Reminiscences of a police officer

DIFFERENT STROKES: Vikas Publishing House, 576, Masjid Road, Jangpura, New Delhi-110014. Rs. 120. EN KAVAL SUVADUGAL (Tamil): Rs. 75. Both by K. A. Rajagopalan; Thirumagal Nilayam, 55, Venkatnarayana Salai, T.Nagar, Chennai-600017.

A RETIRED police officer, the author, has come out with his experiences and anecdotes in both English and Tamil. He has taken some pains to furnish a full picture of some of the peculiar and interesting case histories during his career, which began in rural Tamil Nadu and ended in the CBI in Delhi.

The translation into Tamil has been rendered by Ranimaindan, who has stuck to the original version but given it the typical grounding in Tamil Nadu - in the sense, it is so much more natural to recall public reactions or customs in a village in the native tongue. Translating it into English will take away some of its flavour.

It is interesting to note how the author joined the then Madras Police Service. After a stint in the Navy and service in World War II, he made use of the voluntary retirement scheme to leave the service. A casual introduction to an English police officer, then a Deputy Commissioner of Police, led to the offer of a job of a Sub-Inspector of Police. It was so simple then.

The author has packed the book with a string of incidents, cases and experiences starting from Vridhachalam and ending up with the Sarkaria Commission's investigations.

What stands out is the striking difference in handling such diverse cases - a murder near the railway track by a villager, a sophisticated crime by a city dweller, the machinations of politicians, the sleazy world of traders and businessmen.

Can you imagine how junior police officers functioned in those days? They had to cycle long distances to reach the scene of crime; look after railway crimes as well; coordinate with the village munsiffs and local chiefs and depend on the few constables for everything from ``bandobust'', law and order to crime investigation.

The author has also narrated some of the minute details of village life and the corrupt practices in the service even in those days. There are also references to political influences in the police and how senior officers played politics in those days. An interesting anecdote relates to how some activists tried to frame him in a corruption case when he was in Chennai and how he was exonerated by the court.

His experiences in the CBI and that too with economic offences, provides another dimension to a police career. After fixing a Pondicherry MP in one of those rare cases, his narration of the Sarkaria Commission cases throws a lot of light on the fate of ``political'' cases. He says ``Even though it is a matter that occurred so long ago, discretion dictates that I leave it to the readers for their own interpretation of the Government's action (of withdrawing the cases) and not dwell on why and how the cases were withdrawn.''Several senior police officers have given forewords to the books in both the languages.

V. JAYANTH

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