Bullet for Bullet: My Life as a Police Officer

India's Super cop

It was a late summer evening in Goa. We were sitting in an open-air cafeteria along the River Mondovi in Panaji.Faint music wafted across through the pleasant air from the cruise ships sailing down the river. Soon the cafeteria began to fill up. The one man band began playing “I just called to say I love you”. Just then I was a tall man and a sit across a few spaces away from me. It was Julio Rebeiro and his wife. I went and greeted him. He most graciously shook my hand and introduced his wife to me .I was extremely overwhelmed. Here was India‘s super cop, who escaped two attempts of assassinations  against whom two a sitting in the open unarmed and without body guard talking to a common man- A nobody with such courtesy. An officer and a gentleman. This is the measure of the man who has recounted his life as a police officer in the autobiography “Bullet for Bullet”.

This was not his phrase or his policy, and the quote is attributed to Mr Arun Nehru minister of state for internal security. J.F Rebeiro was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1987 for his service as commissioner of police, Director General of policy in Gujarat and as Director General of Police –Punjab when terrorism was at its highest in that state.

The book is of great contemporary historical value. It talks of his early training and experience as a police officer. We meet many politicians like Vasant Rao Naik, Antulay, Datta Samant, Balasaheb Thackeray, Morarji Desai, through the many incidents and anecdotes revealed in the book. All this makes interesting reading. The chapter on ‘Facing up with the Sena’makes very interesting reading. Many facts with regard to the formation of the Sena and its antisocial activities are highlighted. There is also a chapter on Datta Samant, the architect of the mill workers woes: the strikes and closure of mills and how it affected the common worker.

He pays tribute to many of his superiors and colleagues. He observes ‘If there is one police officer in my entire career from whom I learned a great deal it was From Nigamendra Sen Saksena .He was a born teacher………..He would have been an excellent director of RAW. The only other boss who influenced “me in this way was Vasant Vinayak Nagarkar.For Nagarkar I harbour not only respect but also love’ another officer specially mentioned is Madhav Trimbak Gupte the inspector ‘in whom he had the maximum faith and confidence’ 

Another young officer who impressed Ribeiro was the young IPS officer. He was entrusted with his security after an attempt on his life at Jalandhar, the first – the second being at Romania- During their association he developed a fondness for Avinder Singh Brar who was later promoted as SSP of Patiala. Avinder was shot dead while jogging on the premises of the Patiala National Institute of Sports.Ribeiro mentions in his book ‘It was a personal shock to us.Avinder was not merely one of my finest officers. He had become a part of my family and I felt I had lost a son’

The book is particularly dedicated to Avinder Singh Brar and Mahadav Trimbak Gupte.  

There are many interesting facts. I have mentioned some of them. If history interests you, then this book is your cup of tea.