Till spying do us part

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If you think the loyalty test happens only on TV shows. Think again. A car following you to the office may not necessarily be a coincidence, the man sitting at the next table might not be just having his dinner but may also be keeping an eye on you.

May be there is someone keeping a track of your account transactions, emails, chats, and telephone calls that you thought were private matters. And if all these are not alarming enough, there is more to come! What if all these details are being sent to your spouse in a secret envelope?
The idea of spying might sound a bit over the top, but it is increasingly becoming a reality for couples in the city, says Ajit Singh from Hatfield Investigation Services. In last three years, Ajit has noticed an increase of about 30-35 per cent in spying requests from married couples. And in about 70 per cent of the cases the suspicion turns out to be right.
“Couples want to know the daily movements of their better halves — with whom do they go out? What’s the level of friendship or intimacy? Do they go out for dinner or shopping, and if expensive gifts are also being exchanged. Be it men or women the requests come from both sides. Some even ask their friends to hack into email and Facebook accounts to crosscheck the suspected partner’s online activities. Surprisingly, there has been a 10-15 per cent increase in investigation requests from dating couples in the last three years,” says Ajit.
Recently, Antonio Banderas’s marriage was reportedly in trouble because of his close dancing with Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat. But he is not alone. The suspicion of unfaithfulness is high on the minds of couples these days. “Just after a month of our marriage, my husband would keep texting someone till late at night. He even unfriended me from his Facebook account. That is what made me dial an investigation agency,” says a software developer who filed for divorce when she found proof of her husband’s extramarital affair in the investigation agency reports.
Divorce lawyer Hasan Anzar is presently handling three such cases where one of the partners produced detective agency’s reports to prove adultery. “Telephone call details, photos, financial transactions, and the mobility of a person gathered by an investigation agency can be produced as a proof in court,” says Hasan.
However, not all couples go to detectives, says marriage counsellor Nishu Shukla. “When a partner denies the suspicions then spying is the last option left. There has been an increase of about 40 per cent in such couples who come for counselling,” adds Nishu.
However, about 10 years ago only high profile couples would request for detective services but now a number of middle class couples too ask agencies to follow their better halves, says Ajit. And the charges for spying can vary from `15,000 to 1.5 lakh depending on the duration and level of the investigation.