Varsha the star canine, which cracked 136 cases for Andhra police, dies

8-year-old Varsha, the police department’s tracker dog, passed away on Saturday evening after she suffered an injury during a football match.

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Srinivas Rao chokes but clears his throat and continues talking about his beloved Varsha, “The entire department is mourning. She was with us for 8 years. She was the first canine that the Vizianagaram district police department got from the training centre in Hyderabad. She wasn’t just a dog, she was like our family member.”

Srinivas Rao was Varsha’s trainer and the only dog he trained for the past eight years.

8-year-old Varsha, the Vizianagaram district police department’s tracker dog, passed away on Saturday evening after she was injured in a football match and died of severe blood loss. Varsha, a Doberman, had been with the department for past eight years, from the time she was barely three-months old. Having cracked more than 136 crime cases in her lifetime, Varsha was the department’s star crime tracker canine.

Speaking to TNM, Narasimha Rao, Addl. SP, said that Varsha was bought to the police department in 2011, and was trained at the Intelligence Training Academy in Hyderabad.

“She was one of the most excellent performing dogs in our squad of five. She was trained for combing operations, where she had helped track down many extremist hideouts amidst heavy firing. But Varsha was credited for two very sensational cases which she helped us crack in Vizianagaram,” Rao said, adding, “She provided us with some crucial clues in the Cheepurupalli murder case where we were finally able to arrest the accused for the murder of his father-in-law. In another case, Varsha had helped nab a woman who killed her husband but to avoid suspicion was the first to file a missing complain with the police. The woman was later sentenced to life imprisonment.”

Varsha, during her 8 years with the police department, helped the police crack over 136 cases of which three cases had ended in life imprisonment.

“Varsha was a very familiar face at Independence Day and Republic Day parades. She also bagged awards for her demonstrations during the events. She was also a part of the bomb squad which used to be regularly employed during the visits of VIPs in the city,” the officer added.

Varsha used to draw a handsome salary of Rs 10,000 every month which used to go for her upkeep and daily requirements. “The department would also have provided her with a monthly pension when she would have turned 12, which is the retirement age for all dogs in the department,” Rao added.

Varsha was playing football last Tuesday when she was injured in her jaw and was taken to the government veterinary hospital. “We tried blood transfusion, but she developed certain complications and died of severe blood loss on Saturday,” the officer said.

With most of the officials paying her floral tributes, Varsha was cremated with full state honours on Sunday.