Remembering Madhukar Shetty

K Madhukar Shetty, a 47-year-old Senior IPS officer from Karnataka, passed away on Friday at around 8:15 p.m. He was diagnosed with Swine flu (H1N1) and was undertreatment in Hyderabad’s Continental Hospital, a week ago

Shetty was kept in ECMO life support on Thursday night and had started to respond to the treatments. However, the next day he stopped responding to the treatments and medicines, his heart and lungs got infected, and he succumbed to swine flu.

Who was Madhukar Shetty?

A Senior IPS Officer and Deputy Director at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, Shetty hailed from Udupi District of Karnataka. He was the son of Vaddarse Raghurama Shetty, a prominent journalist.

Shetty was 1999 batch’s IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre and was well known as the upright police officer.

Shetty was well known for his impactful actions during his service. He was a genuine officer who fought against the illegal activists and stood up for the people’s well beings.

A report that lead to resignation of the CM

He played a major role in Ballari’s illegal mining scam inquiry by Karnataka Lokayukta. In 2009, Shetty was part of a special team that made life difficult for corrupt leaders. Shetty along with other officers of his Lokayukta team brought out an illegal mining report that eventually made the then CM of Karnataka BS Yeddyurappa to resign from the office.

A public-friendly officer

During his tenure, he was loved by the masses and was considered as a public-friendly police officer. He along with the then DC Harsh Gupta, started a big operation to clear the government land of encroachment. They then distributed this reclaimed land to Dalits. The community named that land after the two officers and called it Gupta Shetty Halli.

Handling bigger roles

He played a key role as SP during the anti-Veerappan operations, was an important part of the Anti Naxal Force.  

Shetty also worked as DCP (traffic) and with the war crimes Investigation Unit in UN Mission, Kosovo.

He was promoted to DIG and worked in the police recruitment wing and later sometime he was posted as Director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad.

He had a degree of MA in Psychology from Jawaharlal Nehru University before he wrote civil service. He wanted to complete his PhD, in 2011 he left to US to study in Public Administration.

He believed in ‘Work is Worship’ and he followed the same. Throughout his service, he continued to take actions against corrupt officials, politicians, prominent government employees, and people who were involved in illegal firms. He lived with his wife and daughter.

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