Central Reserve Police Force Inspector-General A. Srinivas retired on August 31, ending a career that took him from some of India’s most demanding security postings to a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
Srinivas, who is from Visakhapatnam and studied at MR College in Vizianagaram, joined the CRPF in 1991 as a directly appointed gazetted officer at the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. The CRPF, in its farewell message, said he had completed 35 years of service.
During his career, he served in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, the north-east, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana before rising to the rank of Inspector-General.
Service in Jammu and Kashmir
Some of Srinivas’s most notable operational postings were in Jammu and Kashmir.
He served there during the Kargil war and was again deployed in Kashmir around the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019. Reports marking his retirement said he took part in several anti-terrorist operations during his postings in the region.
Those assignments spanned markedly different periods in Kashmir’s recent security history, from the years of intense militancy to the heightened security deployment surrounding the constitutional changes of 2019.
UN mission in Kosovo
Srinivas also served with a United Nations mission in Kosovo, giving his career an international dimension.
The CRPF said he received the United Nations Medal for Service for his contribution to peacekeeping. Reports on his retirement said he was also credited with helping to save the life of an American police officer during the posting.
The Kosovo assignment was one of the more unusual chapters of a career spent largely in operational and command roles across India.
From field postings to senior command
Srinivas was a member of the CRPF’s 22nd batch of directly appointed gazetted officers.
As he rose through the ranks, his duties moved from field assignments towards senior command, administration and training.
A CRPF record from 2021 shows that, while serving as Deputy Inspector-General, Range Hyderabad, Srinivas was among the senior officers who addressed participants in the force’s Staff Officers Course. The programme was designed to prepare officers for staff duties and organisational responsibilities.
He later became Inspector-General at the CRPF’s South Zone headquarters in Hyderabad, the post from which he retired.
Medals and recognition
Srinivas was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and the Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
His UN service added a third strand of recognition to a career that combined domestic security duties with international peacekeeping.
Senior CRPF officers and personnel attended his farewell in Hyderabad. In its tribute, the force praised his professionalism and dedication and described his career as a distinguished journey of service. For Srinivas, retirement ends a career that began as a young officer in 1991 and eventually took him to the rank of Inspector-General. From Punjab and Kashmir to the north-east, southern India and Kosovo, his postings reflected the varied demands placed on the CRPF over more than three decades.
