Maanas Lal and Aloke Lal

Maanas Lal has built a formidable reputation across genres of art. Apart from penning hundreds of columns for the print media, he is the co-author of Murder in the Bylanes: Life and Death in a Divided City and On the Trail of Thugs and Thieves: True Accounts of Crime from the Hindi Heartland. His work in the fields of painting, photography and digital art has found collectors across the globe. A software engineer, he has used his expertise in technology to develop a unique style of digital painting. He holds soft skills workshops in India's leading schools and professional institutions. He is a TEDx speaker. He is also the secretary of the Doon Cultural and Literary Society. A gold medallist IIT-ian, Aloke Lal joined the IPS in 1975. He served for thirty-seven years in the khaki, rising to the top rank of director-general. He received two medals from the President of India-one for long and meritorious services' and the other for 'distinguished services?. He is the author of The Barabanki Narcos: Busting India's Most Notorious Drug Cartel and co-author of Murder in the Bylanes: Life and Death in a Divided City and On the Trail of Thugs and Thieves: True Accounts of Crime from the Hindi Heartland. A TEDx speaker, Aloke is festival director of the Crime Literature Festival of India.