A no-nonsense saintly top gun

K Ramachandra Murthy

"I want to go away," KVV Subrahmanyam, a distinguished IPS officer, told me point blank when I went to see him at his home at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad a couple of months ago. He had been refusing to eat for months. Jayamma, his devoted wife, was very much worried and his friends like Yalamanchili Sekhar, a film producer and former chief of Eenadu bureau, were trying in vain to persuade him to live. Like the great souls of yesteryear, KVVS had planned his exit from this world and implemented it with single-minded resolve. He breathed his last in the wee hours on Sunday, leaving behind his wife and three daughters, besides a legion of friends and admirers.

A man with a rare combination of discipline, honesty and scholarship, KVVS was an exemplary top gun who minced no words and spared none when it came to discharge of duties. Born in a village near Madurai, Tamil Nadu, about 83 years ago, KVVS did his graduation, passed IPS, and got posted to AP cadre. Right from his first assignment as ASP at Tenali, Guntur district, till he retired as commissioner of RTA, the strictest and straightest police officer did not compromise on his principles even once in spite of pressures from bureaucrats and politicians.

There are at least three episodes that merit mention as reflective of his great personality. The first was his role during the movement for Vizag Steel Plant in 1966. He was the SP of Vizag and Abid Hussain, who later went on to become India's ambassador to the US, was the collector. Both of them had perfect understanding about the strategy to deal with the agitators. It helped them to handle the situation efficiently without causing undue inconvenience or pain to anyone.

The second episode was when Telangana was in turmoil in 1969 at the height of the separatist movement and the government ordered the arrest of Dr Marri Chenna Reddy who was spearheading the movement then. When KVVS went to take Dr Reddy into custody, a group of young activists and students blocked his way, shouting slogans against him and the government. Mobbed KVVS could go near Reddy only when the latter asked the activists to step aside, saying the person who had come was a highly respected police officer. But, at the same time, Reddy gave KVVS a piece of his mind, warning that he would have to pay dearly for the folly of arresting him. KVVS said, "Sir, I am doing my duty. Please allow me to do my duty".

He carried on with his job of sending Chenna Reddy to Rajahmundry to be incarcerated there. In 1978, when Chenna Reddy became chief minister, the police officers' association organised a function to felicitate him. KVVS did not attend the function, thinking that Chenna Reddy might be harbouring resentment against him for the arrest. Reddy enquired about KVVS from other officers. He asked them to convey to KVVS that, though as a politician he had shouted at the official, he had nothing personal against him, since KVVS had only done his duty. It was only then that KVVS made a courtesy call on the chief minister at the secretariat.

The third episode relates to the Jai Andhra agitation in 1972. Kakani Venkataratnam, a highly respected and popular leader, died at Vijayawada at the height of the movement and the whole of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, Krishna district in particular, was on the boil. The local police officers had sent an SOS to BN Kalyan Rao, the then DGP or its equivalent, to send an "efficient officer from Hyderabad". It was at that crucial juncture that KVVS was rushed to Vijayawada as Krishna SP. PV Narasimha Rao, the then chief minister, was edgy, as the situation was threatening to go out of control. KVVS went to Vijayawada post-haste, and brought the situation under control in 48 hours.

KVVS was known for his courage. He used to move about in Hyderabad with only one gunman. Kalyan Rao enhanced his security. Besides being a brave police officer, KVVS was an erudite scholar and a prolific poet in English. Until recently his poems were published in the Sunday Hans. He was a voracious reader in English and used to quote at will Milton, Shakespeare, Keats and Shelly. His favourite thinkers were Thomas Paine and John Ruskin. He used to quote entire paragraphs from Paine's 'Rights of Man' and Ruskin's 'Unto the Last'. KVVS published three books, two of which were compilations of poems and the third was a bunch of his articles published by various newspapers. 'Ray of Hope and Other Poems' was his first book. The poem titled 'Shakti, Mother Divine' included in this book received critical appreciation. 'Sunny Revelers' is another book of poems which was released by Abid Hussain in Hyderabad last year. 'Semitone Select' was a book comprising selected articles.

Known for his high personal ethics and professional values, KVVS lived a saintly life at a time when basic values are on the decline. His passing away is a great loss to the world of literature.