On Independence Day in Guwahati, the Assam Police will recognize an IPS couple, Partha Sarathi Mahanta and Indrani Baruah, with distinguished medals. This is a first for the police.
Partha Sarathi Mahanta, the Commissioner of Police in Guwahati, is a 2006-batch IPS officer who has won the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service. The award honors his outstanding leadership and constant work to improve policing in the state. Mahanta is in charge of the Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF) and has been in charge of a number of important operations in the last few years. For example, he led the operation that caught Haris Farooqi, the chief of ISIS India, and he also broke up a sleeper cell network of the Bangladesh-based Ansar ul Bangla Team (ABT). His squad also recently carried out “Operation Ghost SIM,” which identified a bogus SIM card scam that had ties to operatives in Pakistan.
At the same time, his wife, Indrani Baruah, who is an IPS officer and the Deputy Inspector General of Police (CWR), would get the Chief Minister’s Special Service Medal in a Crisis Situation. This year’s state honors for police officers included the distinction from the Governor of Assam.
The Ministry of Home Affairs gave a total of 17 national awards to Assam Police officers. These included three Police awards for Gallantry and 13 Police Medals for Meritorious Service. There were nine Chief Minister’s Special Service Medals in a Crisis Situation and 35 Chief Minister’s Police Medals for Outstanding Service given out by the state.