Publisher's Synopsis
In the gritty heart of one of India's busiest ports, secrets are cargo and lives are traded like commodities.
Subrata Sengupta has dedicated twenty-two years to the Kolkata Customs Department, building a reputation on meticulous detail, unwavering procedure, and absolute honesty. His world is one of precise numbers and orderly reports. But that world is brutally disrupted when he receives an unexpected transfer order: reassignment to the chaotic, notorious Kolkata Port.
The Port isn't just another posting; it's a labyrinth of towering containers, shadowy alleys, and deeply ingrained corruption. It's a place where rules are bent, ignored, or simply bought. Subrata quickly learns that the official manifests are often lies, and the casual corruption he witnesses daily hints at something far darker operating beneath the surface.
His precise eye catches discrepancies in shipments labeled innocuously as 'art supplies.' As he pulls at the thread, a horrifying truth unravels: the network isn't just smuggling valuable artifacts; they are trafficking human beings, moving innocent lives across the globe, hidden in plain sight among legitimate cargo.
Suddenly, Subrata's quiet investigation transforms into a desperate race against a powerful, ruthless enemy. This network, reaching high into the city's power structures, isn't just a threat to his career. They know who he is. They know about his family-his wife, Rina, deeply entangled unknowingly through her work in logistics, and his daughter, Srija, the very picture of innocence they threaten to shatter.
Drawing on insights into this complex world from debut author Debraj Banerjee, who brings a unique, authentic perspective informed by a background in the Kolkata Customs, Zero Clearance plunges you into a high-stakes battle for justice and survival.
Can one honest officer dismantle a network built on power, corruption, and stolen lives, or will he and his family become just another statistic lost in the system, another secret buried beneath the concrete and chaos of the port?
Dive into this gripping thriller and find out.
