LUCKNOW - Be it a mall, an office, a seminar venue or a social networking website, men are advised to be cautious in dealing with unknown women. The newfound weapon of private detective agencies is the lady detective, codenamed LD.

“It is a combination of technology and beauty. Collecting information about anyone, be it a man or a woman, is more economical and easy using LD than male detectives,” Shyam of Fox Detective Agency reveals.

According to the Association of Security and Detective Agencies (ASDA), there are over two dozen LDs active in this Uttar Pradesh capital. It is also proving to be an exciting career option for women, another detective agency head revealed.

“Besides gathering information about pre- and post-marital affairs, the LDs are also expert in collecting data of rival companies. For example, for corporate spying, these LDs enter firms as secretaries, data base administrators and other similar posts,” Col. Khanna (Retd), as he proudly introduces himself, told IANS.

With their qualifications, they have little problem getting the jobs.

“MBA, MCA, B.Tech, etc. are some of their qualifications. Besides, most of them have also undergone taekwondo and shooting training on their own,” Khanna added.

Besides corporate and family spying, parents are hiring detective agencies to keep an eye on their children, another area where LDs come in very handy.

“The daughter of a renowned industrialist of Ghaziabad is studying in a reputed professional college in Lucknow. In order to check her educational and social activities, he hired us and we instantly deputed an LD.

“She became her friend and the student’s mobile was successfully replaced with a multimedia mobile phone containing all gadgets to record her movements and conversations,” the proprietor of another detective agency said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

LDs are also proving to be much more economical than their male counterparts.

“Earlier, we used to spend over Rs.50,000 on male detectives on such tasks for a week. But now, it has gone down to Rs.14,000-20,000,” the source added.

The LDs are excited by their jobs.

“I will not reveal the modus operandi of my work but will definitely admit that working in Lucknow is much easier than in metros like Delhi and Mumbai. In 90 percent cases that I have successfully tackled, I observed that most of the male ‘targets’ get lured by LDs and share their secrets quite easily,” Preeti (name changed on request) told IANS.

“It is a risky job and seeing the risk factor, females are not taking this as a professional field. But I would like to assure that there are chances of 100 percent growth and if a detective agency is having LDs in abundant number, it will definitely help them shoot up profits,” Arman Khan, president of ASDA, said.

Sociologists say television serials have made it more acceptable for women to become detectives.

“Be it ‘CID’ (Sony TV), ‘Mr. & Mrs Mishra’ (Sahara TV), or the yesteryears ‘Karamchand’, all are showing aggressive roles of women,” sociologist D.K. tripathi told IANS. “Another example — earlier we used to see only male medical representatives but girls have started opting for this profession. Television has helped in breaking the mindframe of Indian women, encouraging them to take over male-dominated professional fields.”

(Rajat Rai can be contacted at rajat.r@ians.in)

Indo-Asian News Service