Srinagar- Nineteen officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been honoured with the Kendriya Grihmantri Dakshata Padak by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for their exemplary role in Operation Mahadev - a major counter-terror operation launched following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

The awardees include Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vidhi Kumar Birdi, DIG Central Kashmir Pande Rajiv Omprakash, SSP Srinagar G.V. Sundeep Chakraborty, SP Cargo Tanweer Ahmed Dar, and SP Zoheb Tanveer.

Other recipients are DSPs Vikram Nag, Mubashir Naiz, and Shakir Hassan; Inspector Taseer Hamid; SIs Anchal Singh and Firoz Ahmad Dar; ASIs Basharat Rasool Shah and Mohammad Shafi; HCs Javed Ahmed and Sandeep Khujuria; SGCTs Varun Singh and Mehmood Khan; and constables Suhail Abbas and Basharat Qadir.

The officers played a key role in Operation Mahadev, a joint mission that neutralized three Pakistani militants - Suleiman alias Asif, Jibran, and Hamza Afghani - identified as part of the group responsible for the Pahalgam attack. Suleiman was the key planner of the assault, while Jibran was also linked to the 2024 Sonamarg Tunnel strike.

Security forces recovered one M4 carbine, two AK rifles, and a large cache of ammunition during the operation, marking a major breakthrough against cross-border terror networks in the Valley.

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