IPS officer who died of swine flu worked on Bellary mining probe

Madhukar Shetty, who shot to fame during the Karnataka Lokayukta’s inquiry into illegal mining in Bellary district, was posted as Deputy Director at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy at Hyderabad. (Source: Twitter)

Karnataka-cadre IPS officer Dr Madhukar Shetty, 47, who died of swine flu at a hospital in Hyderabad on Friday, came into the limelight during the Karnataka Lokayukta’s inquiry into illegal mining in Bellary district.

Shetty, who was posted as Deputy Director at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, was admitted to Continental Hospital in Madhapur on December 24 after he complained of severe breathing trouble. In a statement, the hospital said that apart from having trouble breathing, Shetty was suffering from severe hypertension and hyperthyroidism and was in a critical condition. He was put on ventilator, and doctors suspected that he had contracted H1N1 infection. However, on the night of December 28 he died.

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The 1999-batch officer was the son of journalist V Raghuram Shetty, and hails from Yedadi in Udupi district. Shetty studied MA in Sociology at JNU and and did his PhD in Public Administration from Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany, Albany, New York. In 2008-09, he went on deputation to the United Nations Mission in Kosova, where he worked with the War Crimes Investigation Unit.

Apart from playing a major role in exposing alleged illegal mining in Bellary, Shetty won appreciation as SP of Chikamagaluru where he started an anti-encroachment drive.