As a loving gesture meant to immortalise the memory of the State police horse Shaktiman who died on Wednesday, the police department is thinking in terms of renaming State Mounted Police as Shaktiman Mounted Police. Shaktiman died on Wednesday evening, leaving all, including policemen who had been praying for its recovery since the day it was injured, shell-shocked.
Dehradun Mounted police in-charge Shyam Singh Chauhan who turned emotional after this correspondent asked him whether he had apprehended the worst that befell Shaktiman, he said that he had been confident all through that the horse would survive.
“A team, comprising four doctors from veterinary department led by Dr Rakesh Nautiyal, was monitoring the health of Shaktiman day and night,” he said, adding that a team consisting of 16 policemen, tasked to look after the crippled equine, had hardly slept since Shaktiman was injured.
“To protect it from sun and rains, a tin -shed was installed at police lines. Over and above, SSP Dr Sadanand Date who is also a doctor kept visiting police lines almost daily to see how it was recuperating,” he added.
Chauhan said that they had been looking after Shaktiman as they did when a family member was ill. “We refused to accept money from any of the political leaders who had earlier offered it to help meet the expenses of Shaktiman’s treatment. We had enough to look after the horse we loved. We provided it with the best of the treatment and warmest of care. It is a pity that all our efforts to help it to regain its former grace proved futile,” he said.
Asked whether Mounted Police that comprises four mares and five horses would continue to be deployed to quell political stir, he said that it depends on the Government whether they want Mounted Police to be deployed during political stirs or not. “We cannot decide things on our own,” he said.