Seven police officers from Tamil Nadu, including two women, bagged the Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation this year.
The medal was instituted last year to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime and to recognise the good work of police personnel.
While Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra police topped the list with 11 medals each, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan police got 8 medals each. The Tamil Nadu police stood third with seven medallists, including two women officers. Additional Superintendent of Police, A. Sujatha, a 2009 batch Group-I officer, received the medal for investigating the murder of a Dalit man by Rajan, a caste Hindu, following an argument in Vellore district. As the Investigation Officer of the case, she filed the chargesheet within one month and detained the accused under the Goondas Act.
The trial court convicted Rajan and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Ms. Sujatha sent a proposal to the government and secured a compensation of ₹3.5 lakh for the family of the deceased.
Murder case
T. Veemaraj, Deputy Superintendent of Police, received the medal for cracking a murder for gain case in the Roshanai police station limits in Villupuram district. The officer led a special team to detect the case in which the decomposed body of an unidentified woman was found. Others who received the medals for excellence in Investigation are DSPs P. Arumugam, R. Raja Srinivas and inspectors R. Senthil Kumar, M.N. Elango and S. Padmavathi.