An Exclusive Interview with Bhaswar Mukherjee; Ex-Banker, Author & IIMB Alumni

An ex-banker and MBA from IIM Bangalore, Bhaswar Mukherjee co-founded Bridgepoint Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a learning solutions company in 2005. He has over twelve contributory anthologies, an entry in India’s first composite novel (Limca Book of Records entry), with many of his short stories being placed in the top 10 winners in various TOI-Write India contests. Sudha Murty and Ravinder Singh have chosen his work for their curated anthologies. His anthology ‘It Happens–Stories of Human Relationships’ won him “The Best Storyteller 2021” from The Navi Mumbai Chambers of Business and Industries. His first true crime non-fiction, ‘The Counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi and the Stamp Scam’, won him the “Non-Fiction-Emerging Author of the Year” in 2022 by Ukiyoto Publishing.

‘Scarred Earth’, his genre fiction (September 23) won the Sahitya Sparsh award and made it to the Holistic Pine reading list. His second true crime nonfiction (The Founding Fathers of Fraud- September 24) was an Amazon bestseller.

In an Exclusive Interview with Nitish Raj; Editor-in-Chief, The Literary Mirror the senior banker talks about his latest masterpiece along with corporate scams and true-crime narratives.

Q.1 Your career path has taken a lot of turns – from banking to entrepreneurship to becoming an award-winning author. How have these diverse experiences helped you in your writing, particularly in the true crime genre?

BM: My close to 18 years with multinational banks opened the world and the nuances of finance. This and the structured world of banking imparted, I guess, discipline, attention to detail, and the ability to analyze complex situations. These stood in good stead in helping research and dissect white-collar crimes. Both my non-fiction true crime works, “The Counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi and the Stamp Scam” and the more recent “The Founding Fathers of Frauds” deal with financial scams.

Entrepreneurship was a choice I made when I was 42. I was then on the cusp of a timeline beyond which I may have been too old and scared to give up a cushy job and take the leap of faith into unchartered waters. However, it taught me important skills of being unafraid to experiment, building an organization ground up, understanding human motivations, and the drivers for people to pursue success or survival. I (bravely) tried my hand at nonfiction despite my strong preference for fiction and tried to comprehend the motivations and reasons for these scamsters, as well as their human angle.

To a great degree. I would say that both work experiences complemented one another and helped me to forge my author’s journey.

Q.2 What were the key challenges in piecing together the details of these decades-old corporate scams? What kind of primary and secondary sources did you rely on?

BM: My biggest challenge with “The Counterfeiter”, though a comparatively more recent scam (Telgi died in 2017) was the clutter of media and newspapers, where sensationalism often obscured facts. As a ‘sutradhar’ (narrator), facts and truth needed to emerge from such reporting/opinion bias. Since primary research in meeting people connected was sensitive (Many were in the top echelons of politics and society), I needed a credible primary source. I constructed most of my research and writing from the 200 legal cases against Telgi. These were in the public domain and irrefutable, and allowed me to present both various sides of the story to allow the reader to make an informed opinion or judgement. Other than the case papers, journals, blogs, and books completed the research for Telgi.

“The Founding Fathers of Fraud” were independent India’s first instances of fraud, hence, the challenge was to get dated information. I owe a debt of gratitude to Nasir Tyabji sir, an astute economic historian, whose seminal works helped me understand the socio-political dynamics at the fragile moment when India won her independence. I was also blessed to have procured a copy of Neelima Dalmia Adhar’s biography on her father Ramkrishna Dalmia, which helped untangle his complex persona. I was also lucky to have laid my hands on the twin volumes of the Shri H T Parikh’s “India in Transition…”  My daughter, who is in the US, made a trip of over forty-five miles to Berkeley, twice, just to access a journal I needed, the sole copy of which was available in the university library!

For this book, I read 15 books, close to 30 journals, reports, and papers, and over 20 legal case papers on Dalmia and Mundhra.

Q.3 What surprised you the most during your research into these “The Founding Fathers of Fraud”? Were there any unexpected revelations?

BM: I had hoped that with generative AI, getting information on these dated scams would have been a breeze. However, I found that sourcing authentic historical information using AI challenging and fraught with errors. The older the period, the greater the misinformation! There was, however, a wealth of knowledge available in our wonderful libraries and museums, which saved me.

The second element of surprise is when I was researching, I came across the Jeep scandal case or the Cycle scam in 1948 and 1949, respectively, and the first corporate scam to be recorded was the Haridas Mundhra (Mundhra) event, which erupted in 1957. However, Ramkrishna Dalmia’s (Dalmia) name didn’t figure anywhere in this long and unenviable list. I don’t know why or how this happened, given that his misdemeanors led to watershed events such as the nationalization of the insurance business in India! And there was so much intrigue in why the dispensation targeted this group when the Tatas and the Birlas were guilty of indiscretions too….

Q.4 What do you hope readers will take away from understanding these early corporate scams in independent India?

BM: I hope the readers appreciate the similarity of these early-year frauds and the ones fresher in their consciousness, even as they enjoy the social, political, and economic landscape of independent India’s early years with nascent financial systems and capital markets, and the political upheaval that these scams caused.

