Real-life whodunnits a big hit on Kolkata police Facebook page

The real-life stories of the Kolkata police's Feludas and Byomkesh Bakshis — two iconic fictional sleuths in Bengali literature — have become must-reads for visitors to the department's official Facebook page, where these are now being posted at regular intervals. According to senior officers, the suggestions and constructive criticism from readers are encouraging them to post more such case studies of the department's recent achievements or past breakthroughs.

"It is an effort to give the readers the taste of some of the most intriguing crime incidents in the form of a stories and also to raise their awareness levels about the police's constant effort to help and protect the society," a senior officer said. Take one particular "story". The Facebook post narrates a century-old theft where Tagore's fountain pen was stolen from his house in Kolkata's Jorasanko neighbourhood.

"It describes how the competent officers of the then Calcutta police caught the thief and later summoned Tagore himself to the police court to identify his possession. However, the magistrate intervened to make an exception for the poet, who didn't have to appear in court. Apart from the content, it is the gripping narration as well as the sophisticated writing that has made netizens lap up the pieces — especially a Sunday thriller series — which have come like a breath of fresh air and a welcome departure from the usual monotonous legalese that marks police press statements or social media posts. "I love the narratives as they describe the incidents in the manner of a thriller while also making us aware of some of the fundamentals of police investigation," an enthusiastic reader commented on the page.

Terms like circumstantial evidence, interrogation and the importance of using and nurturing sources from the crime world are recurrent in the narratives, perhaps to introduce the readers to real-life crime solving.