Ex-DGP spends 3 hrs tending to his plants

● FORMER TOP cop Appa Rao has about 200 bonsai trees under his care at his house in Jubilee Hills. “They require care like a small child does,” he says.

Retired DGP Appa Rao said he spends about three hours every morning to nurse his plants as “they need to be taken care of like a small child.” He was distraught upon learning about the theft of his casuarina bonsai tree.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Rao said he and his wife learned about bonsai from Japan in the 1980s.

“My wife is president of the Friends Bonsai Society founded in 1982. We took a fancy to these plants when we visited Japan. The Task Force office in Secunderabad was my residence for 16 years. We had numerous such plants there,” Appa Rao recalled. “We shifted home to Jubilee Hills and we have had about 200 bonsais under our care. I spend three hours every morning, spraying water, trimming and taking care of these trees as they require care as a small child does,” he said.

The society has given out bonsais to Ramoji Film City and Raj Bhavan among other places and they are also taken care of by its members. Appa Rao said he had faith that the city police would recover the lost bonsai. He got back the plant without damage.

“I have worked with several of the police officials here and seen how efficient they are. The police teams checked CC cameras and detected the case within a few days. I appreciate their efforts,” Appa Rao said.

“When I was police commissioner of the city, DGP M. Mahendar Reddy was the DCP of East Zone, DGP Anurag Sharma was the South Zone DCP, and DGP Gautam Sawang (of AP) was the traffic DCP. I had recruited a batch of subinspectors back then who are working as station house officers.