Prez medal winners: Cop who scaled Chidambaram's wall; ones who probed Lalu Yadav, Dera Sacha Sauda

DySP Parthasarthy had arrested Chidambaram's son Karthi

chidambaram-cbi-arrest-pti (1) CBI officials arrest Congress leader P. Chidambaram from his Jor Bagh residence in New Delhi | PTI

The officer who scaled the walls of former finance minister P. Chidambaram's house to arrest him, and another who headed a team that deported the first Indian national from the UAE, were among 28 CBI officers who have been awarded the President's police medals on the eve of Republic Day.

Deputy SP Ramaswamy Parthasarathy, who arrested Chidambaram in the INX Media case last year, was conferred with the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service. The CBI had, on August 21, 2019, arrested former finance minister P. Chidambaram from his Jor Bagh residence in Delhi in a dramatic evening, with the senior Congress leader first reported missing, and later making a dramatic appearance at the AICC headquarters and addressing a press meet. Over 30 CBI sleuths, accompanied by a team of Delhi police, along with television cameramen, had scaled the boundary wall of Chidambaram's residence to gain entry into his house as the front gate remained closed. An officer known for his cool demeanour but stern attitude, Parthasarthy had arrested Chidambaram's son Karti too in the case.

Dhirendra Shankar Shukla, who joined as DySP in the agency and rose to become its Joint Director, has also been given the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service, the officials said. He successfully probed the murder of Mumbai journalist J. Dey, headed the sports integrity unit of the agency for five years, was the choice of the UN to be part of a police contingent in Monaco. Shukla had also headed the probe in the cases related to alleged castration of followers of Dera Sachcha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Raheem, murder of journalist Rajeev Ranjan among others. The Dera chief is serving a 20-year sentence for rape. He had got minor relief by way of being granted bail in a case of castration of a large number of his male followers in his campus near Sirsa. The bail, though being cheered by some of his followers, does not alter his 20-year jail term.

Superintendent of Police Binay Kumar of special crime unit, who has a knack of solving complex murder cases, has been awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Service. He had led the probe into infamous Kherlanji murders of 2006 in which four members of a scheduled caste community were brutally killed over a land dispute by upper caste people in Kherlanji village in Maharashtra. Kumar had also probed the murder of Pawanraje Nimbhalkar murder case 2006, Rinehskhem Kharsohnoh murder case of Meghalaya, Kavita Rani murder case of Meerut.

Another Superintendent of Police from Special Crime unit Nirbhay Kumar, who had probed infamous Nithari murders, PF scam in Ghaziabad, IRCTC case involving former Railway Minister Lalu Yadav, mid-day meal scam and murder of ACP of Delhi Police Rajbeer Singh has also been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service.

Among the recipients of coveted President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service are ASPs Thondattuparambil Varghese in Cochin and Diptendu Bhattacharya in Kolkata,  Sub-Inspector Rajesh Singh in CBI Academy, Ghaziabad, Head Constables Om Prakash Bishnoi and Sanjay Kumar Bhat in New Delhi.

The officers who have been awarded with Police Medal for Meritorious Service are SP Manoj Verma, DySPs Thangluan Zamang, Rabi Narayan Tripathy, Mukesh Verma, Nitesh Kumar, Barun Kumar Sarkar, Narayan Chandra Sahoo, ASIs Nand Kishore, Nur Ali Sheikh and Rohitash Kumar Dhinwa.

The medal recipients also include Head Constables Madan Lal Dhiman, Dharamvir Singh, Parthasarathy Seshadri, Constables Kailash Chand Yadav, Pawan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, and Office Superintendent Pushpa Joshi. 

-Inputs from PTI