Sapphire case boosts cop's skills

Ranchi: For Prabhat Kumar, a 2014 batch probationary IPS officer, studying the Sapphire school murder case has helped "enrich his investigative skills".

The incident of the 12-year-old boy, Vinay Mahto, who was murdered on the Sapphire International School premises in early February has proven to be a tricky case.

"I am almost halfway through the Sapphire case investigation. I have studied reports prepared in the initial phases, including the forensic reports," Kumar told TOI.

Kumar, one of five 2014 batch Jharkhand IPS officers on district practical training before the second phase of police training begins at the prestigious National Police Academy, has been studying the Sapphire murder case carefully. The other four IPS probationers have been deployed in other districts.

"The officers on probation are given the trickiest criminal cases to study. They study a case carefully from the beginning and go through the investigation process to ascertain how police worked on leads to solve the case," said ASP Hatia Prashant Anand.

Kumar, on studying the Sapphire case, said the boy was captured on camera walking out of his hostel room in the night. "He was found half-dead outside teachers' quarters later," said Kumar, adding that initial evidence threw up no concrete leads.

Kumar said the case will help him during training at the police academy. "At the academy, most cases we are asked to study are solved in ideal conditions, which is rare when on the job. When you have limited resources, you will be able to develop real insights into the case," he said.