Haryana Police STF Officers Honoured with Kendriya Grihmantri Dakshata Padak 2026
Ten officers and personnel of the Haryana Police Special Task Force have been selected for the Kendriya Grihmantri Dakshata Padak 2026, the Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to intelligence gathering and special operations. The honour, announced by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, places Haryana’s elite force among the police units recognised nationally this year for professional excellence in some of the most demanding fields of policing. The selection is a proud moment for the state police, whose Special Task Force has built a reputation for intelligence-led work against organised and cross-border criminal networks.
In the Intelligence category, the Haryana recipients are Senior Superintendent of Police Waseem Akram, who leads the Special Task Force, Deputy Superintendent of Police Pradeep, Sub-Inspector Varun and Constable Varun Jangra. In the Special Operations category, the awardees are Deputy Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar, Sub-Inspectors Gaurav Singh, Randeep Singh, Kapil and Sandeep, and Constable Sajan Singh. Together, the ten names cover both the quiet intelligence work that prevents crime and the high-risk operations that take on dangerous networks on the ground. Haryana Director General of Police Ajay Singhal has congratulated all the officers and personnel on the national recognition.
The Special Task Force has been recognised in the Special Operations category for a comprehensive and challenging counter-terrorism operation against the network of Pakistan-based terrorist Shahzad Bhatti, an effort that included bringing back accused Venkat Garg to India on June 11, 2026. The operation underlines the kind of work the Dakshata Padak is meant to honour: painstaking intelligence collection, careful planning and coordinated action under pressure, carried out far from public view. For the officers involved, the medal is formal acknowledgement from the country’s home ministry that their service met the highest professional standards.
The Kendriya Grihmantri Dakshata Padak was instituted by the Union Home Ministry through a notification dated February 1, 2024, and is announced every year on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. For 2026, a total of 490 personnel from states, Union Territories, central armed police forces and central police organisations have been selected. Of these, 358 have been recognised for special operations conducted during 2024 and 2026, 123 for excellence in investigation and nine for contributions to forensic science. The medal aims to reward professional excellence, encourage high standards of service and raise the morale of personnel working in policing and allied fields.
For Haryana Police, the recognition is being seen as a milestone for the entire force and not just for the ten individuals named. Police officials have said the honour reflects the collective dedication of the department towards effective and proactive policing, and they hope it will inspire other officers to aim for similar standards of excellence in their own duties. The Special Task Force remains at the centre of the state’s efforts to meet complex security challenges, and awards of this kind reinforce the value of intelligence-led operations in modern policing. As the force continues to evolve, such national recognition helps build a culture of professional growth, accountability and pride across its ranks.
