Recent reports reveal that the Police Department has almost written off sniffer dogs from the list of aids to crime investigation, because scent chasing very often leads the police nowhere on account of factors such as weather, pollution, the use of vehicles, and so on. No fault of the loyal animals, of course. They are however extremely useful in locating drugs, explosives and people trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings.Yet another very useful aid to investigation, which has not received the attention it deserves, are the footprints left behind by criminals. This is a fine art cultivated by even illiterate persons, who walk for miles to track down a missing animal or person. They very carefully study the size, shape and peculiarities, if any, of the prints made by bare or shod feet before they begin a pursuit. Of course, this approach would work less effectively in urban areas with their asphalt or concrete roads!The remarkable effectiveness of this unusual aid to investigation came to my notice when I was appointed as IGP in Saurashtra and where I had to deal with an armed gang of dacoits, which had already committed 49 dacoities involving 55 murders. The next six months were very trying until December, when one of my officers on special duty produced before me two pagis, or foot-trackers, with a request to see if their expertise could be used in tackling the dacoits. Both were illiterate but it was amazing how they organised the hunt. We did not get the criminals but my hopes of cornering them soon rose tremendously.The finale was thrilling. In January 1952, an offence of robbery took place in a village about ten miles from my headquarters in Rajkot and the police found at the scene of offence a sheet of paper on which the net price of a new Chevrolet car was worked out. The printed letterhead was of a well-known Rajkot car dealer and a phone call to him revealed that the above paper had been given to a prince of one of the old native states who appeared to be keen on purchasing the car. I had the prince arrested and produced before me. His confession nearly bowled me over. He admitted that he had committed the above robbery in association with Devayat, a member of the dacoit gang. I then rushed to the place where Devayat was. My bullet hit him and when the dacoit realised the heavy odds against him, he disappeared into the darkness despite being injured and bleeding. We tried to follow him but to no avail.It was at this juncture that I brought in the two pagis. They carefully examined the place of our clash the preceding night and then started an exciting and involved chase after Devayat. Two policemen were shot down before we climbed up the hill and finished him with a short burst of fire.This frontal attack by us on his gang so unnerved the leader that he, with two colleagues, made a bolt for Pakistan. I could thus fulfil my mission in seven months thanks to the superb performance of two bucolic individuals. I wrote an article, ‘Dogging the Criminal’, on this unconventional aid to investigation in the October 1952 issue of The International Criminal Police Commission, and another for the CBI Bulletin of May 2000.I repeat here a plea I had made then that efforts should be made by our police to carefully study the pagis’ technique. A word of caution, however, is in order. Chivying an offender this way is not just excitement and fun. The offender may be armed and he may spot you before you spot him in which case you are in serious danger of being shot at first. The police on such missions must therefore visualise initially all possible adverse situations and be ready to deal with them. The police must not advance close to each other and must know how to open covering fire to enable some of them to rush ahead towards the shooter. They must all be tough enough to foot it out for miles on end and not slink away if they suffer a few casualties.In other words, while prints and scents may help track down criminals, it is the manner in which they are cornered that is of the essence.The writer is a former director-general, CRPF
