THE AJMER SECRET

A dead developer. A forgotten agreement. Eleven ancient-looking figures. And a secret buried beneath Ajmer.

Before dawn, a body is found floating in Ana Sagar Lake.

Sameer Malhotra, a powerful Delhi developer, has been murdered. His wrists are tied with a red silk tie, his belongings are missing, and a hotel key has been deliberately hidden inside his shoe.

Inspector Vikram Rathore soon discovers that Malhotra had been trying to acquire the mysterious Shekhawat Haveli overlooking the lake.

Inside the old mansion lies a hidden stepwell containing eleven stone figures—and an empty twelfth niche.

What begins as a murder investigation soon leads Rathore into a decades-old web of forged records, concealed payments, missing men and a mysterious stone slab that someone was desperate to keep hidden.

But the deeper Rathore digs, the more disturbing the truth becomes.

The figures are not what they seem.

The missing stone is not a treasure.

And the old agreement does not concern what everyone thinks it does.

As the investigation closes in, Rathore must unravel a conspiracy in which greed, fear, family loyalty and silence have kept the truth buried for decades.

Because in Ajmer, the past has not disappeared.

It has only been waiting.

And some secrets refuse to stay buried.