In the Indian criminal justice system, a “Malkhana” (from “mal” meaning property and “khana” meaning room) is the designated storehouse in every police station where seized items, evidence, and case properties recovered during investigations are securely stored. These items—ranging from weapons, drugs, documents, vehicles, and jewelry to forensic samples—are considered “property of the court” and must be preserved intact until required for trial or final disposal.
Traditionally, Malkhanas relied on manual registers, paper records, and physical storage in often overcrowded rooms. This led to numerous challenges: items getting misplaced, tampered with, or lost; hours spent searching for specific evidence; delays in court proceedings; and even legal repercussions for officers if properties went missing. Poor management eroded public trust, complicated handovers during transfers, and hindered efficient justice delivery.
To address these issues, police departments across India have increasingly adopted e-Malkhana, a digital system for managing case properties. e-Malkhana modernizes the process through technology, ensuring transparency, accountability, and quick retrieval.
What is E-Malkhana?
e-Malkhana is a digital evidence and property management system that replaces manual record-keeping with software-based cataloguing.
How E-Malkhana Works: Typical Workflow
Under the e-Malkhana system, once any item is seized, it is immediately photographed and its essential details—such as case number, nature of the property, quantity, and date of seizure—are entered into the e-Malkhana software. A unique QR code or barcode is then generated and affixed to the seized item or its container, enabling precise digital identification. The item is subsequently placed in the designated malkhana storage area, where its location and status are continuously reflected on a central digital dashboard.
Authorized officers can access, update, or produce the item for court proceedings through the system, with every movement automatically recorded, thereby ensuring transparency, accountability, and an unbroken chain of custody.
Key Components:
Unique Identification: Each seized item is assigned a barcode or QR code.
Digital Cataloguing: High-resolution photographs, detailed descriptions, FIR numbers, relevant legal sections, quantity, condition, and storage location are uploaded to a database or app.
Real-Time Tracking: Items can be located instantly by scanning codes or searching via FIR/case details.
Audit Trail: Records movements, entries, and disposals, reducing risks of tampering or pilferage.
Integration Potential: In some implementations, it links with systems like the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) for seamless data sharing.
The system often involves physical upgrades too, such as organized racks, secure boxes, and sometimes CCTV or biometric access.
Key Features and Benefits
e-Malkhana offers several advantages over traditional methods:
Efficiency: Retrieval that once took hours or days now happens in minutes, freeing up personnel for core duties.
Transparency and Accountability: Digital records create an immutable trail, minimizing corruption allegations and building public confidence.
Security: Reduces loss, damage, or manipulation; real-time verification of item condition.
Ease of Handover: Simplifies transfers between officers, as everything is digitized.
Court Compliance: Faster production of evidence in trials, reducing adjournments.
Monitoring and Analytics: Supervisors can track statistics, like properties under specific acts (e.g., NDPS or Arms Act).
Overall, it aligns with India’s Digital India initiative and smart policing goals.
Real-Time Tracking, Court Readiness, and Secure Audit Management
The e-Malkhana system ensures real-time tracking of all stored case properties, with digital records clearly indicating who deposited or retrieved an item and the precise time of each transaction, thereby enhancing transparency and significantly reducing the risk of misplaced or mishandled evidence. Its digital indexing enables investigators, courts, and forensic departments to quickly retrieve complete details of case properties, even in long-pending matters, saving hours of manual effort and minimizing delays in legal proceedings.
Additionally, e-Malkhana is audit-friendly, with automated logs and dashboards that facilitate inspections, and it can be integrated with CCTV surveillance, access control mechanisms, and biometric authorization to enforce stricter custody norms and strengthen the overall security and accountability of evidence management.
Implementation Across India
Across India, e-Malkhana has largely evolved through state-level innovations rather than a single centrally mandated model. e-Malkhana initiatives have been pioneered and expanded in various states, often driven by innovative officers:
Delhi Police: One of the earliest adopters (starting around 2017-2018), Delhi fully digitized Malkhanas across all districts, using QR codes and software for over 300,000 properties.
Andhra Pradesh (Visakhapatnam/Anakapalli): First commissioned in 2021 at Narsipatnam; expanded to multiple stations with scientific storage.
Chhattisgarh: Conceptualized by IPS officer Robinson Guria, who developed custom software; piloted and scaled for better organization.
Rajasthan: First at Chandwaji station in 2023, using Google Sheets and QR codes as a pilot.
Bihar (Buxar): Launched in 2025 with a custom app inspired by Delhi, featuring photos and location mapping; planned expansion to all stations.
Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal): State’s first in 2025 at TT Nagar station, with QR-based tracking.
Other States: Implementations or plans in West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Amethi (UP).
Many are local innovations, sometimes developed in-house by officers, while others use apps or integrate with national platforms like CCTNS.
Why This Matters?
e-Malkhana is significant because it directly enhances transparency and trust in the criminal justice system by maintaining detailed digital logs that ensure accountability within police departments and before courts. Accurate and continuous tracking of seized evidence improves forensic reliability, supports scientific examination, and minimizes disputes regarding the integrity and handling of evidence during trials.
At the operational level, the system reduces the burden of manual record-keeping and clerical work, allowing police personnel to devote more time and resources to investigation, crime prevention, and public safety, thereby improving the overall effectiveness of policing.
By digitally preserving the chain of custody through time-stamped and officer-attributed records, e-Malkhana operationalises the principles governing search, seizure, custody, and disposal of case property under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS)—including provisions relating to seizure, safe custody, and production of property before court—while strengthening the admissibility and integrity of electronic records under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA), thereby directly supporting the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial.
Impact on Policing Across India
The adoption of the e-Malkhana system has had a transformative impact on policing across India by significantly enhancing accountability, efficiency, and institutional trust. Unlike manual record-keeping, which often led to missing or mishandled evidence, e-Malkhana’s digital records ensure a secure chain of custody where every movement of seized property is time-stamped and traceable to a specific officer, thereby discouraging negligence or misconduct.
Digitisation has also greatly improved operational efficiency, with districts such as Buxar, Amethi, and Visakhapatnam reporting that previously cluttered and cumbersome evidence rooms have been converted into well-organised repositories where items can be located within minutes instead of hours.
The system is steadily scaling nationwide, with police forces in regions ranging from the Andaman & Nicobar Islands to Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar adopting e-Malkhana across multiple police stations, reflecting strong institutional acceptance. By ensuring that evidence is easily retrievable and supported by a verifiable digital history, e-Malkhana has further helped reduce delays in court proceedings and strengthened prosecutorial credibility, contributing to a more efficient justice delivery system.
Conclusion
e-Malkhana marks a significant paradigm shift in evidence management within Indian policing by replacing manual, paper-based practices with digitised records and real-time tracking mechanisms. By strengthening transparency, efficiency, and accountability, it directly contributes to the modernisation of police functioning and enhances the integrity of the justice delivery process.
While challenges such as inadequate digital infrastructure, the need for staff training, lack of uniform standards across states, and initial implementation costs persist, these hurdles are transitional rather than structural. As adoption expands and systems mature, e-Malkhana has the potential to reinforce the entire criminal justice chain—from investigation and prosecution to conviction.
In an era of increasingly complex crimes, e-Malkhana emerges as a vital reform that promotes reliable, efficient, and trustworthy policing, and with wider implementation, it is well-positioned to become a nationwide standard for evidence management in India.
