As the fervour of Navratri grips the city and the nation, a unique tradition inside the Mumbai Crime Branch draws attention every year. For the past 35 years, a three-and-a-half-foot-tall Panchdhatu idol of the Goddess, once seized during a theft case, has been worshipped with devotion by officers of the department.
This year, however, marks the final Navratri celebration of the idol at the Crime Branch’s old building. Soon, the idol will be shifted to the Commissioner’s Office, as the existing premises are slated for demolition. This has lent a special significance to this year’s festivities.
According to police sources, the idol, crafted from Panchdhatu (five-metal alloy), came into the custody of the Crime Branch around 1989 as part of seized property in a theft case. Initially kept in the malkhana (police storeroom), the idol began to be worshipped from around 1990-91, following accounts of a police officer experiencing a divine vision of the Goddess.
Though little is known about the idol’s origin, officers and devotees firmly believe in its spiritual power. Since 2004, the idol has been worshipped with formal rituals for all nine days of Navratri. During the celebrations, women devotees are served meals as prasad. It is said that officers often seek the Goddess’s blessings before embarking on crucial investigations.
Interestingly, in the case in which the idol was seized, it was reportedly the complainant himself who handed it over to Mumbai Police.
Even today, retired officers and staff visit the Crime Branch to seek darshan, while devotees aware of the idol’s significance make it a point to attend the Navratri rituals. Beyond Navratri, the idol remains installed in the administrative wing of the Crime Branch throughout the year, quietly holding a revered place in the department’s traditions.