Zero Dial: The Dangerous World Of Informers by Jyotirmoy Dey

Zero Dial: The Dangerous World Of Informers Reviews

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  Souvik Jana

  This book talks about the police informers(zero) in the Mumbai underworld,their life style and their highly intelligent process of information gathering.It also gives a picture of Mumbai underworld,the rise of terrorism in it and the ineligibility of Mumbai police to act in this new terrain.There is hint of the current rivalry between the central intelligency and the Mumbai police ATS.Overall this book contains a lot of real facts and the author of the book has already been murdered for "knowing a lot".
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  Shashank Rane

  This book is about "khabris"..how they operate..providing vital information to police..set during that time when underworld was at its peak in Mumbai..author narrates about life's of some zero's who were important in cracking some of the cases related to underworld...although it is a good read, sometimes while reading you feel some events may not have occurred in that way...some events like others have pointed are not true...overall it is good book to read...!!!
• 
  Poonam

  Egged on by Hussain Zaidi's Dongri to Dubai, I picked up my copy of this J Dey book, relinquishing somehwere under a pile of other unread books. I had bought this book after j Dey had been brutally murdered. This book from POV of three crucial informers - Ahmed, Rahim and Sedeteen (I read it as Sade teen that 3.30 hrs). An informer constantly walks a tight rope in the world of crime and yet some breakthroughs happen solely because of them. Most police informers are on wrong side of law themselves and money is prime motivator for them.
  
  Book focuses on Police, crime branch, ATS and IB's chase of Riyaz Bhatkal, a small-time extortionist who with the help of his recuirting brother Iqbal Bhatkal became India's most wanted Indian Muzahideen (IM) mastermind terrorist, responsible for causing 52 bomb blasts across various cities and states in India.
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  I have to add this to my review. Considering that this book was written by a journalist, it is sort of shocking that some facts are wrong. Killing of Rohit Varma in Bombay at behest of an informer is not quite true since Rohit Varma, a Chota Rajan aide was killed in Bangakok at Rajan's house in a hit ordered by Dawood's right hand man Chota Shakeel. So, stories in this book will need to be read with a pinch of salt.
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  Rupali Rotti

  This book is not a work of fiction. These are the stories collected by the author over a period of 10 to 15 years, for which he was finally murdered last year owing to the knowledge he had gained. Overall, this is a book packed with a lot of info about the gangsters and terrorists in India - their secret code language, their gestures, the police procedures, and a lot of other things including the lives of informers and how they operate.
  But this book doesnt come without any downsides. The book is divided in 3 parts that cover 3 different informers and their life's stories. And throughout the book, the author jumps from past to present and back again. And every time, it becomes very confusing whether the author is talking about the present, or whether the character (or the real person/informer) has switched back to thinking of his past.
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  Pooja Anand

  An average book. Disheartened that there are incidents which have been mentioned incorrectly. Such as, Rohit Verma was killed in Bangkok and not in an encounter in mumbai in 2008. Gangster vicky malhotra was arrested after ducking police forces for 15 years in the year 2005 in New Delhi, then how can he be there in 1997. Good book but distorted facts.
• 
  Mohamed Thaver

  The book written by slain journalist J Dey is a minefield of information and makes you marvel at the inroads he had made into the grimy world of khabris. The material however is betrayed by the edit hand and could have been so much more than it ultimately turns out to be. However, worth a read for crime buffs!!