Sunil Ramanand’s book ‘Cops in a Quagmire’ released

Amitesh Kumar, CP; Sunil Ramanand, Additional DGP (Prisons); Chiranjeev Prasad, Special IG, Nagpur Range; Nilesh Bharne, Joint CP, and others releasing the book ‘Cops in a Quagmire’ authored by Sunil Ramanand. (Pic by Satish Raut)

Staff Reporter :

‘Cops in a Quagmire,’ a book authored by Sunil Ramanand, an IPS officer of 1994-batch and Additional Director General of Police (Prisons), was released by Amitesh Kumar, Commissioner of Police, in presence of top brass of City Police at Press Club here on Tuesday. Nilesh Bharne, Joint Commissioner of Police; Chiranjeev Prasad, Special Inspector General of Police (Nagpur Range); Gajanan Rajmane, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection); Naveen Chandra Reddy, Deputy Inspector General (North Region), Nagpur; Pradip Kumar Maitra, President of Nagpur Press Club; and others were prominently present. Appreciating Ramanand’s efforts, Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said that he himself felt motivated in penning books narrating his experiences.

The author of the book ‘Cops in a Quagmire’, Sunil Ramanand, is a distinguished alumnus of the then UDCT, Mumbai from where he graduated in Chemical Engineering. He called himself an archetypal Kolhapuri, who chose to join the IPS. Not much of a reader, his exposure to fiction was limited. He underwent a surgery after suffering an injury at a gym in May 2013, when he was deputed as an election observer at Bellary. He was undergoing treatment for about a month-and-a-half. He and his family then came to stay at the Poona Club. While frequenting the library there, Ramanand came across Upamanyu Chatterjee’s ‘English, August’. The narrative of a fellow official from the Indian Civil Services was something he could immediately relate to. Having served as Additional Superintendent of Police in Chandrapur, he could easily identify the place and the nuances of the story. It inspired him to put his pen to paper.

He began slowly in January 2014 and wrote 4,000 words over two-and-a half months, much of which was later discarded. He could sustain the new vocation for a year-and-a-half, after which his posting as Joint Commissioner of Police at Pune stopped his writing. Sunil Ramanand resumed writing only three years ago after he was moved to Criminal Investigation Department. Words automatically started flowing in. ‘Cops in a Quagmire’ is a ‘thinly veiled fiction, except its genre is debatable’.

It can be termed as a crime thriller. It offers a real insight into the life of a cop and the challenges law enforcers have to negotiate. Some of his senior colleagues called it a textbook that could be used in police training as he de-glamourised the profession. There is no super cop here. There are several characters, who resemble the real-life personalities in politics, police and civil administration, etc. States, towns and cities also have been rechristened. The guests were all praise for the book and the author, at the release ceremony. Ajay Patil conducted the proceedings of the programme and Pragati Patil proposed a vote of thanks.