KOCHI: The march of modernisation has revamped police strategies. Indeed, the advent of new machines, software and advanced technologies has made it so that investigators have the much-needed tooth in tackling crime. But often, the situation demands the police to rely on old ways.
In the case of the murder of a 70-year-old woman at Kadakkavoor in 2016, officials had to bank on the olfactory senses of a one-year tracker dog to make headways, and finally crack it.
Sarada, who lived alone, was found hacked to death in December 2016. There were no witnesses or CCTV visuals. This usually presents a nightmare scenario for officials, as solving such cases requires a lot of time and effort.
However, Jerry, the Labrador Retriever who was then recently inducted into the canine squad, was able to save the day. When made to sniff the machete that was used to hack Sarada, Jerry quickly garnered the scent of the killer and traced him to his doorsteps, about a kilometre away from Sarada’s house.
The assailant Manikandan, who was then 28, had psychopathic behaviour. He had spotted Sarada donning gold ornaments earlier. To get hold of them, he attacked her.
Manikandan also intended to abuse the old woman sexually. When she resisted, he swung the machete at her.
The lead provided by Jerry gave the officials the headway and they duly cracked the case and arrested him. In 2019, the court awarded Manikandan life imprisonment and even mentioned Jerry’s name in the verdict.
Very rarely do police dogs get mentioned in court orders. The department felicitated the dog and its handlers Vishnu Sankar V S and Anoop M V.
“To get results from a tracker dog, one needs to give it an object that potentially bores the scent of the killer. If there are multiple scents, the dog will get confused. Fortunately, Jerry managed to get the smell of the assailant and tracked him down,” the police source says.
According to the police sources, Jerry possesses an uncanny ability to track scents, something that kept her on top of her game. “Jerry was a good tracker. She was very efficient. We used to joke that if you give her a pizza, she will identify each ingredient. It was this ability of hers that helped the police to solve the case,” the source adds.
Jerry, who joined the service in 2015, retired last year and was released to her handler Vishnu Sankar by the department at his request.