‘My name is Kachot, Dhansukh Mensibhai Kachot’

Narendra Kaushik

27-August-2016

Vol 7 | Issue 35

Assistant sub-inspector of police, Dhansukh Mensibhai Kachot, doesn’t look like a typical supercop that you see in movies, but if one were to go by his track-record in the department, he surely is qualified to be celebrated as one.

Serving in the towing department of Rajkot Traffic Police in the state of Gujarat since 2006, the 57-year-old cop has single-handedly collected Rs.2.16 crore as fine amount.

In the line of duty: Dhansukh Mensibhai Kachot discharges his duty without fear or favour

With his unwavering devotion to duty and strictly no-bribe policy, he has collected this whopping sum from around 1.77 lakh traffic violators in Rajkot, the fourth largest city in Gujarat.

When he gets on the towing vehicle, Kachot just goes about booking offenders, and does not let threats or name-dropping stop him from discharging his duty.

Kachot says he has never taken a paisa as bribe in life and never cowered when the offenders flaunted their connections or status. He relies on digital evidence to tame the high fliers.

“I always take a picture of the wrongly parked cars on my mobile phone. When the offender resists paying fine I show the photographs to them. Woh jaldi jhuk jaate hain (they get tamed quickly)”, he discloses.

Vehicles parked in no-parking areas and hindering traffic flow being towed away

Kachot claims to tow on an average 100 vehicles in a day, double than what three other towing vehicles in the department impound in the same time. The penalty is either collected on the spot or at the police station where the towed vehicles are finally brought.

“People do not park their vehicles properly or park them in no-parking zones,” he says.

Kachot considers penalising parking offenders his religion and his towing vehicle has been his temple.

Be it a cold rainy day or a hot sunny day, you could find him patrolling the streets of Rajkot. “I am out there daily from 9 AM to 1.30 PM and 5 PM to 9 PM. There are no holidays for me,” he says.

Last year he collected a total fine amount of Rs.27.7 lakh. On one of his largest single-day collections, on Janmashtami in 2014 the fine amount he collected from 600 people totaled Rs. 61,700.

This year, by his standards, the collection on Janmashtami was not up to par.

“In 2014 on Janmashtami I was on duty from 9 AM to 12 at midnight. This year I was able to collect only Rs. 20,000 because of the reduced hours of duty,” he says, with a tinge of regret.

Standing tall: Kachot

The father of two grown-up sons and a daughter, he says he learnt the lesson of honesty from his father Mensibhai, who was a crane driver in railways. “My father always said one should live within one’s means and never indulge in corrupt practices,” he reminisces.

His two sons Rohit and Mahesh, graduates, are constables in Rajkot police while daughter Devibehn is a teacher in a primary school.

Kachot says he never faced pressure from his wife Anita, a housewife, or children to earn money dishonestly. “Maine unko bata diya tha imaandari se rahenge” (I had told them to lead honest lives),” he says matter-of-factly.

A matriculate, Kachot joined the police service in 1979 as a constable and worked in different branches of the city police before being posted to the towing wing in 2006

K B Jhala, assistant commissioner of police, head of traffic department, says Kachot’s collection of more than Rs.2 crore fine amount in less than 10 years is a record in Rajkot.

“I cannot say about Gujarat or India but it is definitely a record in Rajkot traffic police’s history. Kachot is extremely dedicated to his job and collects on an average Rs. 10,000 in fines daily,” says Jhala.

Praising Kachot as a ‘complete policeman’ and ‘achha policeman’, he says he has never received any complaints about him.

Kachot is due for retirement in August next year

“His behavior is good and he does not come under any pressure in charging the fine. Such is his commitment that he never exhausts his casual leaves (one gets 12 CLs in a year),” he says.

A not-so-encouraging news in this inspiring tale of an unsung hero is that Kachot will be hanging his boots in August next year.

Hopefully, he will pass on the values of honesty and integrity that he picked up from his father to his grandchildren (a grandson and a granddaughter) and keep the embers of morality alive in this materialistic world.