“Khaki” derives its name from khak - soil, in
Persian. It is the colour of police uniform in India and is widely respected,
feared and despised, all in equal measure. But few can claim to know how the
police actually prevents and solves crime, while having to deal with a huge and
diverse population and various social and political pressures.
With his “Khaki Files”, author Neeraj Kumar, who is a
much acclaimed former police officer himself, bridges this gap and opens a
window into the background narratives
of how some of the most high profile cases of last three decades were
solved. It is an extremely readable account of police investigations for cases
such as the long forgotten Delhi lottery scam or the more recent horrific
Nirbhaya bus rape case. Neeraj Kumar has been in the thick of all the
investigations he writes about.
Kumar has a deceptively simple, yet a compelling writing
style which turns mundane police investigations in to racy, page-turner
stories. It is fascinating to see how, with much assiduous working and with a
little bit of luck too, pieces of puzzles in these cases fell in to place and
tough cases were brought to their logical conclusion. The stories are peppered
with interesting and little known nuggets of information, making the reader
privy to something more than just a straight story - for instance,
Amitabh Bachchan’s generosity for a
slain cop or how persistence of a young man - not even a policeman - to crack a
code led to a terror attack on India Gate being averted. Kumar is generous about sharing achievements
of his juniors and colleagues and at the same time, graciously avoids
name-taking when talking of inevitable office
politics.
Above all, Kumar with a very straight-from-the-heart writing evocatively introduces the reader to the human being behind the uniform who fights his share of daily battles like in any other job, sometimes bogged down by pressures, and elated at others. There is a chapter about how Kumar’s initiative leads to a criminal being reformed, and truth be told, this poignantly written piece brought a lump to my throat. I never thought a book written by a police officer could have this effect on me. That says it enough, doesn’t it?
