LUCKNOW, Aug. 15 -- As many as 17 police personnel and officers and one civil defence chief warden have been selected for the prestigious Gallantry Medals for bravery in the line of duty on the occasion of 79th Independence Day. The list included a 2009 batch IPS officer Ajay Kumar Sahni, who is currently posted as DIG, Bareilly Range, and two Provincial Police Services officers, including dy SPs Deepak Kumar Singh and Dharmesh Kumar Shahi. Both are currently posted with the STF. Ten police officers and personnel are from STF out of total 17 GM awardees. Besides, six UP police officers have been awarded the President's Medal for Distinguished Service (PSM) and 72 Medals for Meritorious Service (MSM). IPS Ajay Kumar Sahni has been selected for the GM for his bravery in gunning down a notorious criminal Chand alias Kale in an encounter with the police while being posted as SSP, Meerut, on January 25, 2020. DSP Deepak Kumar Singh along with inspector Hemant Bhushan Singh and head constable Vinod Kumar has been awarded the GM for gunning down notorious criminal Vinod Kumar Upadhyay in an encounter with STF on January 5, 2024. DSP Dharmesh Kumar Shahi, S-I Yashwant Singh and head constable Neeraj Kumar Pandey were awarded GM for their bravery in gunning down a contract killer in an encounter in Ballia district on September 3, 2021. STF sub-inspector Akshay Parveer Kumar Tyagi and two head constables Rajan Kumar and Mukesh Singh were awarded the GM for gunning down a notorious criminal Ajay alias Kalia in an encounter in GB Nagar on July 7, 2021. Another STF S-I Pramod Kumar was awarded the GM for gunning down a notorious criminal Babloo in Aligarh on July 2, 2020. Five others awarded the GM are inspector Munish Pratap Singh Chauhan, S-I Mukesh Kumar head constables Arun Kumar and Tinkal, S-I Dinesh Chandra and head constable Manoj Kumar Six police officers, who have been awarded the President's Medal for Distinguished Service, included ADG rank IPS officers Killada Satya Narayan and Sanjeev Gupta, two deputy inspector general rank IPS officers Rajesh Kumar Singh and Kuldeep Narain and two sub-inspectors Awadh Narayan and Tara Chandra. One fire station officer Sushil Kumar has also been selected for the PSM. In one of the rarest cases, a civil defence personnel and Lucknowite Amarnath Mishra, who is the chief warden of civil defence in Lucknow, has also been awarded the Gallantry Medal, the highest recognition for bravery, for rescuing six people, including two children, from a four-storey building in Yahiyaganj locality of Lucknow last year. "I am feeling really honoured after getting the highest level of recognition for bravery," said Mishra. See also page 14...