New Delhi: Officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) associated with the probe into the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College, as well as the murder case of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, are among 31 personnel of the agency awarded police medals on the occasion of the 77th Republic Day.
According to a list released by the government on Sunday (January 25, 2026), Joint Director V. Chandrasekhar, a 2000-batch IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre, has been conferred the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service, one of the highest honours in police service.
Role in the R.G. Kar Medical College Probe
As Joint Director, Mr. Chandrasekhar supervised the investigation into the R.G. Kar Medical College case, in which a trainee doctor was raped and murdered. Officials said the probe led to the filing of a chargesheet and the conviction of the principal accused within a few months.
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Others awarded the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service include Superintendent of Police Amit Srivastava, Additional Superintendent of Police Mukesh Sharma, Sub-Inspector Pramod Kumar Yati, Assistant Sub-Inspector Chaman Lal, and Head Constable Ramu Golla.
Meritorious Service Medals and Economic Offences Work
In addition, 25 officers of the agency have been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service (PMMS). The list includes C. Venkata Subba Reddy, a 2007-batch IPS officer currently posted as Joint Director in the CBI, and his batchmate Sadanand Shakarrao Date, who has recently returned to his parent cadre in Uttarakhand as Inspector General after serving as Deputy Inspector General in the agency.
During his tenure in the Economic Offences Branch (EOB), Mr. Date handled several high-profile investigations, including alleged bank fraud cases involving the Zoom Developer Group, Parekh Aluminex Ltd., Vidyavasini Group accounts of the State Bank of India, as well as the MCX-SX and NTC cases. He also served in the Special Crime, STF and Anti-Corruption Branch units of the CBI in Mumbai and was associated with the investigation into the Narendra Dabholkar murder case. His work further included action in corruption cases linked to SEEPZ-SEZ, BECIL and CGST.
Full List of PMMS Awardees
Among those awarded the PMMS are Deputy Legal Advisor Manmohan Sharma; Additional SPs Baidyanath Samal and Kailash Sahu; and Deputy SPs Rubi Choudhary, Manish Kumar Upadhyay, Anmol Sachan, Nishu Kushwaha, Arijit Sinha, Sharad Suresh Bhawar, Thahir Abbas P., and Dharmendra Kumar.
Other recipients include Inspector Dharmender, Programmer Deepti Vashista, Assistant Sub-Inspector Vinod Kumar, Officer Superintendent Narikote Nandini, Head Constables Netram Chourasiya, Puran Mal Gujjar, Bhola Roy, Babu Varghese and Vikram Singh, as well as Constables Sanjeev Kumar, Waikhom Rajesh Singh and Rupendra Kumar.
The awards announced on Republic Day are viewed as national recognition of sustained investigative work, supervisory responsibility and professional service rendered by CBI officers in complex and sensitive cases.
