Some time back, Lakhanpur police station in Surguja district of Chhattisgarh, had to produce a knife as evidence in the court. But it took them five days to find the knife in the Malkhana (store for seized goods) as the entire Malkhana was in a disarray.
This prompted an IPS officer Mr. Robinson Guria, then posted as ASP in Lakhanpur, of setting up an E-Malkhana there, the first in Chhattisgrah. The 2020-batch IPS officer now posted as City SP in Darri sub-division of Korba district, Mr. Guria’s initiative is now changing modern policing.
With the help E-Malkhana management system software, the confiscated goods are being maintained easily and systematically. In just one click one can access complete information of any seized good is available. The coding of this software has been done by Mr. Guria, a civil engineer from IIT Kanpur. Due to his interest in programming, he learned coding through online media and developed this software. It took him about one and a half months to create E-Malkhana. The concept is being implemented in all the five police stations in the district.
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Guria said, “An organised Malkhana makes confiscation very easy. Whenever there is a demand from the court to produce any evidence, we find it immediately.”
E-MALKHANA
The police station is responsible for the safety and security of any evidence or material police seized in connection with a case. The seized goods have to be produced in the court along with the chargesheet. But most of the malkhanas are highly disorganised. The E-Malkhana concept has removed this anomaly.
Mr. Guria did coding on visual basic language. The interface is visual basic’s macros and outcome database is managed on excel.
HOW IT WORKS
Four photographs of the seized goods are taken for authenticity. Chain of custody of evidence is important for conviction in any case. E-Malkhana with help of barcode helps in tracking persons and places, the related evidence passed through. “The related evidence or object is scanned to create three copies of its barcode. One is kept in the seizure register, second on the seized object and third copy is kept in the crime register,” Mr. Guria told Indian Masterminds.
FUTURE PROJECTS
The E-Malkhana software is in high demand in Chhatisgarh police department. Many senior officers have contacted Mr. Guria for implementation in their region. In a meeting with the DGP, Mr Guria has discussed scaling up the project in entire state.
Mr. Guria is working on auctioning of the seized goods. He has also prepared a draft SOP for this and is working on it. He is also working on software to create a missing items database.
