Shadowing Nehru

"He was a police icon protecting a national icon,” said Bombay police commissioner A. N. Roy releasing the book i was Nehru’s shadow, a compilation from the diaries of Khusro Rustamji, the chief security officer to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru from 1952 to 1958.

Edited by P. V. Rajgopal, a former Indian Police service officer and friend of Rustamji, the 237-page hardbound book was launched in Bombay on November 18, 2005 at the Oxford Bookstore at Churchgate.

The diaries lodged in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi consisted of 3,500 handwritten pages sized 8.5” x 11.” They dealt with Rustamji’s years in the Imperial Police and the Border Security Force that he set up.

"The handwriting was a torture to decipher,” stated Rajgopal who decided to focus on the 1,600 pages dealing with the years Rustamji oversaw Nehru’s security.

(From left) Farzana Contractor, A. N. Roy, P. V. Rajgopal and Cyrus Rustamji at the launch

In those days security consisted more of "crowd control and management,” said Roy. In today’s environment one does not know from where a threat may emanate.

In a democracy "there is a basic contradiction” between the elected representatives who want to be closer to the people and the policemen who want to keep them away.

Former police commissioner Satish Sahney mentioned that Rustamji’s greatest asset was persuading people to do what was required. His way of communicating and his personal touch were remarkable, he added.

Once when he summoned over the phone a colonel who was an alcoholic to a meeting the colonel replied he could not come as he was "drunk,” said Sahney. Rustamji asked him "But is your mind clear?” When the officer replied, "Yes sir,” Rustamji told him to come over for the meeting.

Rustamji (left) with Nehru: Dres­s­ing to merge with the PM’s party

Former police commissioner Arvind Imandar recalled the books Rustamji "showered” on him hoping "to improve me…. (but) it was otherwise.” He related that he still preserved a wrapper of a box of chocolate that Rustamji presented him.

Farzana Contractor, the chief executive officer of the Afternoon Despatch and Courier that organized the function spoke of the close bond between Rus­tamji and his wife Naju. Theater personality Dolly Tha­kore and itinerant traveler Meher Heroyce Moos read extracts from the book.

Rustamji’s son Cyrus who resides in Canada noted Rajgopal wrote the book "as a labor of love,” the sales proceeds of which would go to the Welfare Fund of the National Police Academy.