This time, the Delhi Police unit tries to solve a case where wealthy senior citizens are being bludgeoned to death and their houses robbed
At the 48th Emmy Awards in 2020, Delhi Crime’s first season took home the Best Drama Series trophy. The true crime series focused on the Delhi Police investigation into the horrifying gang rape that occurred in Nirbhaya on December 16, 2012; this case rocked the country and the whole globe and led to significant changes to India’s rape laws. While almost all of the case’s specifics are already public knowledge, the series focuses on the ragtag, overworked, underpaid police force (all of the characters are based on real-life counterparts) that was able to solve the case in a matter of days and apprehend the criminals despite incredible infrastructure challenges, at times resorting to unconventional methods to make up for a lack of manpower and resources.
Season 2 maintains the same setting, with the Indian capital being policed by a force that is still striving against insurmountable obstacles to prevent the majority of crimes in the nation. The majority of the Season 1 cast members are back in full force. DCP Vartika Chaturvedi (a superb Shefali Shah), who is in charge of the investigation’s cell, is now dealing with a string of horrifying murders that have a class distinction: a gang is fatally beating wealthy seniors at night, trashing their opulent homes, and then making off with cash and valuables.
The modus operandi, or “MO,” as the investigating police refer to it, is a throwback to a criminal group that operated in the 1990s and was staffed by members of a “notified tribe.” Could it be that those members’ offspring have suddenly chosen to pick up the fight?
A few other bright minds (also present in the earlier season) who are working with the ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ credo, along with Vartika and her core team of Neeti Singh (Rasika Dugal, brilliant) and Inspector Bhupendra Singh (Rajesh Tailang, again brilliant), throw themselves into the case. Like last time, those in authority (i.e., government officials) are still looking for fault and are as a result snapping at their heels to keep the pressure on.
In between, there is a wave of disguised activism: why is it always the ‘underprivileged’ that are targeted, why are the tribals who are rounded up as potential suspects made to be our conscience-keepers, etc. This ‘woke-ism’, I thought went on for a tad too long, when it shouldn’t have since it’s a police procedural first.
However, after the police realize that the deaths are a rip-off of the original 1990s murders, it’s back to normal, and the shocking conclusion follows. This is one of the best examples of elite group performances set against the gritty reality. The series can be finished in one sitting because it lasts (about) four hours and is, for the most part, incredibly captivating.