Syed Mustafa Siraj (14 October 1930 – 4 September 2012) was an eminent Indian writer. In 1994, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Mythical Man (Aleek Manush), considered his most lauded work. In 2005, his short story “Ranirghater Brittanto” was made into the film Faltu by Anjan Das. He wrote around 150 novels and 300 short stories.[2] He is the creator of the detective character Colonel Niladri Sarkar a.k.a. “Goenda Colonel”, the Detective Colonel.