Top-notch investigations earn 4 Assam cops national honour

By: Rokibuz Zaman

GUWAHATI: At least four Assam police personnel, including two top officials — DIG Devojyoti Mukherjee and SP Rosie Kalita — have been awarded the ‘Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation’ for the year 2020.

The two others to receive the award are sub inspector Abhisek Bodo and inspector Rustam Raj Brahma.

Mukherjee and Kalita are posted as deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Border, and superintendent of police, chief minister's special vigilance cell, respectively.

Mukherjee, who was elated at receiving the news, told TOI, “Hard work and precision pay off.”

A relative of Mukherjee said, “While he was the SP in Hojai, a middle-aged school teacher was raped and murdered. Mukherjee led the investigation into the case. Two suspects were identified and investigated. A chargesheet was framed in record time and the case was heard expeditiously and the conviction came within a year. One accused was awarded death penalty, while the other received life sentence without parole. The case was widely reported and the work done by police was appreciated. The chief minister mentioned the case in his Independence Day speech that year (2018).”

Saying she too was elated, Kalita, observed, “However, we do our duty not for the medal, but to complete the task and to establish rule of law. It is our duty to investigate and investigation is part of our the job. If the work is recognised, we are more than happy.”

Kalita was awarded for her involvement in the investigation in the Shweta Agarwal murder case, where Agarwal, a BCom fifth semester student in a local college was found dead at her classmate’s residence in Guwahati. According to police, she was assaulted and later burnt alive. Three persons were later convicted for their roles in the incident.

The prestigious award for 2020 has been awarded to 121 police personnel across the country, the ministry of home affairs said on Wednesday. Those awarded include 15 officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation, 10 each from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra police, eight from Uttar Pradesh police, seven each from Kerala and West Bengal police.

Of the 121 personnel, 21 awardees are women. The recipients are from constable to deputy commissioner of police ranks. Last year, 96 police personnel from across the country were awarded the medal.

The medal was started in 2018 to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime and to recognise such excellence.