A recent blog reminded me of one of my encounters with police. I was posted as a controller. On a holiday, while I was enjoying time with my family at home, I received a call from one of my managers informing me that two policemen have arrived at his branch and they are asking the security guard for my residential address. The policemen were from a place where I had worked a few years earlier. The manager was enquiring if he should share my address with the police team? I was shocked beyond belief but there was no running away. I told the manager to give them my address.

I kept on wondering what could have gone wrong?

While waiting for the police team to arrive I kept on wondering what could have gone wrong? The worst kind of thoughts came to my mind. I knew for a fact that in an earlier instance a borrower against whom a recovery suit was filed, went and lodged a false complaint against a previous Branch Manager. I had also filed a few recovery suites. Had anyone filed a false complaint against me to take revenge? There were other people too whom I had antagonised by my tough actions. Have they been up to some mischief? But why after so many years? It did not make any sense. Anyway, there was no option but to wait for the police team to arrive.

The trouble with handling policemen is that you do not wish to antagonise them irrespective of whether you are at fault or not. So when two haggard looking uniformed policemen arrived they were shown full courtesy and welcomed into my living room. After having made them comfortable I asked them the purpose of their surprise visit.

I was informed that a police complaint has been filed by a person against the manager of the branch office for having colluded with his brother in siphoning off deposits held in his mother’s name. It turned out that it was a family dispute between two brothers whom I knew quite well. The family used to have sizable deposits with the branch and also had significant business accounts with us. I had not been in touch with them after I left the branch and hence was not aware of the demise of the mother and subsequent family dispute. I had known the family to be very close and in fact the elder brother was a fatherly figure for the younger brother. I was saddened to know of the deterioration in their relationship. But the question was what have I got to do with their dispute?

The policemen informed me that they had approached the branch to find out the name of the person who was the manager at the relevant time. The current manager had informed them that I was that person and hence they had come looking for me. When I checked the copy of the complaint with them and the period of the acts of alleged omission or commission, I found that I was not posted at that branch during that period. I advised the policemen as much and told them that they have come to the wrong person.

They had run out of their money and had not taken bath for several days.

On hearing this one of the policemen lost his cool. Close to tears and angry, he blurted out that they reached my place after travelling in various trains over four/five days. They were given wrong directions by someone and took a train to some place more than a thousand kilometers away. With great difficulty they were able to reach the correct place. They had run out of their money and had not taken bath for several days. They were very angry. In fact, the senior one told me that after going back they are going to settle the score with the branch manager. I kind of tried to calm them down by suggesting that the mistake by the manager was unintentional, though inside I was also seething with anger as the manager had not only not checked his facts but had even not bothered to forewarn me regarding the police complaint. His lackadaisical attitude had caused such a big embarrassment for me and my family. It is not very flattering to have uniformed policemen visit your house to make enquiries.

It is not very flattering to have uniformed policemen visit your house to make enquiries.

Once the policemen left, I rang up the manager and gave him a piece of my mind. He apologised and said that he believed that I was the person at the relevant time. However, in a such a serious matter he should have verified facts rather than guessing. While the way the above encounter ended, the incident looks kind of insignificant. What, however, bothered me greatly at the time was the thought that for all that the branch manager cared, the policemen might have come with an arrest warrant for me.

The thought really did send shivers down my spine.