Centre's honour for 5 TS cops

HYDERABAD: Five police officers from the state were awarded the Union home minister's medal for excellence in investigation on Saturday, ahead of Independence Day. A total of 140 officers in the police department, CBI, the NIA, and others were awarded the medals, instituted in 2018, by the Union home ministry.

From the state, the Union home ministry selected Sangareddy additional SP Mekala Thirupathanna; deputy SPs Rajula Satyanarayana Raju and Kammaipalle Mallikarjuna Kirankumar; and assistant CPs Mula Jithender Reddy and Bhupathi Srinivasa Rao.

The Centre informed the DGP of the awarding of medals.

Thirupatanna, currently an additional SP, SIB,  won the award for cracking the murder of Rajendra Pawar on November 16, 2016. The victim was having dinner with his family when the accused Maruthi Reddy, Gnaneshwar Reddy, Ram Bai, Chandrapal Reddy, Pandari Reddy, Laxman Reddy, Sailu Reddy, and Ramulu Reddy attacked him in his house in Ghanpur thanda of Tadkal, Kangti mandal of Sangareddy district.

Later, the accused tied Pawar’s body to a motorcycle, dragged up to Tadkal village, and threw it on the roadside. After the trial, all of them were convicted of life imprisonment on February 28, 2023. The reason for the murder was stated to be an extramarital affair between Pawar and the wife of Maruthi Reddy.