The truth and nothing but the truth

One would expect anyone, much less an IPS officer who has been in public gaze for over four decades for his extraordinary exploits, to be very careful to cover his tracks when he makes his diaries public.

- Amitabh Srivastava

But then if you expect that discretion from Amod K Kanth, the brilliant Police Officer whose book 'Khaki in Dust Storm' published by Bloomsbury last week has made a huge international flash, you don't know him as I have known him for this entire period, first as a crime reporter and later as a part of Prayas, which he founded.

So what if this book deals with the tumultuous period of the 80s and early 90s marked by unprecedented events like the assassination of two martyred Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi, the infamous Hindu Sikh riots of 1984, followed by transistor bombs blasts killing 80 innocent Hindus, assassinations of VIPs including Lalit Maken, Arjun Das, General Vaidya and the drug terror politician nexus.

And as luck would have it, Amod Kanth found himself at the centre of all these events in his career with Delhi Police and then with the CBI.

All through this gripping narrative, the thinking and sensitive cop that he is, he is also seen pitching in for police reforms because as he says time and again, the vintage Indian Police Act still remains rooted to the original Act created in 1861 to crush the Indian Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, also known as the first armed war of independence against the British. What strikes the reader of this narrative is the fact that where any other police officer would have avoided the pitfalls of saying things that could lead to controversies and counter statements, he sticks his neck out boldly.