Jammu and Kashmir Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel interrogate a motorcyclist after a grenade attack by suspected rebels on the eve of Indian Republic Day

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir yet again topped the list of police gallantry medals, announced on the eve of Republic Day.

Jammu and Kashmir Police bagged 115 Police Medals for Gallantry (PMG), out of a total of 189 awarded this year. They more than doubled their last year’s tally of 52 PMGs. J&K Police won awards for conducting several counter-insurgency operations in 2019-20.

Of the 189 recipients of the gallantry awards, 134 were awarded for action in the Jammu and Kashmir region, 47 for bravery in Left Wing Extremism affected areas and one for similar conduct in the north-east region, a home ministry spokesperson said.

Police forces from states such as Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, which were awarded medals last year, were not awarded PMGs this time around.

Among state police forces, Chhattisgarh received the highest number of gallantry medals (10), followed by Odisha (9) and Maharashtra (7). . Uttar Pradesh, which won eight PMGs last year, got only this year.

Delhi Police, which won 17 PMGs last year, bagged only three this time.

The Central Armed Police Forces also won fewer awards this year.

Three Jawans of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which is deployed mainly on the Sino-Indian border, were awarded PMGs for their anti-Naxal operations conducted in Naxal-affected Bastar district.

No one has been given the top category president's police medal for gallantry (PPMG) this time.

Eighty-eight personnel have been awarded the distinguished service medal, while 662 have been given the meritorious service medal. Forty-two fire service medals, 37 correctional service medals for police personnel and 51 'Jeevan Rakshak Padak' were also announced.

The 'Jeevan Rakshak' series of medals are given for meritorious act of human nature in saving the life of a person.

The CRPF said in a statement that it has also been decorated with six Shaurya Chakras, the third-highest peacetime medal.

Four of these military medals have been given to its personnel posthumously.

"Out of total 36 gallantry medals, 21 are for the acts of gallantry in Left Wing Extremism affected areas and 15 are for operations that took place in Jammu and Kashmir," a force spokesperson said.

Delhi police officer bags 11th President's medal for Gallantry

He has the highest number of President's medal for Gallantry in any police force, receiving the honour for his role in several high-profile operations since 2007 like the Batla House encounter and the killing of a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist.

This year, Delhi Police's DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav has been awarded the 11th President's medal for Gallantry for arresting two persons who had links with banned terror group Babbar Khalsa International in September 2020.

"With the blessings of Balaji, I am happy to share that I have been awarded my 11th President's Gallantry Medal on the occasion of Republic Day 2022," Yadav tweeted.

According to police, on September 5, 2020, Bhupinder Singh and Kulwant Singh were arrested after cross-firing near underpass Burari-Majlis Park Road.

The arrested persons had links with banned terror group Babbar Khalsa International and were allegedly being financed by Khalistan sympathisers from Pakistan, Gulf and Europe, police said.

Speaking to PTI, Yadav said that he received his first medal in 2007.

"There was an operation in 2005 carried out in Jammu and Kashmir in which one Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist Saifullah was killed. I received my first award in 2007 for that operation. We do our duty and when our work gets recognised and appreciated, it boosts my morale and that of team members," he said.

The Batla House encounter took place on September 19, 2008 between the operatives of Indian Mujahideen and the Special Cell of Delhi Police at a flat in Jamia Nagar.

During the encounter, Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma died following a bullet injury.

A movie called "Batla House" on the encounter was released in 2019 in which actor John Abraham's role was based on Yadav. On June 9, 2018, gangster Rajesh Bharti and three of his associates were killed while eight police personnel were injured in a major encounter in south Delhi's Chhatarpur area.

More than 100 rounds were fired by the gang members and the Delhi Police's Special Cell in the shoot-out.

The deceased were identified as Rajesh Bharti, the gang's kingpin, Sanjeev alias Sandeep Vidroh, Umesh alias Don and Viresh Rana alias Bhiku.

