Three Nagpur Police Officers Earn Maharashtra’s Prestigious DG Insignia — Including the DCP Who Was Struck by an Axe During the March Riots

Nagpur, April 30, 2026. DCP Niketan Kadam | DG Insignia 2025:  In March 2025, during one of the most violent nights Nagpur had seen in years, Deputy Commissioner of Police Niketan Kadam rushed into the narrow lanes of Chitnis Park with his team — not away from them. A mob of over 100 people, armed with rods, swords, knives, and petrol bombs, surrounded the officers inside a house. When an axe struck Kadam’s hand and he began bleeding profusely, he did not retreat until he had ensured his team’s safety.

That night — and the months of policing it represented — has now been formally recognised. DCP Niketan Kadam has been selected for the Maharashtra Police Director General’s Insignia for the year 2025, one of the highest honours the state police force bestows on its officers.

He is not alone. Two other Nagpur-based officers have been selected for the same honour: DCP Lohit Matani, who led the city’s pioneering Garud Drishti social media surveillance initiative, and Police Inspector Shubhangi Deshmukh, recognised for her outstanding contribution to police service. Together, three officers currently serving in Nagpur have been named among Maharashtra’s finest for 2025 — a distinction that reflects both individual excellence and the quality of leadership within the Nagpur Police Commissionerate.

What Is the Maharashtra Police DG Insignia — and Why It Matters

Before understanding what these three officers did to earn this recognition, it is worth understanding what the DG Insignia actually is and why selection for it carries weight within the police force.

The Director General’s Insignia is awarded by the Director General of Police, Maharashtra — the head of the entire Maharashtra Police force — based on Government Resolutions issued by the Home Department of the Maharashtra Government. It is not a routine commendation. It is a formally notified, government-backed recognition that acknowledges three specific categories of achievement: excellence in service, acts of bravery, and unwavering commitment to duty under exceptional circumstances.

The award covers officers and personnel across multiple ranks and categories within Maharashtra Police — from constables to DCPs — making it a cross-hierarchical recognition of merit rather than one confined to senior officers. Being selected at the DCP level, as Kadam and Matani have been, places an officer in the top tier of the year’s honourees.

For the officers selected, the DG Insignia is not merely symbolic. It forms part of their official service record, influences career progression assessments, and — perhaps most importantly — sends a signal to every officer below them in the hierarchy about what the department values and rewards.

DCP Niketan Kadam: The Night He Stood Between a City and a Mob

To understand why DCP Niketan Kadam’s selection for the DG Insignia is particularly meaningful, you need to go back to the night of March 17, 2025.

Nagpur was in the grip of communal violence that had erupted following protests over demands related to Aurangzeb’s tomb in Maharashtra. Mobs had gathered in multiple parts of the city. Vehicles were being set on fire. Stones were being hurled at homes in the Mahal area. The situation was escalating rapidly across several zones.

DCP Kadam, who heads Zone V of the Nagpur Police Commissionerate, received a wireless alert about the violence in Zone 3’s jurisdiction — technically outside his own area of responsibility. He and his team immediately moved toward the trouble spot. What they found in the lanes near Chitnis Park was a mob of over 100 people who had armed themselves with rods, swords, knives, and petrol bombs.

As Kadam’s team moved through the narrow lanes to apprehend suspects, the mob surrounded them inside a house. Realising the danger of the situation — officers cornered in a tight space by a large armed crowd — Kadam ordered his team to retreat to safety. As they attempted to extricate themselves, Kadam was struck by an axe on his hand. He was bleeding heavily. He required immediate hospitalisation.

Despite his injury, Kadam remained composed. Footage of him tying a handkerchief around his wounded hand — attempting to control the bleeding while still on duty — became one of the defining images of that night. His wife, Manisha Niketan Kadam, who learned about the attack through media coverage, later said: the situation was terrifying, but now that he is recovering, she feels better — and that the attackers must face consequences.

Three other DCPs were also injured that night — DCP Shashikant Satav suffered a leg fracture, DCP Archit Chandak sustained a ligament injury, and DCP Rahul Nadame was struck by a stone but continued his duties. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis personally inquired about the injured officers’ health and praised the Nagpur Police’s response during the crisis.

Speaking after his recovery, Kadam said that a crowd of 100 people had suddenly appeared from a street, armed with weapons, petrol, and sticks. Stone-pelting was coming from all sides. He confirmed that extensive CCTV footage had been secured and that anti-social elements seen roaming with weapons had been identified for legal action.

It is this combination — physical courage under attack, continued professional composure, and effective post-incident leadership — that underlies his DG Insignia selection.