These early scams were a harbinger and, in a way, the pathfinder for the modern-day scams we see today, despite the refinement in methodology aided by digitalization and cybercrimes. Whether a business faces justice or not for its wrongdoings depends on its relationship with the dispensation. This is as true today as it was back then.

Early in the book, I draw upon the studies in 2020 and 2022 by Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Inc. and Price Waterhouse Coopers respectively to establish that the three primary causes of frauds per their studies were: Asset misappropriation, which involves an employee stealing or misusing the employing organization’s resources, Corruption, which includes offenses such as bribery, conflicts of interest, and extortion, and Financial statement fraud schemes, in which the perpetrator intentionally causes a material misstatement or omission in the organization’s financial statements. And these were the principal reasons why even the Dalmia and Mundhra frauds were perpetrated about seven decades ago! So, even as the reader realizes that the more frauds change, the more they remain the same, she can appreciate the social, economic, and political landscape of those times and the context of growth in business and industrialization within which these frauds occurred.

 Q.5 The title itself is intriguing. What is the significance of calling them “The Founding Fathers of Fraud”? What commentary are you making through this title?

BM: The catchy alliteration captures the essence of the book. Many writers have written about the Founding Fathers of India’s freedom and their political struggles. The Indian economic and political landscape in the years before and after 1947 presented myriad opportunities, and Indian policy makers sought to harness these opportunities and self-reliance based on Nehru’s socialistic approach of wealth distribution away from the capitalist approach. Many Indian entrepreneurs (albeit grudgingly) supported this as well and put their shoulder to the wheel to establish Indian industry and business. These stories are, however, about the deviants who exploited the fragile moments and the opportunities (such as the repatriation of British interests). Hence, the publisher, my literary agent, The Book Bakers, and I found the title apt.

Q.6 What sparked your interest in revisiting the stories of Ramkrishna Dalmia and Haridas Mundhra, considering these events occurred in the early years of independent India?

BM: One I have already mentioned is the lack of any previous book/mention covering Dalmia’s dark deeds, despite the Commission of Inquiry report against the man/group running close to 900 pages. The second was that despite Dalmia and Mundhra being different as chalk and cheese, there were curious connections. Where Dalmia had established himself as an industrialist with diverse business interests, Mundhra was a corporate raider, with self-aggrandizement being his only driver. Strangely, though, the twin episodes of Dalmia and Mundhra in exploiting the managing agency system and India’s fragile banks and capital markets were linked. In exploring the trajectory of their wrongdoings, I felt there was an intriguing story in the strange connections that their separate lives had. These included the nationalization of the insurance business in India (prompted principally by the adverse findings in Bharat Insurance, a Dalmia company) and the formation of the LIC, an institution under government ownership, exploited by Mundhra only a year later! It was the role played by parliamentarian Feroze Gandhi (Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s son-in-law) who heaved the Dalmia and Mundhra crimes into political and public consciousness, converting the scams to scandals. Inquiry commissions instituted by Prime Minister Nehru for Dalmia and Mundhra, respectively, were both chaired by the same Justice, Vivian Bose, though in Mundhra’s case, the Chagla Commission helmed primary investigations. Ironically, despite Mundhra’s charges being adjudged far more serious than those of Dalmia, and him being awarded a prison term of twenty-two years, he managed to secure release in three years, closer to Dalmia’s awarded and served prison term of two years. Notwithstanding these curious connections, the modus operandi and the driver for these two founding fathers of fraud in India were quite different, and a story I felt readers in the genre of true crime nonfiction would find unique.

Q.7 What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are interested in writing true crime narratives?

BM: Though I am only two books old and still learning, I feel that writing true crime requires a balance of investigative rigor, ethical storytelling, and an interesting narration. From my limited experience, here are a few pointers:

• Prioritize Accuracy & Ethics – True crime deals with real lives, often involving victims and families. Ensure thorough research and respect for those affected. Always verify facts and avoid sensationalism. There is no scope for creative liberties. Even the conversations you choose to develop from a rock-solid event may classify the work as fiction. I cannot overemphasize the need to be careful.
• Develop Strong Research Skills and persistence – Comb through court records, interviews, news archives, and police reports. Primary sources are essential for credibility. Don’t be discouraged by dead ends. Persistence leads to breakthroughs.

For both my books, research and discovery took between 9 months to a year; writing took half the time.

• Narrative Storytelling – True crime isn’t just about listing events—it’s about gripping storytelling. Build tension, explore motives, and create an immersive experience while staying factual. This is perhaps the most challenging and demanding facet, and one that I personally need to work on.
• Understand Legal Considerations – Be aware of defamation laws, privacy rights, and ethical reporting guidelines to avoid legal pitfalls. If you need help, reach out to a professional. I took help from a legal professional for my first book. Your true crime writing may need a deeper understanding of forensic science and or criminology, or psychological drivers. Engage with the experts in these fields!
• Find Your Unique Angle – Hundreds of crime stories exist. What makes yours different? Whether it’s an untold perspective or a fresh analysis, bring something new to the table.
• Write with Empathy – Crime stories involve real people—victims, perpetrators, and investigators. A compassionate approach ensures your work is responsible and thought-provoking.