The DCP said that he has a passion for shooting and represented India in several tournaments. He also said that he started professional shooting in 2018-2019. He was a part of the national shooting team in 2019. He participated in SAF Games in 2019 and won a silver medal. He won a bronze medal in World Shooting Championship in Germany in 2019.

According to an official statement, a total of 23 officers and men of Delhi Police have been conferred Police Medals for their services i.e. three President's Police Medal (PPM) for Distinguished Service, three Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) and 17 Police Medal for Meritorious Service, on the occasion of 2022 Republic Day.

Special Commissioners David Lalrinsanga and Shalini Singh, and sub-inspector Ramesh Singh have been awarded President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service. During Singh's posting as Joint CP (Western Range), several volatile law and order issues like farmers' agitation were deftly handled under her supervision and the Range also remained peaceful during Anti CAA/NRC protests, it said.

During Lalrinsanga's stint in SPUWAC, the unit found mention in 'Limca Book of Records' for providing Self Defence training to a record number of college and school-going girls and working women, it stated.

DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, ACP Jasbir Singh and SI Ravi Tushir have been awarded Police Medal for Gallantry. DCP Satyawan Gautam, Additional DCP Amar Singh Meena, ACP Makhan Singh, Inspector Satnaam Singh, woman SI Nirmala Sharma and ASI Shyamvir Singh are among those who have been awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Service, the statement said.

DCP Satyawan Gautam had a major contribution in the implementation of MHA's mega pilot project ERSS (Emergency Response Support System)-112 in 2018-19.

This system is handling all types of distress calls with a location-based system (LBS), it stated.

He contributed majorly in the commissioning of Red-Light Violation Detection system (RLVD) and Over Speed Violation Detection System (OSVD) at several locations to capture various traffic violations, the statement said.

ACP Jitendra Narayan Jha supervised the investigation of two Northeast Delhi riot cases, it added.

29 CBI sleuths get president's police medals

CBI officers probing post poll violence cases in West Bengal besides the one who busted big bribery cases in Railways are among 29 agency sleuths awarded police medals on the occasion of Republic Day, officials said.

Joint Director Ramnish Geer, who led the probe in cases like housing scam allegedly involving the then Union minister Sheila Kaul, Naval war room leak case, kidnapping of an NRI businessman and his release besides other high profile anti-corruption cases, received the coveted President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service.

He was among the four CBI joint directors rushed from Delhi to West Bengal to oversee post poll violence cases reported in the state last year.

Others awarded the medal include Additional SPs Anil Kumar Yadav who is probing actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case and Satish Kumar Rathi, Deputy SP Nat Ram Meena who was part of team probing cases against Chhota Rajan, ASI Bansidhar Bijarnia, and Head Constable Mehboob Hasan.

Police Medals for Meritorious Service went to 23 officers of the agency including DIG Akhilesh Kumar Singh, who is also in-charge of several cases of post poll violence in West Bengal.

Another DIG Nitin Deep Blaggan who probed several high profile graft cases including Rs one crore bribery case involving a senior Northeast Frontier Railways Engineer has also been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service.

Others who received the medal include Additional SP Arvind Kumar Upadhyay, Deputy SPs Ananda Krishnan T.P., Sanjay Kumar Gautam, Vikash Kumar Pathak, Alok Kumar Shahi and Subramanyam Devendran, Inspectors Nakul Singh Yadav, Amit Kumar, Rakesh Ranjan who was part of team probing murder of BJP activist Yogish Gowda and Mahesh Vijay Parkar, Sub-inspector Anil Kumar, ASI Dharminder Singh, Head Constables Chander Pal, Loganathan Rengasamy, K.V.Jagannath Reddy, Harbhan Singh and Mahesh Madhavrao Gajarlwar, Constables R.

Jaisankar and Kaushliya Devi, Office Superintendent Om Prakash Naithani and Crime Assistant Satyabrata Saha.