Aranyak ('Of the Forest') is an Indian murder mystery series done in the European style. I say European style because we have seen so many murder mysteries from Europe that follow this pattern: it's set in a small town that is full of characters, all of whom are hiding secrets. The fictional small town of Sironah happens to be in the foothills of the Himalayas.
This show has a couple of elements that we have seen in a least one other show. The town is right up against, or in the middle of a forest, and the killer hangs the bodies of his victims from trees.
There is a big, fat bad guy (Manhas) who is trying to get permission to build a resort, a resort where presumably rich people will be able to get the very best recreational drugs, which he is importing from Nepal. Because of the drugs, his resort will become world famous and he will make a pile of money. He must be a good actor, because we knew he was a bad guy from the first couple of sentences out of his mouth, and this is before we find out about his actual crimes. But hang on, we are just getting started on criminal activity. He's a full-on gangster masquerading as prosperous businessman, an upright pillar, make that the upright pillar of this community. Don't worry, he gets his.
The drug dealer had a previous run-in with new cop-in-charge some years ago wherein the cop's son was kidnapped and disappeared. Never found out what happened to him. Maybe we will find out in season 2.
The murder victim is the daughter of a French woman, who the woman cop-in-charge dismisses as a useless junkie. The case is confusing because it is not clear just who commited the crime. There are bits of evidence pointing at several different people. Turns out there were a series of events that led to her death, so everyone is at least partly to blame.
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