After an eventful tenure as the Army Chief (December 2019 to April 2022), during which China attacked India after contaminating the world with Covid 19 and then got into a heavily armed standoff against Indian Army along the lengthy disputed border, Gen. Manoj Naravane retired and in 2023 announced his first book titled Four Stars of Destiny, which made much news but got delayed owing to some content considered sensitive by the government.
Bitten by the writer’s bug, in April 2025 Naravane came out with his second book, titled The Cantonment Conspiracy, a racy murder mystery in a military setting and with an interesting mix of characters.
Lieutenants Rohit Verma and Renuka Khatri commissioned into the Army infantry — after three years at the National Defence Academy (NDA), and a year at the India Military Academy, report for their basic infantry officers training to the Sikh Rifles Regimental Centre at Fatehpuri, Western Uttar Pradesh, an area known for dacoity. Renuka is from the first batch of lady cadets who joined NDA in 2022, after a Supreme Court ruling in 2021.
While women officers’ entry into the Armed Forces began in 1992, in the Army over the years they can join all corps/services except the armoured corps, and infantry. Portraying Renuka as an infantry officer may be a surprise, but this is fiction and as such, the author’s prerogative to take such a liberty. While Renuka comes from a completely ‘civilian’ family, her colleague, Rohit is a third-generation officer, commissioned into the same regiment as his grandfather and father served in.
There is a third R, named Rehmat, a local village girl who knows Rohit since his boyhood days as her mother worked as a cook at his house. These three Rs do form a mildly romantic triangle, but one in which ladies are friendly with each other.
During the ‘Dining In’ party at the Officers’ Mess, held to welcome the newcomers, one of the ladies is assaulted and Rohit is suspected. A Court of Inquiry is ordered, with Renuka as one of its members and one who finds some crucial evidence that indicates more alarming connections.
One of the witnesses who disappears just prior to deposing before the Court is an Agniveer (agni-flame, veer-brave), a term coined by the government for personnel recruited for short-term service. While initially it is expected that he must have deserted, it eventually turns out that he is murdered. This clears Rohit and the hunt for the actual killer begins. Further investigation reveals similarities to events rooted in the past. In their search for the suspect, Rohit and Renuka are assisted by Rehmat and they must race against time to catch the killer before he can strike again.
The book published shortly before the first-ever batch of 17 lady cadets passed out of the NDA in the end of May 2025, is an enjoyable read not only for the armed forces but others, too.
The author, an Army veteran, is a strategic analyst based in Mumbai
The Cantonment Conspiracy
Gen. Manoj Naravane
Penguin Ebury
pp. 229; Rs 399/-
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