DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Five police officials, one each from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and three from Haryana, are among those who have been chosen for the Home Minister's Medal for Excellence in Investigation. Punjab Police Deputy Superintendent of Police Bikramjit Singh Brar has to his credit cracking several sensational cases, including targeted killings from 2015 to 2017, while Haryana's Superintendent of Police Shashank Sawan's played a crucial role for speedy investigation in the sexual assault of a six-year-old girl. Sandeep Dhawal, who is the Superintendent of Police with Himachal Police, got the award for probing a case relating to embezzlement involving over Rs 5,000 crore -- one of the biggest scams in the state -- by Indian Technomac Co. Ltd. whose Managing Director is believed to be hiding in Dubai. Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta told the media that his officer Brar has played a key role in the arrest of gangster Sukhpreet Singh, alias Budha, besides solving sensational murder of Amritsar ex-sarpanch Gurdeep Singh. Brar, posted as DSP (Detective) in S.A.S. Nagar with the additional charge in the Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU), has also busted a racket of illegal diversion of 160 firearms from gun houses to terrorists and gangsters.Gupta said Brar was also the pivot of a major police operation that led to the arrest of 23 people, who had supplied illegal weapons used in the targeted killings between 2015 and 2017. Brar was also the lead investigator in arresting gangster Billa Mandiala and six of his associates who had links with Pakistan-based smugglers and terrorists.The Home Minister's Medal for Excellence in Investigation was instituted in 2018 for promoting high professional standards of investigation of crime. A total of 121 Police personnel has been awarded for 2020. Himachal's police officer Dhawal took the high-profile embezzlement case in 2018. The company -- Indian Technomac Co Ltd -- closed the manufacturing operations in Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district in March 2014 and its officials disappeared. It was manufacturing steel and raw materials, ferro alloys and steel ingots, and it had become liable to pay tax from January 2008. While the Excise and Taxation Department had suffered tax evasion of Rs 2,175 crore, banks were defaulted to the tune of Rs 2,167 crore and the Income Tax Department is owed Rs 750 crore. Investigations say 21 companies were constituted by the company from 2009 to 2013. (editor@dailyworld.in)