K. Radhakrishnan

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, IPS (born 21 July 1958) is an Indian Police Service Officer of the batch of 1983, belonging to the Tamil Nadu Cadre.

Currently, he is serving as the Director General of Police of the Civil Supplies, CID department of Tamil Nadu.

Later pursued a Master of Science in Chemistry from Madurai University and graduated in 1979.

He took up a brief stint in teaching in one of the first schools to be established in Panaikulam (the school is now run by the government under the name Bahurdeen Government Higher Secondary School) while preparing simultaneously for the All India Competitive Civil Services Examination.

Coimbatore City, popularly known as the "Manchester of South India" due to its booming textile industry, witnessed several debilitating communal riots from 1980, culminating in the serial blasts of 1998 that claimed more 50 lives and injured hundreds.

Radhakrishnan joined the Indian Police Service in the batch of 1983.

He underwent Police Training as Assistant Superintendent of Police at the National Police Academy (NPA), Hyderabad from 1983-1984.

He was later inducted into the para-military training at Indore, Tekhlapur and New Delhi.

He also went through army training at Kargil & Leh (Indo-Pak border in Jammu & Kashmir) and Chushul & Sikkim (Indo-China border).

Between the two years 1986-1988, he took up position as Assistant Superintendent of Police of the Dindigul District.

During this tenure he led a raid into training centers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE and seized arms and ammunition worth Rs.20,00,000.

Following this, he was promoted to the post of Superintendent of Police of Ramanathapuram district (1988-1990) during which he was involved in arranging accommodation of 1,00,000 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka who entered the district after the de-induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF).

His further two year stints in the position of Superintendent of Police in the Districts of Tuticorin, Sivagangai, Dharmapuri, Chengalpattu and Vellore for a period of ten years (1988-1997) in six communally sensitive districts of Tamil Nadu yielded results in the maintenance of peace and prevention of communal and caste violence in the regions.

During this period he was proven instrumental in the leading to the arrests of two of the assassins of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and LTTE terrorists who escaped from prison in Chennai.

In a dramatic midnight encounter with the LTTE on 18 February 1990, he led the mission that saved lives of Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) militants and their leader K. Pathmanabha, who were lodged in the Mandapam Refugee Camp.

In July 1997, Radhakrishnan was promoted to the function of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in the Trichy Range, which comprised four districts, during which he successfully held against the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army, leading to the arrests of 50 TNLA members and its leader.

Al Ummah, a militant, fundamentalist organisation that took birth in the immediate aftermath of Babri Masjid destruction at Ayodhya, murdered a Hindu Police Constable on 29 November 1997 at Coimbatore in reaction to which, the police constabulary immediately struck work.

According to the various investigative reports that emerged post the attacks, Hindu militants of the region exploited the security vacuum by targeting Muslims and their properties; 18 Muslims (and 4 Hindus) lost their lives at Coimbatore.

167 militants, including 5 suicide bombers and the accused of the November 1997 murders, who were involved in the series of events leading up to the 1998 blasts were arrested.

Organising extensive searches that led to the seizure of 684 lethal weapons, 584 bombs, 20 firearms, one lakh detonators, cash, addresses of the benefactors of the accused, fundamentalist literature, incriminating documents and photographs, he and his team made sure that by video-graphing all the raids, there was no violation of code of conduct or human rights.

Upon realising the importance of hard intelligence in dealing with communally active zones, K. Radhakrishnan innovated the proactive concept of community policing aimed for a police force's partnership with the civil society in maintaining a peaceful religious climate.

The action plan aimed at involving the community in policing spheres, in resolving the Hindu-Muslim discord and in bringing about a life free of communal violence for the residents of Coimbatore.

In 1998 Radhakrishnan assumed charge as the Commissioner of Police of Coimbatore City just after the Coimbatore Serial Blasts of 1998.

In an apparent retaliation, the Muslim fundamentalist organisation Al Ummah, within 2½ month engineered serial blasts on 14 February 1998 in the run-up to the Parliamentary Elections killing 63 (53 Hindus), maiming 245 and destroying properties worth several crores of rupees.

The confusion and the communal instability of the region, shattered peace, trade, commerce, industry and people's morale.

Fearing a Hindu backlash, the Army and several paramilitary forces moved into Coimbatore leading to a period of unrest and uncertainty.

Stepping in as the Commissioner of Police of Coimbatore City in the immediate aftermath of the serial blasts, K. Radhakrishnan insulated the police force involved in the arrests from the intervention of political parties, by forming a 50-member arrest team, which worked only with the Special Investigation Team in the probe.

In April 1998, he established 78 Area Committees (ACs) with 4000 partners in 72 wards with the objective of using the community to resolve conflicts.

AC meetings were conducted once in a fortnight in sensitive zones and once in a month in other areas under each local Inspector's supervision.

This forum helped the police discuss current problems with the civilians and in exchange, provided them with valuable information on new, emerging communal dimensions.

He received the Queen's Award for Innovation in Police Training and Development in 2002 and 2004.

Growing up in the semi-urban town and municipality of Srivilliputhur, Radhakrishnan was the youngest child of a family of seven.

He attended the Government Higher Secondary School in Ammapatti, Srivilliputhur.

He majored in English for his undergraduate study in St. Johns College, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli.

In 2002, he was promoted to Inspector-General of Police in Vigilance & Anti-Corruption, Chennai and in 2006 moved to the department of Law & Order North Zone, Tamil Nadu.

Against the background of the Mumbai blasts of 2008 when the threat extended to Chennai as well, Mr. Radhakrishnan was appointed as the Commissioner of Police, Chennai City.

In September 2008 he was appointed the Additional Director General of Police Civil Supplies, CID.

Currently he is working as the Director General of Police, Civil Supplies, CID.

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan did his PhD from the Department of Criminology from the University of Madras for seminal research on 'Tactical and Strategic Police Response to Communal Violence: Coimbatore, a case study', in October 2009.

Later on in his police career, Radhakrishnan was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy for seminal research on "Tactical and Strategic Police Response to Communal Violence: Coimbatore, a case study" by the University of Madras in October 2009.