CBI deputy SP awarded Medal of Excellence in Investigation

LUCKNOW : For nailing down cops involved in the murder of a minor girl whose body was found hanging from a tree inside Nighasan police station in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on June, 10, 2011, CBI deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Mukesh Sharma was awarded the union home minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for 2020.

On February 28, 2020, a CBI court had awarded life imprisonment to constable Atiq Ahmad for murdering the 14-year-old girl and hanging her body to pose it as a suicide case. CBI spokesman RK Gaur said Dy SP Mukesh Sharma, along with 15 CBI officers, were awarded the union home minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for 2020.

He said the union ministry of home affairs had initiated this award of medals to the members of central investigating agencies as well as state and union territories police agencies for excellence in investigation. He said the objective was to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime in the country and to recognise excellence in investigation.

Another CBI official said Sharma took up a probe in February, 2012 nearly eight months after the crime was reported but investigated the case very efficiently and filed a charge sheet against Atiq for murder and removing evidence while rape charges, which were initially mentioned by the state police, were dropped. Three other policemen, including the retired DySP, were charged for removing evidence on March 30, 2013.

He said the CBI court had held constable Atiq Ahmad and the retired DySP Inayat-Ullah Khan guilty in the case but had acquitted two police constables Shiv Kumar and Uma Shanker for want for evidence. Khan retired in December 2014.