Explore the real-world places that appear in One Arranged Murder by Chetan Bhagat. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Prerna's Family Home (Fictional Residence), Keshav and Saurabh's Flat (Fictional Residence), Keshav and Saurabh's Detective Agency Office, Lodhi Garden, Connaught Place and 3 more.
South Delhi residential colony — Site of the Karva Chauth murder
Prerna's three-storey family house is the setting of the central crime. On Karva Chauth, Prerna fasts for Saurabh and waits on the terrace for the moon and for him to break her fast. Saurabh rushes up the steps in excitement, but what he finds there turns his joyful evening into a murder mystery that pulls him and Keshav into their most personal case yet.
South Delhi neighborhoods such as Hauz Khas and Safdarjung developed as planned residential colonies after Partition, filled with multi-storey family homes. Karva Chauth rooftop gatherings have long been a feature of North Indian urban life. The house in the novel is fictional, so this point marks a representative area.
The area consists of private homes and apartment blocks in a busy residential district. The specific house in the novel does not exist as a landmark.
Shared rented apartment in Delhi — Home base of the two friends
Keshav and Saurabh live here as best friends, flatmates, colleagues and business partners. It is where Keshav's teasing about Saurabh and Prerna's cheesy romance sparks the rift between them. The silence between the two friends in the flat gives the story its emotional undercurrent alongside the murder investigation.
Delhi's South and Central neighborhoods have long drawn young professionals who rent shared flats in converted floors of older buildings. Such flatshares are a hallmark of the city's migrant working culture. The flat in the book is fictional.
The area is dense with rented apartments, cafes and small shops. The flat itself is not an identifiable public site.
Delhi — Their start-up investigation agency
The pair run their small investigation agency from here, working as amateur detectives after earlier success with a murder case. The office is where the tension between Keshav and Saurabh plays out as they weigh whether to take on the case that touches Saurabh's fiancee. It represents their partnership and the risk it faces.
Delhi's commercial pockets such as Lajpat Nagar, Nehru Place and Saket host many small start-ups in modest office spaces. Private investigation is a growing but informal trade in India. The agency itself is fictional.
The neighborhood hosts small offices, co-working spaces and shops. The office from the book is not a marked site.
Lodhi Road — A place for friends to talk and walk
Lodhi Garden serves as a representative city escape for the friends and the Delhi setting, a calm place where estranged friends like Keshav and Saurabh might clear their heads. It stands for the space where friendship, love and suspicion are talked through away from the pressure of the case. This entry is a thematic stand-in for the park settings of the story.
Lodhi Garden contains 15th-century tombs of the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties. The gardens were landscaped in 1936 by the British as Lady Willingdon Park, and renamed after independence.
It is a popular public park with tombs, lawns and walking paths, used for morning walks and picnics. Entry is free.
Visit: Lodhi Garden (park)
Central Delhi — City's commercial heart
Connaught Place represents the busy Delhi where Keshav and Saurabh move between meetings, meals and errands during the investigation. It is a stand-in for the city's bustling cafes and restaurants where the friends might argue and make up. This entry is a representative setting for Delhi's urban life in the novel.
Connaught Place was designed by architect Robert Tor Russell and built in the 1920s and 1930s as New Delhi's commercial centre. Its Georgian-style colonnades form concentric circles around a central park.
It is a major shopping, dining and business district with metro access. The central Rajiv Chowk area is always crowded.
Visit: Connaught Place (landmark)
South Delhi — Where the murder is reported
After the discovery on Prerna's terrace, the case moves to the police, who handle the official investigation while Keshav and Saurabh run their own. The friends' amateur methods come into friction with official procedure. The station represents the formal channel the pair must navigate.
Delhi Police is one of India's largest metropolitan police forces, with stations across every district. Local thanas deal with everything from petty theft to homicide. The station in the book is fictional.
Police stations in the area are working government offices and not tourist sites.
South Delhi — Cafes, ruins and nightlife
Hauz Khas Village stands in for the casual hangouts where Keshav and Saurabh might share a drink, joke and quarrel over Saurabh's devotion to Prerna. It captures the friendship at the heart of the novel. This is a representative place that fits the story's Delhi setting.
Hauz Khas was built by Alauddin Khilji in the 14th century as a water reservoir, and Firoz Shah Tughlaq later added a madrasa and tombs. The village became a boutique and cafe hub in the 1980s and 1990s.
It is a lively area of restaurants, bars and galleries beside a lake and medieval ruins. The Deer Park is nearby.
Visit: Hauz Khas Fort and Village (historic site)
Saket — Malls and cinemas
The mall district stands in for the wedding shopping, dinners and outings typical of an engaged couple like Saurabh and Prerna. Keshav's mockery of their cheesy romance fits scenes like these. This is a representative location for the book's urban Delhi.
Saket developed in the 1980s as a South Delhi residential and commercial district. Select Citywalk opened in 2007 as one of the city's major malls.
Select Citywalk and neighbouring malls host shops, restaurants and a multiplex. Saket is also home to hospitals and the district court.
Visit: Select Citywalk (landmark)
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