Six K'taka police officers awarded medal for excellence in investigation [see list]

The Ministry of Home Affairs has awarded 152 police personnel, including 28 women officers, the Union Home Minister's 'Medal for Excellence in Investigation' for the year 2021. The medal promotes high professional standards of investigation of crime and to recognize such "Excellence in Investigation" by investigating officers. As per the list, six police personnel are from Karnataka to be receiving the honour.

K'taka police officers honoured

1. Parameshwar A. Hegde, ACP, Central, Mangaluru
2. HN Dharmendra, ACP, Vijayanagar Sub Dn, Bengaluru City
3. C. Balakrishna, DySP, STF & Vigilance, BDA, Bengaluru
4. Manoj Hovale, PI
5. Devaraj T V, CPI
6. Shivappa Satteppa Kamatagi, PI

Parameshwar A. Hegde, is the Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) central under Mangaluru police commissionerate, who previously served as sub-inspector in Bunder, Bantwal town and circle inspector in Mulki. He was chosen for the award for solving a kidnap and murder case in 2008, which had led to the conviction of the accused in February 2020.

Speaking to International Business Times, PA Hegde said: "It's a nice moment as it was an old case and after 12 years of trial and appeal, we got the conviction from the culprits.

"Initially, it was a case of a missing person case as the driver was missing with the vehicle. Everyone had assumed he was the culprit, but later we found his dead body in a quarry and we continued our investigation to find real culprits," the ACP officer recalled.

Each of these officers has attained excellence in investigations, which is recognized and awarded by the Union Home Ministry.

Medal for excellence in investigation

Besides, among the personnel receiving these awards, 15 are from the CBI, 11 each from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra Police, 10 from Uttar Pradesh Police, nine each from Kerala and Rajasthan Police, eight from Tamil Nadu Police, seven from Bihar Police, six each are from Gujarat and Delhi Police and the remaining from the other states and Union Territories (UTs).

The women awardees are from Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, UT of Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and two from the CBI.

Five officials from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have also been felicitated with the award while a Delhi Police Inspector late Satish Chander Sharma has been given the award posthumously.