The Art of Catching Criminals-Kerala Police Way

HUNT FOR THE UNKNOWN

This is not a comedy story making fun of the Kerala police that I intend to tell. It is an incident that took place; in fact this may be a golden feather on the cap of the cops.

Exactly on 20 June 2007 I woke up earlier than most of the days around 6.00 am. It was raining outside. I felt nice and cold in the bed. But not for too long. I felt guilty of wasting precious time yesterday night studying nothing as the mad timetable gave me one day time to prepare for the all important electronic circuits exam.(….its getting postponed to such an extent that we take vacations in between exams …). Also the remembrance of a spoiled signals & systems exam made me take the texts as soon as woke up. I have made plans of finishing one module before noon. Started studying the fattest guy of the season,the Sedra & Smith. Finding it too heavy to carry while walking (a method of learning when there is too much to...) I slipped onto a Photostat note. By this time my father had left to his office. Mom had finished the morning buzz and was resting in the bed as I had decided to take the breakfast later. It was around 8.30 am by now. The rain had stopped. And it was the turn of the trees(“Maram peyyumbol”).

The ambience around was such that, it was difficult to differentiate between footsteps and the tree drops. Some cats were making noise around the area. I guess it is mating time for them. There are around five or six cats around my house fed by many neighborhoods. The number of cats has increased recently hmmm…naughty cats. No surprise, they have even dared to mate in with me watching. Coming back to real time, I haven’t seen anything like that morning. But some were running around the bushes may be in quest of…..hmmm my mind…thinking too much. Realizing that cat watching may do no good for the circuits exam I turned back to the Photostats.

As I was reading, sitting near the closed window heard somebody talking from outside. The voice was rough. Are there any trespassers in my compound? Or is it somebody in the neighborhood? I sharpened my ears. There was only one voice. It was a male voice. I guessed it as a mobile conversation. I was not able to hear exactly what he was saying. The only snippet I understood was “veettokarodu parayano??” (Means “should the households be informed??”). I felt the voice too close to be from the neighborhood. Who dared to trespass my house??? The inquisitive in me woke up. I dared to go to that side of the house and find out. I opened the door silently. With slow steps a advanced to that side of the house. I folded my Lunky and stiffened in case of an attack. I extended my head around the corner. THERE….. There he stands…THE TRESPASSER…he was at least 6 feet high and looked heavy .He was well dressed. He had an umbrella in his hand. He spotted me and looked at me and I moved towards him. He grinned, I didn’t…. He advanced towards me. His left hand went into the left pocket of his trouser. As he held some thing towards me said “I am from Police….. no need to panic….”.I looked at the thing he showed me. It read “KERALA SANNAD POLICE”. It was his identity card. The rough was voice fell on my ears as I was reading," I am awaiting a person”. My heart beat rapidly…He looked at my face. I closed my mouth realizing that it had been open for sometime. Tried to smile. Don’t know whether I succeeded or not. However he succeeded as he took his previous position. I turned back and got inside the house. I thought who he could be waiting for….I noticed a man standing opposite my house on the other side of the road. He has been there for quite some time. Is he making some actions toward me?? No. He is communicating with policeman. I concluded that he was also a cop. I started watching him. He is making some phone calls.

‘Who is the man they are waiting for??’ Many answers came up in my mind.'May be waiting for somebody passing through this way’. Now I can’t study. I was expecting a chase by the police, more cops hidden in the streets. So I fixed my eyes on the cop who was standing opposite my house. Time passed...I thought of informing my mother about the cops but dropped the idea soon as she might compel me to stop cop watching and study………..

to be continued…………………………………….. Aj