HarperCollins Presents Srinath Rao’s ‘Meow Meow’

shabnam.srivastava@harpercollins.co.in | 28 February 2023

 For Immediate Release 

HarperCollins India  

        releases journalist Srinath Rao’s

 gripping true crime account of 

Meow Meow, Baby Patankar and the case which turned March 2015

into the summer of scandal for Mumbai Police on 28 February 2023. 

HarperCollins India is delighted to announce the publication of Srinath Rao’s Meow Meow – the first ever true crime account of the unstoppable rise of Mephedrone in Mumbai and the drug case which turned an unknown grandmother from Worli into a household name. Set in contemporary Mumbai, this gripping investigative recounting of one of Mumbai’s most baffling crimes revolves around Meow Meow and Baby – the addictive drug with a funny name, and the dealer who became synonymous with it – and the case which caused an uproar in Mumbai and turned March 2015 into the summer of scandal for the Mumbai Police. Full of edge-of-the-seat plot twists and turns, this is a story that gives one a glimpse into Mumbai’s dark underbelly, a story of a disgraced policeman, a woman known as Baby and a drug called Meow Meow.  

Talking about the book, Srinath Rao says, ‘Meow Meow is a crime reporter’s notebook. It is my favourite crime story, one I reported in obsessive detail and which became quite personal at times. There is a side to Mumbai in the book which readers may not ordinarily, or easily, encounter.  It was a revelation to me. I’d pick it up just for the cover.’ 

Bushra Ahmed, Senior Commissioning Editor at HarperCollins India, says, ‘I was gripped by Baby’s story from the first page itself: an unassuming woman who emerges as the king pin in a business-the seedy world of drugs in Mumbai- that is generally the bastion of men. And, as with any good true crime story, Srinath has recreated an incredible world: where colourful characters like ‘Acid’ and ‘Tracksuit’ parade about their business in the alleys of the city and cops playing cat-and-mouse games with the gutsy milk-seller turned don, even as Mumbai is rife with rumours of a mysterious new drug with a funky name. Meow Meow is a story with many twists and turns, a truly fascinating read.’ 

ABOUT THE BOOK 

Call her a police informant, a slumlord, a successful businesswoman, a caring grandmother—but do not call Shashikala ‘Baby’ Patankar a drug dealer. 

On 9 March 2015, a constable in the Mumbai Police force, Dharmaraj Kalokhe, was arrested by the local police for possession of a white powder believed to be the synthetic drug Mephedrone. His partner, Shashikala ‘Baby’ Patankar, was the informant. Later she was arrested by the police, too. 

In the days that followed, the Maharashtra Police declared her a criminal and the media labelled her ‘drug queen’, but Baby always considered herself an innocent. Unearthing new facts about the case, this book is a blow-by-blow account of Baby’s capture and the investigation that followed. It is also the story of Mephedrone – better known as Meow Meow – which, when it entered the schools, colleges and pubs of Mumbai, changed the rules of the game and the enforcement of narcotics laws in the city. 

Fast and pacy, Meow Meow is the tale of one of Mumbai’s most baffling crime and the intriguing life that Baby Patankar led. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Srinath Rao is a Mumbai-based crime reporter who used to work with The Indian Express. He has studied for a diploma in journalism at the Express Institute of Media Studies in Delhi. He is presently an independent journalist. 

For more information, please contact: Shabnam.srivastava@harpercollins.co.in