DCP Lohit Matani: The Man Behind Garud Drishti

DCP Lohit Matani’s path to the DG Insignia runs through a different kind of policing — one fought not on the streets with batons and tear gas, but on screens, servers, and social media platforms.

Matani, who serves as DCP (Cyber) at the Nagpur Police Commissionerate, was a central figure in the conception and launch of Garud Drishti — Nagpur Police’s state-of-the-art social media surveillance initiative that was formally inaugurated in 2025.

Garud Drishti — the name translates as “eagle’s vision” or “hawk eye” — is a dedicated cyber monitoring system designed to track the spread of misinformation, incendiary content, communal rumours, and criminal activity across social media platforms in real time. The system operates from a cyber lab equipped with 30 advanced workstations, staffed by a team of trained cyber personnel who monitor platforms around the clock.

The initiative was launched in the wake of the CyberHack Event 2025 and was designed with a specific understanding that much of the violence and unrest that police are called upon to manage in the physical world is now preceded — and sometimes directly triggered — by content circulating on social media. Rumours spread on WhatsApp groups. Inflammatory videos go viral on YouTube. Provocative posts on Facebook and Instagram reach thousands within minutes.

Garud Drishti gives Nagpur Police the capability to identify such content early, flag it for removal through platform channels, and — where criminal content is involved — trace it to its source for legal action. The cyber lab is equipped with advanced forensic tools including CDR (Call Detail Record) analysis systems that allow investigators to map communication networks linked to suspected criminal coordination.

The connection between Garud Drishti and the March 2025 riots is direct. Post-incident analysis confirmed that social media had played a significant role in the rapid mobilisation of crowds during the violence. Having Garud Drishti operational — even if the riots were not fully prevented — allowed Nagpur Police to monitor the digital spread of incitement in real time and take faster action to contain it.

For building and leading this system, DCP Lohit Matani’s selection for the DG Insignia reflects the Maharashtra Police’s formal acknowledgment that cyber policing is no longer a peripheral function — it is front-line policing for the modern era.

PI Shubhangi Deshmukh: Recognised for Outstanding Service

Police Inspector Shubhangi Deshmukh, the third Nagpur officer selected for the 2025 DG Insignia, represents a different but equally important dimension of police recognition — sustained, committed service that may not always make headlines but forms the backbone of what effective policing looks like day after day.

PI Deshmukh has been recognised for her outstanding contribution to police service — a category of the DG Insignia that honours officers whose consistent professional excellence, integrity, and commitment to duty set the standard for their peers and juniors.

The presence of a woman officer at Inspector rank among Nagpur’s three 2025 DG Insignia honourees is also significant in the context of Maharashtra Police’s broader push to recognise merit across gender lines within the force. The DG Insignia’s design as a cross-hierarchical, cross-categorical award means that a Police Inspector’s selection carries the same formal weight as a DCP’s — a deliberate signal from the department about the value it places on excellence at every rank.

What This Means for Nagpur Police — and the Message It Sends

Three DG Insignia recipients from a single city’s police force in a single year is a notable achievement. It reflects not just individual excellence but a culture of performance within the Nagpur Police Commissionerate that produces officers capable of earning the state’s highest police recognition.

For police personnel across Maharashtra who are watching the DG Insignia list, the selection of Kadam, Matani, and Deshmukh sends a clear message about what the department values: physical courage when the situation demands it, innovation when the challenges of modern policing require new tools, and sustained professional excellence that goes beyond any single incident.

For the citizens of Nagpur, the recognition of these officers offers a moment to acknowledge the work done by the men and women of the city’s police force — work that on most days goes unnoticed, and on some extraordinary days demands a courage that most of us will never be tested to demonstrate.

The Nagpur Riots: What Happened and How Police Responded

For readers who need context on the events of March 2025 that form the backdrop to DCP Kadam’s recognition, here is a factual summary.

Violent protests erupted in Nagpur on the night of March 17, 2025, centred around demands to remove the tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb from Maharashtra. The protests turned violent in several parts of the city, with mobs setting fire to vehicles and damaging property. In the Hansapuri area, 10 to 12 two-wheelers and four cars were set ablaze. Stones were hurled at homes in the Mahal area.

Four senior Nagpur Police DCPs were injured in the violence as they attempted to restore order. The Nagpur Police subsequently made multiple arrests, used CCTV footage to identify participants, and worked to restore peace across affected areas within 24 hours. A curfew was imposed in sensitive areas and was gradually lifted as the situation came under control.

The Maharashtra Government, the Nagpur Police Commissionerate, and civic authorities all took steps in the aftermath to both ensure accountability for the violence and prevent recurrence. Legal action against those identified in CCTV footage has been ongoing since.

This article reports on the professional recognition of officers who performed their duty during those events and is not a commentary on the political or communal dimensions of the underlying dispute.