The Dog that Knew Too Much by Kodavatiganti Kutumbara

​Telugu original by Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao in Yuva, 197? Translated and posted with permission by Ananda Kishore.
Sarvabhoumarao used to have a dog. It rarely barked. It used to bark only at criminals and ex-convicts. This power of the dog was proved so many times that people finally came to believe that somebody was a criminal if it barked at him.

"Maybe, it's an incarnation of a god, Rao sir?" said some people.

"You never know," observed psychologists.

Sarvabhoumarao didn't go that far, but he said, "There are many things that science can't explain."

Sarvabhoumarao was a king maker, an uncrowned king. Even ministers used to consult him.

One day a minister visited him. His face - rather, smell - wasn't new to the dog. But for some reason this time it barked at him.

His face became pale first, and deep red next.

"What's this? What's this?" he said.

"I'll take care of the dog. Don't you worry! I apologize to you," said Sarvabhoumarao. He shot the dog dead that night.

It was recently found that the minister killed his servant a week before he visited Sarvabhoumarao. He had the police throw the servant's body among Naxalite corpses in a forest and then said in public, "We can never tell where Naxalites don't show up next."

However, in the opinion of the higher class it is better to get rid of such dogs - even humans - that can detect crime.