The Deepak Jog Award for best detection will be given away to the team from J.J. Marg police for solving the murder of three-and-a-half-year-old girl in Nagpada. The award function will be held at Prerna Hall near Azad Maidan on Thursday afternoon.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Zone I, said, “It is a matter of honour to be selected for this award. The investigating team at JJ Marg police station took a lot of effort to solve this sensitive case.” The award was instituted in the memory of Deepak Jog, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection), Mumbai, who died at the age of 36 following an heart attack on November 9, 1996. His father, S.S. Jog, an IPS officer, formed the Deepak Jog Foundation and the annual award was instituted to honour good detection by the Mumbai Police.
Senior police officers said award was given every year till 2006. It was revived for a year in 2011 when Arup Patnaik, who retired as Director General of Police in 2015, was the Mumbai Police Commissioner. This year, Mumbai Police Commissioner D.D. Padsalgikar has taken the initiative to restart the award. Mr. Padsalgikar and Mr. Jog were good friends and the first award was given away when be was a Deputy Commissioner of Police. Mr. Padsalgikar said, “I took over as DCP (Detection) after Mr. Jog in 1997. The first Deepak Jog Award was given away to Police Inspector Teja Singh Chavan for solving the Datta Samant murder case.”
Mr. Padsalgikar and other senior officers declined to explain why the award was discontinued. “It is important to have such awards to encourage our personnel to do better, as crime detection is one of the most important aspects of our job,” Mr. Padsalgikar said. Mr. Jog’s son, an Indian Revenue Service officer, will be attending the event.
In December 2016, the J.J. Marg police booked two teenagers for allegedly kidnapping Junera Khan — their neighbour’s three-and-a-half-year-old daughter — killing her, and then trying to get her father to pay ransom. The two 16-year-old accused strangled the victim at their house.
Junera stayed with her family at Kazipura in Nagpada and went missing while playing outside her house on the evening of December 5. The next morning, Junera’s father received a call demanding ₹1 crore as ransom. Junera had gone to the main accused’s house to play and the boys administered a large dose of chloroform and took her in to an inner room. When Junera’s mother came looking for her and peeped into the main accused’s residence, the boys panicked and strangled Junera using the wire of a cell phone charger.
The police took the main suspect’s friend in for questioning and confronted him with their knowledge of his movements. The teenager then confessed to his involvement, and identified his friend as the mastermind. The boys were then booked for abduction, murder, and destruction of evidence under the IPC.
