23 Delhi cops to get medals on Republic Day

Among them is IPS officer Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, currently serving as deputy commissioner of police in the anti-terror squad of Delhi Police’s special cell, who is receiving his 11th award and second back-to-back police medal for gallantry -- a rare feat by an officer

Twenty-three Delhi Police personnel are among the 939 officers from across the country who will be awarded medals on the occasion of Republic Day this year. Among them is IPS officer Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, currently serving as deputy commissioner of police in the anti-terror squad of Delhi Police’s special cell, who is receiving his 11th award and second back-to-back police medal for gallantry -- a rare feat by an officer.

President Ram Nath Kovind addressing the nation on the eve of Republic Day 2022 in New Delhi on Tuesday. Twenty-three Delhi Police personnel are among the 939 officers from across the country who will be awarded medals on the occasion of Republic Day this year. (ANI)

On Tuesday, DCP Yadav expressed his gratitude for the award on Twitter: “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...”

Apart from Yadav, two other officers of his team, namely assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Jasbir Singh, a 2011 DANIPS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service) officer, and Inspector Ravi Tushir, have also been conferred the same Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) for displaying bravery during a shootout in Delhi that led to the arrest of two suspected members of Babbar Khalsa International, a banned terrorist organisation, in September last year.

The arrested BKI members, Bhupender alias Dilawar Singh, and Kulwant Singh, had allegedly come to Delhi to collect arms and ammunition needed to carry out assassination of some politicians in Punjab. ACP Singh joined Chandigarh Police two months ago.

On the occasion of Republic Day 2021, Yadav had received the Police Medal for Gallantry in connection with a shootout between special cell sleuths and members of the infamous “Kranti gang” in Mehrauli in 2018. Four members of the gang including its kingpin, Rajesh Bharti, were killed while six police personnel were also injured.

Of the remaining Delhi Police personnel selected for the awards, three will receive the President’s Police Medal (PPM) for distinguished service, and the remaining 17 personnel will get Police Medal (PM) for meritorious service.

Yadav, who has mostly been posted with the anti-terror unit of the special cell, has carried out several anti-terror operations in Delhi and even in Jammu and Kashmir during his tenure as ACP and DCP since 2005. He was also part of the team that probed Delhi serial blasts of 2005 and 2008, apart from other terror strikes that the city witnessed till 2011.

Yadav also headed the investigating team that solved the 2008 Delhi serial blasts after arresting Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists following an encounter at a flat in Batla House near Jamia Nagar on September 19, six days after the series of blasts rocked the city, claimed at least 25 lives and leaving 135 injured.

Bollywood actor John Abraham played DCP Yadav’s character in the eponymous Bollywood movie “Batla House”.