The much-awaited series of the year Khakee: The Bengal Chapter was released on Netflix on March 20, 2025. Directed by debutant duo Debatma Mandal and Tushar Kanti Ray, Khakee: The Bengal Chapter is a political crime thriller based in the backdrop of Bengal. Made under the production of Neeraj Pandey who made cult classic series like Special Ops, Khakee: The Bihar Chapter, etc, Khakee: The Bengal Chapter has started receiving praise from critics as well as fans on social media. Khakee: The Bengal Chapter features Jeet as DCP Arjun Maitra, Prosenjit Chatterjee as Barun Roy, Saswata Chatterjee as Shankar Barua (Bagha), and Chitrangada Singh as Nibedita Basak, and more in key roles.
Since you have landed on this page, True Scoop assumes that you have already watched the series on Netflix and wondering about the dark reality of Calcutta's Skeleton Trade or Kolkata's Skeleton Trade in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter. Below is all you need to know about Khakee: The Bengal Chapter True Story or Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Real Story-
Is Khakee: The Bengal Chapter a true story?
The answer is yes and no at the same time. Khakee: The Bengal Chapter is an original story that outlines how the politics, bureaucracy, and the crime world of Bengal go hand in hand. Now, the question arises if it is an original story then why there are questions around Khakee: The Bengal Chapter True Story or Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Real Story? The answer is Kolkata's dark past of the human skeleton trade.
Kolkata's human skeleton trade is actually a real-life case of India that has been mentioned in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter. Hence, questions are revolving around Khakee: The Bengal Chapter Real Story. Continue reading below about Kolkata's Skeleton Trade-
Kolkata Human Skeleton Trade
As per a podcast, until 1980 just about every skeleton in medical programs came from Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. Calcutta was exporting 60,000 human skeletons every year. nrp.org outlined a report by investigative journalist Scott Carney. Scott Carney reported that many of those skeletons that were exported globally used to be stolen. For 200 years, Calcutta has been at the center of the global trade in human bones. In colonial times, British doctors hired thieves to snatch skeletons from Indian cemeteries.
Grave-robbing was more common. Carney reported that exporting human bones was legal until 1986, when the government banned the business. Reports surfaced that bone traders weren't satisfied with what they were finding in graveyards and were murdering people for their skeletons. However, the change in law didn't put all of the 13 original bone exporters out of business. At least one went underground. Carney revealed that that firm is called the Young Brothers. Its offices are located in downtown Calcutta between the city's biggest morgue and its largest cemetery. They represent themselves as a medical supply company.