CHENNAI : To the curious crowd, eagerly waiting for the snippets of history and language that the monument speaks, Steve Borgia, honorary executive curator of the Tamil Nadu Police museum, shared the quote of an unknown policeman’s wife — “I slept alone most nights so that the rest of the women could sleep.” It is the valour and dedication of the policemen and their families that are on proud display in the museum. He said, “The Tamil Nadu police are not ordinary. They have a great track record. We had such great stalwarts to govern this country. They have been policing and performing their duties since the Rajaraja Chola time.” The recent heritage walk organised by INTACH showcased the tales behind the setting up of a one-of-a-kind police museum.
A model museum
The edifice stands as an example of how to revamp and preserve an old building. The adaptive reuse of the Indo-Saracenic structure, which was initially the office of the city police commissioner, was taken up by the Reach Foundation and Conservation Mainstream, along with Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation. “The museum was one of the easiest things in my life. When the officials called me and shared the idea of revamping the place, I immediately fell for it. Over the years, there were a lot of structural modifications that were brought to the place by different commissioners. We had to move out almost 14 tonnes of debris. Through the process, we learned what to do and what not to do to a building,” Steve shared.
All about artefacts
From seemai vandis to the recent bulletproof vehicles, we were greeted by history in the corridors of the museum. “The building which was once the bungalow of C Arunagiri Mudaliar was bought for `21,000 by the first commissioner of Madras Police, JC Boulderson,” he informed us. The milestones of the Tamil Nadu police over the years — from the Sangam Era to the pandemic period — framed on the wall, showed the remarkable service of the policemen. The museum also has on exhibit the evolution of technology used in the force including printing machines, shredders, communicating devices, explosives, and devices of protection.
Amid the artefacts lay a few belongings of criminals. Pointing to the corner where Veerappan’s pot stared at us, Steve shared, “This is a popular selfie centre of the museum.” For a few of us, recovering from the hangover of the latest Amazon Prime Video Series, Farzi, next came an exciting story of Kallanote’u Krishnan from Coimbatore who made fake currencies. “In 1957, G Krishnan, the owner of CS & W Textile Mills Limited, purchased some other textile mills in rapid succession, paying an advance in each case.
Unable to raise the remaining amount, he was tempted to get over the financial difficulty by printing counterfeit currency notes. He, along with another counterfeiter KR Antony, set up a German Heidelberg printing machine and an Indian cutting machine in a rented house in Coimbatore. After lots of trial and error, he made counterfeit notes with a nominal value of almost `15 lakh. RN Krishnaswamy, deputy superintendent of police, crime branch, CID, commenced an investigation in April 1960 and in July of that year, Krishnan was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. The investigation process was considered a great piece of education. The museum restored some presses and blocks used by Krishnan and is now exhibited here,” Steve narrated.
Astounded by the bravado of Krishnan, we move on to the library which houses books written by police officers. The walls of the library adorn photos of former DGPs — from the first DGP W Robinson MCS to the current DGP C Sylendra Babu IPS. Among these is the photo of Letika Saran IPS, the only woman DGP of the state. A policewoman who was in charge of telling the tales of the artefacts and clearing the doubts of the visitors in this section came forward and explained, “This room serves as an inspiration for everyone who wishes to join the service. There are a variety of books including the rare incidents in police officers’ careers, autobiographies and stories of cases being solved.”
Moving forward, the stories from Madras Central Prison were reported to this select audience during the walk. “One of the oldest prisons in India, Madras Central Prison has housed great leaders like CN Annadurai, M Karunanidhi, J Jayalalithaa and even Subhas Chandra Bose. The photos of the prison displayed at the museum were taken by Desigan Krishnan, an hour before the demolition of the prison,” Steve said.
The first floor with its spiral stairways introduced the crowd to an array of weapons. A bomb suit weighing 36 kg along with a five-kilo helmet gathered everyone’s attention. The commissioner’s office and chair of swords, which reminded everyone of the Game of Thrones chair, became photo-op corners.
“Today when heritage is getting quashed, this museum is an example that there is always a possibility of preservation. When the agricultural department, sports council and so on have been trying to establish a museum for years, we made it a reality within two years.
The government is also providing a lot of support for museums. The cultural ministry of India allocates `5 crores for individuals and `10 crore for government organisations for the conservation of museums. This can help in the growth of the state itself. It will be an opportunity for people, especially architectural students, to learn about our history,” he pointed out.
After two hours, as we reached the end of the trail, the tales of courage soaked us in deep reverance for the selfless service of Tamil Nadu police. The musuem is not merely a structure, it’s a breathing and living piece of history that needs to be preserved for posterity.