MUZAFFARNAGAR: When ASP Tinki of the dog squad died in November last year, the Muzaffarnagar police department lost one of its brilliant officers. She had a nose for detecting crime and helped police crack 49 cases. As a tribute to this super cop dog, the local police unveiled a statue of Tinki at the Police Line here on Saturday.
Senior police officers, including SP (city) Arpit Vijayvargiya, SP (rural) Atul Kumar, circle officer (city) Kuldeep Singh, attended the unveiling ceremony. The only person who was conspicuous by his absence was Tinki’s handler, constable Mahesh Kumar, as he has been transferred to Bijnor. In his place, senior dog handler Sunil Kumar unveiled the statue.
Speaking with TOI from Bijnor, Mahesh Kumar said, “What could have been a better tribute for an exceptional performer of the police force! The installation of the statue has immortalized the best companion I ever had. I will go and pay my respects to the Additional SP soon.”
Tinki, a German Shepherd, was eight years old when she passed away after a brief illness. She was a recruit from the National Dog Training Centre at the BSF Academy in Gwalior. Muzaffarnagar was her first posting as a sniffer dog. She joined the Muzaffarnagar dog squad as constable. Her spectacular ability to sniff out crime got her six promotions in six years, a record for a dog.
During her tenure, Tinki helped police solve many blind cases. Explaining, assistant handler, constable Dharam Singh, said, “Technically speaking, it is generally not possible for a dog to be able to sniff and determine a smell beyond 24 hours of the crime but Tinki’s ability to smell out clues was unique.”
He recalled how Tinki unearthed the decapitated body of a man missing for 10 days.
A year earlier, Tinki walked 10 km, sniffing out the trail of a gang of thieves in the Mansoorpur area. They had stolen railway property.
Another time in 2018, she detected a body hidden on the village pond bed nine days after the murder that took place a kilometre away at Parsoli village in Bhopa region of Muzaffarnagar, said Dharam Singh. As word of her abilities spread, her service was in demand in neighbouring districts too. In Shamli, she helped solve two cases, he added.
Abhishek Yadav, senior superintendent of police, Muzaffarnagar, said, “Tinki was brave, clever and brilliant. The department was able to solve 49 criminal cases of loot and murder because of her.”
Describing her demise as an irreparable loss, Mahesh Kumar, who knew Tinki as none other, said, “Her ability to discern intention was her greatest asset. She could play freely with children but also sniff out evil intentions as if she had a divine sense.”