⚫1974, Alipore — Rs 2,059.74 seized in a theft case

⚫1982, Gariahat — a gold chain seized in connection with a cheating case

⚫1994, Amherst Street — Rs 12 left unclaimed after a road accident

The malkhanas in 79 city police stations contain seized articles, some of which are over half-a-century old.

As part of a project announced by Calcutta police commissioner Soumen Mitra, renovations have started across malkhanas — rooms inside police stations where seized articles are stored — to preserve old and seized articles in a better way.

Majority of these malkhanas — sometimes the most neglected room in all the police stations — marked with dust and cobwebs, have a manual register where an officer, who is in charge of the malkhana, — referred to as the “Malkhana Babu” makes the entries.

However, with the malkhana renovation project in hand, Calcutta police got a chance to restore and preserve the old and important seized items in the past few decades.

“Several police stations in central Calcutta like Burrabazar and Posta have a large quantity of demonetised notes and gold jewellery that need to be preserved,” said an officer in Lalbazar.

Similarly, many police stations have 20-30-year-old arms that can be disposed of following a uniform rule, the officer added.

Selected police officers have been trained to build e- malkhanas where each of the seized articles will have tags and their entire data.
Their case references will be maintained online through a software.

Several police station malkhanas have got a fresh coat of paint and new racks to segregate the seized articles. A senior officer said separate standard operating procedures are being planned for sorting them.

East-West

A train completed the first trial run between Phoolbagan and Sealdah stations on the East-West Metro corridor on Saturday. The six-coach train left Phoolbagan at 3pm and reached Sealdah a few minutes later before going back to Phoolbagan.

The East-West corridor, which will connect Howrah Maidan and Salt Lake once fully functional, is now operational between Sector V and Phoolbagan. The stretch between Sector V and Salt Lake Stadium stations is elevated. The route goes underground from Phoolbagan to Howrah Maidan. “We expect to run trains till Sealdah by December,” said an official.