One of the most decorated officers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Assistant Commandant Naresh Kumar, who is a real-life gunslinger and has killed around 50 terrorists along with his team in J-K, has received his sixth prestigious Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG).
Speaking to ANI, the decorated officer said: "I will be awarded the PMG this year for an operation which our team conducted in 2018 in Chatarbal area where our team neutralised a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) top commander Shaukat Ahmed Tak. He was among the top ten most-wanted terrorists."
Kumar further went on to talk about the five years he spent in Jammu and Kashmir, where he was deployed in his first posting.
He also thanked the Indian Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which along with the CRPF carry out operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.
"It is hard to count the number of operations that I have done but the total number of terrorists my team neutralized would be somewhere around 50 in the valley. Many of them were commanders of Jaish and Hizbul Mujahedeen" he said.
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The officer also shared his experience of receiving the PMG for the first time.
"I got my first PMG in 2017 for an operation which was conducted in Srinagar in 2016. We had neutralised two foreign terrorists. Similarly in 2018, I was awarded two PMGs, for neutralising two Hizbul Mujahedeen commanders," Kumar said.
He said that he was also awarded two PMGs on the last Republic Day and Independence Day.
The officer said that he was also appreciated by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval for his operation in 2018 where Ahmed Tak was eliminated by forces.
He has been awarded 11 DG CRPF Commendation Disc, two J-K Police medals and NIA appreciations on several occasions.
Interestingly, Naresh's wife -- Sheetal Rawat -- is also an Assistant Commandant in the CRPF and is deployed in Kashmir with him while his father had also retired from the Indian Army.
Kumar was recently posted out of Kashmir.
This year CRPF has been given the maximum number of gallantry honours -- 76 -- after the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which has received 108 medals.
Dr AP Maheshwari, DG, CRPF, has congratulated all the medal winners and their families. Offering sincere salute to the families of martyrs, Dr Maheshwari expressed his deep gratitude to the brave hearts for "keeping the CRPF flag high."
As announced by the government on the eve of the 71st Republic Day today, four brave-hearts of the force have been posthumously awarded the prestigious Gallantry Medals.
As many as 62 force personnel have also been awarded Service Medals, among which are seven CRPF officers, who have been recognised by the nation more than once.
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