17 U.P. cops awarded President’s Police Medal for Gallantry

List of awardees includes nine STF personnel, six of them were part of the team that gunned down Atiq’s son and aide in an encounter in Jhansi in April 2023

The President’s Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) has been awarded to 17 UP Police personnel on the occasion of the Independence Day. Those awarded include six members of the Special Task Force (STF) involved in gunning down slain Mafioso Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad and his aide Mohd Ghulam in retaliatory firing in (in Jhansi in April 2023), UP director general of police (DGP) Prashant Kumar said on Wednesday.

(Pic for representation only)

The STF team which has been awarded comprises two deputy superintendents of police (DSP), two inspectors and two head constables.

The DGP said the PMG medal is the highest police decoration for bravery and it’s a matter of pride that 17 Uttar Pradesh police personnel have been awarded this time.

UP STF additional director general (ADG) Amitabh Yash said Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad and Ghulam were wanted in the killing of lawyer Umesh Pal and two police bodyguards in Prayagraj on February 24, 2023. He said the state government had announced a reward of ₹5 lakh each on them in connection with the Prayagraj incident.

The ADG said the STF team led by DSP Vimal Kumar Singh and Navendu Kumar gunned down Asad and Ghulam in retaliatory firing in a fierce encounter with them in Jhansi on April 13, 2023. He said the four other members of the STF team were inspectors Gyanendra Kumar Rai and Anil Kumar Singh, head constables Sushil Kumar and Sunil Kumar. He said all six of them were awarded the PMG for showing exemplary courage and bravery in the incident.

The state government had constituted a two-member judicial commission chaired by Justice (retired) Rajiv Lochan Mehrotra and comprising retired director general (DG) Vijay Kumar Gupta to conduct a detailed inquiry into the killing of Asad and his aide Ghulam in the encounter. The commission’s report was tabled in the Monsoon session of the U.P. Vidhan Sabha on August 1 and it stated that the duo was killed during retaliatory firing in self-defence by the STF team.

3 STF men, 1 Ghaziabad cop get gallantry medal

The ADG said the list of 17 Gallantry Medal awardees included three more STF personnel, including Bareilly unit in-charge sub-inspector Rakesh Kumar Singh Chauhan, head constables Anil Kumar and Hari Om Singh. He said the STF Bareilly team, in a joint operation with the Ghaziabad police, had gunned down one Meharban, who was wanted in loot of ₹65 lakh from a cashier of a Bulandshahr food products firm in Gautam Buddha Nagar on May 27, 2019. He said the team gunned down the criminal, who carried a reward of ₹1 lakh, in retaliatory firing during an encounter in Sahibabad, Ghaziabad on July 17-18 night in 2019.

He said Ghaziabad police inspector Jitendra Kumar Singh, who was part of the joint team, was also awarded a gallantry medal.

2 Etawah cops honoured for gunning down Vikas Dubey’s gang member

Similarly, Etawah police sub-inspector Jitendra Pratap Singh and constable Vipin Kumar were awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry for gunning down a wanted criminal Praveen Dubey alias Bauwa Dubey while trying to intercept a vehicle which he and his three accomplices had looted under the Civil Lines police station limits on July 9, 2020.

Bauwa was an active member of slain Mafioso Vikas Dubey’s gang and was involved in the ambush in which eight police personnel, including deputy SP-rank officer Devendra Kumar Mishra, was killed in Bikru village of Kanpur on July 2, 2020. The STF team had gunned down Vikas Dubey while he tried to escape from police custody on July 10, 2020.

5 Bijnor cops awarded for killing dreaded criminal Aditya Rana

Five other police personnel, including inspector Rajiv Chowdhary, sub-inspector Jai Veer Singh, head constable Raees Ahmad and constables Arun Kumar and Ajay Kumar, were awarded the Gallantry Medal for gunning down gangster Aditya Rana alias Ravi, who carried a reward of ₹2.5 lakh, in retaliatory firing while trying to arrest him under Syohara police station of Bijnor district on April 12, 2023.

In addition, one assistant deputy controller of Home Guards and Civil Defence of UP was awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry for exemplary services.