Dantewada officer among 930 personnel to bag gallantry honours

CRPF DIG Nalin Prabhat, who was the commander of the force during the deadly Dantewada Naxal ambush last year and Madhya Pradesh ATS constable Sitaram Yadav, who was killed by SIMI operatives in 2009, are among 930 police personnel decorated with gallantry and other service medals on the eve of Independence Day.

CRPF DIG Nalin Prabhat, who was the commander of the force during the deadly Dantewada Naxal ambush last year and Madhya Pradesh ATS constable Sitaram Yadav, who was killed by SIMI operatives in 2009, are among 930 police personnel decorated with gallantry and other service medals on the eve of Independence Day.

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The maximum number of gallantry medals --26-- have been earned by the personnel and officers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) which has deployed almost 60000 troops for anti-Naxal operations in the country.

The CRPF is closely followed by Manipur Police with 24 gallantry medals.

The government on Sunday announced President's Police Medal for gallantry to seven personnel, Police Medal for gallantry to 95 personnel, President's Police Medal for distinguished service to 93 personnel and Police Medal for meritorious service to 735 personnel.

CRPF Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Prabhat was heading the operations of the force when 75 CRPF men and a state police personnel were killed in one of the deadliest Maoist attacks on police forces, in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on April six last year.

The role of Prabhat, an IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre (1992), and other senior officers of the force was probed by various inquiry commissions.

Constable Yadav (32) of the MP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), who has been posthumously honoured, was killed in Khandwa district of the state in November 2009 by Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) operatives.

Yadav was instrumental in cracking several modules of SIMI and was involved in other such operations.