CBI SP T Rajah Balaji, who investigated the Mecca Masjid blast case and under whose watch Swami Aseemanand recorded his confessional statement before a court, is among 30 agency officers who have been awarded medals for meritorious and distinguished service by the President. Also among the awardees is CBI Director Alok Verma’s personal assistant and Grade – I stenographer Devendra Kapoor.
Balaji, who has also investigated the Madhumita Shukla murder case leading to life imprisonment of Amarmani Tripathi, has been awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service. He is currently posted in Bengaluru with the agency’s Banking Security and Fraud Cell (BSFC).
Other notable mentions include Inspectors D Damodaran and Anand Swarup. Damodaran is the investigating officer of the Rs 13,500-crore PNB scam allegedly involving Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Sarup was investigated the Commonwealth Games cases and it was his probe that led to the first conviction in the case.
“President’s Police Medals for Distinguished Service have been awarded to six officers while Police Medals for Meritorious Service have been awarded to 24 other officers,” a CBI spokesperson said.
The winners of President’s Police Medals for Distinguished Service include Superintendents of Police Nagendra Prasad, K M Varkey, Additional SP Santosh Kumar, Deputy SPs B Shankar Rao, Bijay Kumar Pradhan, and Inspector Shama Maruf.
Other officers who won the medal include SPs A T Duraikumar, Pramod Kumar Manjhi, Deputy SPs Sanjay Dubey, Amit Srivastava, Shobha Dutta, Naresh Kumar Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Inspectors Jai Raj Katiyar, U T Prakasan, Sub-Inspector Thari Narayan Sharma, Assistant Sub-Inspectors Bhani Singh Rathore, Pramod Kumar Yati, Head Constables Kishor Ram Mundel, Sathiyan Kuppuswamy, Constables Piyush Mishra, Raj Kumar Rana, Kailash Prasad Gurjar, Y S Narayana, Balbir Singh, Officer Superintendent Bhanwar Singh, and Stenographer Devender Kapoor.