraud or injustice.

About 15 of these are treated on a priority basis.

The police were apprehensive of the show initially. It was seen as an interference in their work.

But some dogged persistence and help from Delhi Police officials like Deepak Mishra, the then DCP (West), Qamar Ahmad, DCP (Crime), and B.S. Bola, DCP (Special Branch), made life easier.

The programme gets its information not just from the police but also from the victims and witnesses.

"The idea is to offer a balanced perspective," says Ilyasi. The result is a rather delicate, tenuous relationship he shares with the police.

"They are supportive but there have been times when the police have not been too happy," admits Ilyasi.

Like his depiction of the Connaught Place shoot-out in which innocent people were mistaken for criminals and shot dead.

"The serial isn't propaganda for the police," he declares.

Another episode which stirred a hornet's nest was on Chandraswami's possible involvement in the killing of journalist Rajendra Jain, a prime witness in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Yet another important one was on sandalwood smuggler Veerappan.

IMW was initially greeted with scepticism by viewers and critics. Tacky show, bad acting - complaints were aplenty. Also that it was copied from America's Most Wanted.

Ilyasi himself claims he was inspired by Crime Stoppers, which he saw in England while working for TV Asia in the early '90s.

But the show continues to tick. Media analyst Akhila Sivadas thinks it is the spontaneous yet crude recreation of crime which has yielded so much viewer response.

"It gives the feel as if the crime is happening in your backyard. Any bit of sophistication would have killed the drama," she says.

Ilyasi too admits that he deliberately doesn't go for established actors. The idea is to hook the people with the narrative.

"They must retain the strong impact and react to it," says Ilyasi. But this deliberate high pitch also has its pitfalls.

"The prolonged scenes can hurt the sensibilities," says Sivadas. The police have similar reservations about the show. "Criminals do get caught. But the graphic details may give ideas to others," says Delhi Police's Satyendra Garg, DCP (North West).

Both Garg and Sivadas believe this has to do with the nature of television itself. "TV establishes an instant rapport with the audience," says Sivadas. "But it's also an unmediated relationship that can have an adverse impact," she says.

Garg feels the dramatic element of the show needs to be toned down. "Also all they show are just routine criminals and not really the most wanted in India. Some homework needs to be done here," says Garg.

Despite its detractors the success run continues. The latest is that IMW has inspired PTV to launch a similar show. Time to make way for Pakistan's Most Wanted.