The Swastika Killer About the Author Mahendra Jakhar is an author, screenwriter and filmmaker. The Butcher of Benares, a crime-thriller also published by Westland, was his first novel. It was rated as one of 2014’s best crime fiction debuts by www.livemint.com. He is an ex-journalist who worked as a crime reporter with a leading English daily in New Delhi for over six years before shifting to Mumbai. He started his scriptwriting career with director, Mahesh Bhatt and went on to write scripts for various filmmakers—Tiggmanshu Dhulia, Abhinav Kashyap, Ashwini Chaudhary, Hansal Mehta and Sunil Bohra. He also dabbled in writing scripts for various TV shows and documentaries. He wrote the script of Manjhi-The Mountain Man, a feature film directed by Ketan Mehta starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He has also co-written the script for Chandamama Door Ke, India’s first space adventure film based on India’s most daring mission to the Moon. The film will be directed by National Award winner filmmaker, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan.