IPS officer, security personnel posthumously honoured

New Delhi: An IPS officer, who was brutally crushed to death by illegal mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh, and several security personnel who laid down their lives fighting Maoists and anti-social elements were posthumously honoured with `Singham Bravery Awards` on Saturday. The awards instituted by All India Anti-Terrorist Front led by M S Bitta were handed over to the family members of the police officers by reel life `Singham` Ajay Devgn, actor Sunil Shetty and former CRPF Director General K Vijay Kumar.

Narendra Kumar, the 2009-batch IPS officer, was crushed to death under a stone-laden tractor trolley belonging to the illegal mining mafia in Chambal district in Madhya Pradesh on March 8 while on inspection. Receiving the Singham Bravery Award, his wife and IAS officer Madhurani Teotia remembered her husband as a "committed police officer" who was inspired by "icons" like Vijay Kumar. An emotional Teotia also recited poems penned by her late husband which meticulously captures the emotions of people in the hinterland who face violence in various forms every day. "He used to write and throw the paper away. I collected them and today I am reciting them here," she said. Bitta, who has himself faced terror attacks, made a passionate plea to everyone to commit themselves towards protecting the nation`s security and asked youth to seek inspiration from people like Devgn and Kumar. In his speech, Kumar said India should do more towards strengthening its internal security apparatus and cited China`s priority to the issue. The former CRPF DG also acknowledged that the government has started attaching priority to internal security off-late. On the occasion, Devgn and Shetty, were also bestowed with `Pride of Nation` awards. Devgn and Shetty saluted the "sacrifice" of the brave police officers and CRPF jawans, while pledging support for any initiative that honours such people. Besides Narendra Kumar, the award was posthumously presented to Surinder Singh, Narinder Singh Ranjeet Singh, Prakash S Meena, K C Meena, Tanveer Singh and Sanjeev Kumar. CRPF jawans Kanhaiya Singh and Vishnu Pandey were also presented with the awards posthumously. PTI