Vijay Raman: The Promethean cop with humanitarian ideals

How much can a man do in the face of adversity? The book Did I Really Do All This? explores this eternal question of existence through the memoirs and personal experiences of Vijay Raman.

- Mohul Bhattacharya

How much can a man do in the face of adversity? The book Did I Really Do All This? explores this eternal question of existence through the memoirs and personal experiences of Vijay Raman. The book was published in 2024. The book has been invited to seven prestigious Literature Festivals at Dehradun, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Trivandrum.

Vijay Raman was the son of a Second World War Veteran from Kerala, born on 18 January 1951. Raman was disturbed as a young man by the discrimination faced by the local farmers, and this led to his decision to pursue a career in law and justice. He enrolled in LLB and topped the exam, winning three Gold Medals. The book Did I Really Do All This? is a collection of memoirs published by Rupa Publications posthumously after Raman succumbed to cancer last year.

In conversation with Veena, she informed, "My husband was one of the leading police officers in the country. He has performed in various aspects of policing. Here is actually a real-life hero you want to read about. You can read his first-hand accounts in this book, decimating Pan Singh Tomar and his gang in Chambal, which earned him the President's Gallantry medal in 1981; hardly 29 years of age at that point in time."

During his three tenures in J&K, as I.G. BSF Srinagar, he spearheaded the encounter in which the dreaded terrorist Gazi Baba, the mastermind behind the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, was annihilated.