Ranchi, April 3: Every dog has its day. And, if they are canine commandos, expect awards and ovations to bark, er mark their day.
Two CRPF dogs, two-year-old Afreen and Rudolph, of battalions 11 and 214, today received the prestigious CRPF DG's Commendation Disc for their Maoist combat in Latehar in the dawn of March 28.
Senior security adviser in Union ministry of home affairs K. Vijay Kumar awarded the duo at the CRPF training centre in Dhurwa, near Tiril Ashram, on city outskirts.
Afreen and Rudolph briskly trotted up with their respective handlers, CRPF constables Rajesh Dogra and J.P. Gupta, to gasps and claps among the audience. Kumar handed Dogra and Gupta the discs.
CRPF DIG in Ranchi Rajeev Rai said what made the doggy duo distinguished four-legged security personnel.
"After an overnight encounter between security personnel and rebels in Latehar's heavily forested Baraini area, where two rebels were killed, Afreen ferreted out woman rebel Lalmani Devi (19) while Rudolph sniffed out a firearm, some grenades and bags, which the fleeing Maoists had hidden in a bush," Rai said.
But, Afreen and Rudolph are no ordinary dogs. Belgian Shepherds of the Malinois sub-breed, they are among the most intelligent, energetic and ferocious canines. The US Secret Service uses Malinois dogs to guard White House grounds.
This breed barked its way to global headlines when United States Navy SEALs used a Belgian Malinois war dog named Cairo in Operation Neptune Spear, in which Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011.
The same year in December, then home minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated the CRPF Dog Breeding and Training Centre, Taralu, near Bangalore, exclusively for Belgian Shepherd Malinois dogs.
CRPF sources said each dog costs Rs 5 lakh.
Both Afreen and Rudolph had completed a six-month trained at the elite centre, CRPF DIG Rai said.
"They are multipurpose dogs, used in long-range patrolling and tracking. They joined their battalions last year. Hardworking and dangerous, they can pounce and fatally injure someone in no time if their handler instructs them to do so," Rai added.
Besides Afreen, Rudolph and their handlers, 15 other CRPF personnel were also awarded with DG's disc.
Among the 15 were commandants Kamlesh Singh and P. Manoj Kumar, ASP (operations) Manish Bharti, and assistant commandants Mithilesh Kumar and Upendra Pratap Singh. Other awardees included sub-inspectors Lakhan Lal Meena, Vijay Singh and Bhawani Singh Meena; head constables Manik Mashahary and R. Pandi Kumar; and constables Sugreevan Kumar Singh, Sarafdar, Kadam Pankaj K., V.D. Kamalkar and Mukesh Kumar Gurjar.
Awards over, Afreen and Rudolph posed and preened for the cameras.
Content to let canines hog limelight, the two-legged notables, including retired major generals of Indian Army, V.K. Datta and Dalbir Singh, CRPF special DG (central zone) K. Durga Prasad, DIG (operations) P.S. Rajouri, were seen enjoying the event.
Security adviser Kumar praised the co-ordination of CRPF personnel and police in Jharkhand, calling it "good". "I am satisfied," he said.
