New novel reimagines elite encounter squad of Mumbai cops with autism

V Sanjay Kumar first began working on the crime thriller seven years ago

In V Sanjay Kumar's new novel, The Third Squad (Juggernaut Books), there's a moment when one of his characters, Ranvir Pratap, lists traits he'd like to see in the special encounter squad that he has been tasked with putting together. "I needed to be careful with my team and look for people who would be less affected," he tells himself. "Sympathy and empathy were unwanted. I wished for a while that I had a genetically modified team to manage, one that spoke less, operated alone, was less social, did not feel for the targets or imagine what would happen to their families."

Ranvir, says Kumar, was only thinking aloud while trying to assemble his special team. When a psychologist friend hears of his plans, he marries the traits of Asperger's to Ranvir's job description. "It is almost a perfect fit," says the Bengaluru-based writer and gallerist. The result is a rivetting, new crime thriller, set in Mumbai, which revolves around the story of an elite squad of sharpsooters who have Asperger's. In a freewheeling chat, Kumar reveals the inspiration for his new novel. Edited excerpts:

The idea of an autistic encounter squad sounds unusual. What was the inspiration?
Mumbai had the stellar Batch of 1983, an encounter team trained by Arvind Inamdar, that accounted for hundreds of 'gangsters' in the 90s. Unfortunately, the batch members were thereafter accused of breaking the law in different ways. The Third Squad was, fictionally, set up to do better than that batch. Autism is a spectrum condition. Asperger's Syndrome is at one end of the spectrum, the mild side. Those with Asperger's have it for life. They see, hear, and feel the world differently from you and me. Interestingly, they do so in ways suited for a hit squad.

By making sharpshooters out of autistic patients, you actually invested them with a lot of power. Was that an idea you were trying to convey with your novel?
The entire encounter phenomenon is a strange one. Our civil society and that too in a city like Mumbai, was happy to see 600 or so of its citizens being killed without having followed a judicial process. What's more, the squad members became heroes. I wanted to highlight this. How were we fine with the rules of war being applied on citizens? I wanted to foreground someone who questioned this, who, while eliminating people, hesitated. In the end, I wanted someone with Asperger's to remind the rest of us so-called 'typicals' what it is to be human.

When did you start writing this?
This book has been with me for the longest time. I started on its initial draft seven years ago. It has been through three iterations and numerous versions. I realised early that I was dealing with very sensitive issues. I had to get everything right.

You are based out of Bengaluru. You write about art, mostly. Tell us about your interest in crime?
I spent the 80s and 90s in Bombay/Mumbai in the world of finance and software. My corporate atman still resides there. This story is about the city of the time as much as it is about a 'phenomenon' that needs greater investigation. In my writing, I am interested in the dark side of people.

In the book, you've dropped names from Mumbai's real encounter squad (Pradeep Sharma, Daya Nayak). What's your opinion about them?
They had a job to do and they did it well. There is no taking anything away from that. It is hard for anyone to step into their shoes and execute as they did.