Shaurya Chakra is usually awarded to army personnel but for the last few years CRPF personnel have also been accorded with this military honour for their daredevilry in anti-Naxal and jungle warfare duties.
Assistant Commandants Vinoj P Joseph and Nagendra Singh, both officers of CRPF's CoBRA battalion, were leading two attack squads in the forests of Jhargram in West Bengal on November 24 last year. The operation resulted in the killing of Naxalite 'commander' Kishenji alias Koteshwar Rao.
Both the officials belong to the 207 unit of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and were handpicked by the force to lead its men in anti-Naxal operations and jungle warfare.
The CRPF has received the maximum number of gallantry awards on the eve of the Independence Day today, with 52 medals of Presidents police medal for gallantry and the Police medal for gallantry.
The maximum number of these medals have been won by the CRPF in the anti-Naxal operations domain and ten personnel had received the gallantry medal posthumously.
The CRPF has deployed more than 70,000 personnel for anti-Naxal operations in various states.