HYDERABAD: “To be a leader one has to treat human beings with affection’’ was what the late IPS officer KS Vyas believed in.
Over a decade and a half after his death, his friend and batchmate MV Krishna Rao reminds policemen that it is only sincerity and honesty, which Vyas firmly believed in, which can take them closer to the people and make them the best police officers.
``Don’t be arrogant. Be positive and communicate your policies to the common man while enforcing law and order. Only then can policemen get closer to the people.
Vyas followed these principles wherever he worked,’’ says Krishna Rao, Director General, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
Delivering the 14th KS Vyas memorial lecture on `Policing by consent: the need of the hour’ at the AP Police Academy (APPA) here today, Krishna Rao, while referring to the `unconquered hero’, said that Vyas was a role model in the Indian Police Service.
Vyas, a 1974-batch IPS officer, was gunned down by extremists of the People’s War Group while he was jogging, unarmed, in Lal Bahadur Stadium on this day in 1993. At the time of his death, he was serving as the joint director of Andhra Pradesh Police Aacademy.
Recalling his association with Vyas, who was the key officer behind the birth of the anti-Naxalite force Greyhounds, Krishna Rao said that the force was now a role model to the entire country.
Rao called upon the trainee Sub Inspectors at APPA to draw inspiration from Vyas and his ideology.
“Vyas was one of the many victims of the meaningless extremist violence.
We see our own protectors killed. This mindless violence had to curbed and it was in this direction that Vyas contributed in action and thought, and became a legend,’’ Krishna Rao said.
Aruna Vyas, wife of KS Vyas, said that her late husband always strove for the public and became a role model for many police officers.
``He maintained sincerity and integrity while discharging his duties,’’ she said.
Former DGP HJ Dora said that with Vyas’s death, the State police department lost a daring and police officer. ``All policemen should follow his ideology and become best police officers,’’ he said.
At the outset, Krishna Rao, Aruna Vyas and Dora garlanded the Vyas statue at APPA and paid rich tributes to him.
APPA Director CN Gopinath Reddy, Additional Director Rajiv Trivedi and Joint Director MV Ramachandra Raju paid tributes to the late police officer.