Detective Moochwala

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Detective Moochwala was a fictional detective who appeared in a youth magazine called Target in India during the 80's and the 90's. He and his dog Pooch solved numerous crimes using high tech equipment and chutzpah. They were a staple for a number of years, all a creation of an artist named Ajit Ninan who also had a page in the magazine called Funny World which consisted of illustrations. Moochwala in Hindi literally means 'one with the moustache' (Mooch = moustache, wala = one possessing something).

He is depicted as a pot-bellied, stubby legged man with little hair, and a trademark inverted 'V' moustache. The crime fighting duo were sometimes called Mooch and Pooch and managed to crack even the most difficult cases. Pooch was of indeterminate breed, and possessed above average intelligence for a canine companion. One of the other notable features were the names of police inspectors who came to clean up at the end of the strip - they always had very apt, Hindi-English (hinglish) words.

Detective Moochwala was stopped sometime in 1991, when the magazine underwent a renaissance and transformed itself into a more text-oriented version.