The homicidal, the fraudulent and the crooked have all found a common screen address where their activities will be tracked and exposed. It is also a world of steamy illicit romances and deadly double lives that end in conspiracy, blackmail or even murder.

Discovery Networks, in an off-beat addition to its bouquet of channels, has unveiled ID, short for Investigation Discovery. It airs re-enactments of true accounts of crime, sometimes even using actual footage of the cases. “But the treatment will be of thrillers, not documentaries,” said Rahul Johri, the company’s executive vice-president and general manager, south Asia.

Speaking at the launch of the channel in Delhi, he said: “ID is the fastest growing channel in recent times in the US (the channel’s Facebook page has a staggering 1,653,894 likes). Especially with digitisation, the genre of entertainment needs to be redefined and sliced. We created new genres in India like automobile (Turbo), wildlife (Animal Planet), science (Science) and travel and lifestyle (TLC). It may not be comparable to the prevailing general entertainment channels but viewers in the mood for thrillers will see it as mass entertainment.”

There is a rider though. The channel, while airing shows made in the US, is available here only in Hindi. The strategy, Johri explains, is aimed at outreach. The company has a huge dubbing facility in Mumbai and Johri states that the writers have been given the freedom to rewrite the script based on the essence.

“In the US, ID is watched by significantly more women than men,” said Rajiv Bakshi, vice-president, marketing, Discovery Networks, South Asia. Each show lasts for 20-22 episodes and each episode is a complete story, he added.

The nature of the shows implies adult content and Johri says that an India-specific editing is being done. “The blood and gore is not so much the problem as skin show. Some shows with adult content will run after 11pm,” Johri said.

Neither is he worried about ID encouraging criminality. “Rather, it will have a positive impact on society as at the end of the investigation in each show, the criminal always gets caught.”