Rare police honour for civilian: Dr. Ronald Colaco felicitated by Karnataka DGP
Bengaluru: Philanthropist and NRI entrepreneur Dr Ronald Colaco has received rare recognition from the Karnataka Police for his decades-long contribution to public service, police infrastructure development and efforts to promote communal harmony in the state.
The honour was formally conferred on December 22, 2025, when Karnataka Director General of Police M A Saleem presented Dr Colaco with the Karnataka Police Unique Official Memento, engraved with his name, along with a Certificate of Appreciation. Dr. Colaco's wife Jean Colaci was also present during the ceremony. The citation acknowledged his sustained support in upgrading police infrastructure and his role in setting high standards for public-private cooperation in policing.
Earlier, Dr Colaco had also been similarly honoured by former DGP Alok Mohan, making him one of the very few civilians to receive such official police recognition from two successive chiefs. Police officials noted that such mementos are typically reserved for constitutional authorities, senior ministers or visiting foreign dignitaries.
Dr Colaco’s association with the Karnataka Police dates back more than two decades. In 2003, responding to a request from the then police leadership, he undertook the renovation of the Frazer Town police station, now Pulikeshinagar. He went on to design and construct a fully furnished, modern police station spanning about 5,000 square feet, an initiative widely regarded as a first-of-its-kind civilian-supported model police station in the country.
The following year, he reconstructed an earlier police facility at Frazer Town into a dedicated traffic police station, strengthening traffic management infrastructure in the area. His efforts later inspired several large corporates and multinational companies to partner with the state in building police stations, resulting in nearly 50 additional stations across Karnataka through similar public-private initiatives.
In 2021, Dr Colaco added another dimension to his support by building a police museum at Frazer Town to preserve and showcase historical policing artefacts. The museum is expected to be inaugurated later this year. His contributions have also extended beyond Bengaluru, including the provision of furniture and essential facilities to the Chikkajala police station and support for upgrading the Police Officers’ Mess during different tenures of city police leadership.
In Mangaluru, Dr Colaco assisted in renovating the office of the Inspector General of Police during Dr Alok Mohan’s tenure as IGP of the Western Range. He later initiated scholarship programmes for children of police personnel, aimed at encouraging academic excellence. Between 2010 and 2011, scholarships and educational materials worth several million rupees were distributed to more than 550 students, a legacy that has since been continued by his family.
Apart from policing, Dr Colaco has contributed to the development and renovation of a wide range of public institutions across Karnataka over the past three-and-a-half decades. His philanthropic work spans more than 25 sectors, including education, healthcare, judiciary, revenue administration, rural drinking water, roads, sports, disaster relief, places of worship and housing for the underprivileged.
His long-standing public service has also received international recognition. In 2022, the World Book of Records, London, awarded him a Certificate of Excellence for his sustained contributions, an honour announced at the UK Parliament during the Indo-UK Leadership Summit.
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BJP writes to EC about 'non-deployment' of central forces to avert clash
Kolkata (PTI): The BJP on Sunday wrote to the Election Commission alleging that its workers were not given security and came under attack while travelling to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Brigade Parade Ground on March 14 and sought action over the alleged non-deployment of central forces by police.
In a letter to the poll panel, BJP leader Shishir Bajoria claimed that buses carrying party workers to the rally were targeted with bricks in the Girish Park area of north Kolkata, leaving several activists injured, some of whom were hospitalised.
Trouble broke out in the area when BJP activists objected to the putting up of flexes which read 'Boycott BJP', before the house of state minister Shashi Panja and tore down the flexes. Heavy brick batting followed as both sides regrouped along Central Avenue, and the window panes on the ground-floor room of Panja's residence were damaged in stone pelting.
The minister claimed she and several of her party members were injured in the brickbatting by rally-bound BJP supporters.
In the letter, the BJP alleged that despite a substantial deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) ahead of the elections, the forces were not present at the site of the disturbance to ensure the safety of its workers and leaders.
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Putting the onus on TMC for the violence, the letter said, "A large number of buses bringing BJP 'karyakartas' to attend the rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Brigade Parade Ground were subjected to large-scale brick-batting and violence, resulting in several BJP leaders sustaining injuries, many of whom had to be hospitalised."
Attaching purported photos and videos of the clash to back up their claims of TMC instigation, the letter said: "What was particularly of grave concern was that despite a big deployment of CAPF well before the polls, their complete absence at the spot during the disturbance, or in any part of the city of Kolkata."
"We would like to put on record that the presence of Kolkata Police at the spot of disturbance establishes the fact that they had an advance intelligence report of possible violence and yet kept the CAPF out," the BJP leader said in the letter to the CEC Gyanesh Kumar, and Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal.
"Given the seriousness of the incident and the injuries sustained by several of our karyakarta, it raises concerns among citizens regarding the effective deployment of CAPF for preventing violence, and ensuring a free and fair electoral environment," the letter said.
"We request your good office to kindly take the strongest possible action against those who were responsible for this non-deployment of CAPF, resulting in this incident and ensure that in future deployment is carried out in a manner that truly serves its intended purpose of area domination, confidence building, and timely intervention wherever law and order situations arises from now till the elections are over," the letter said.
The BJP also reminded the commission that a party delegation had earlier met the full bench of the poll body on March 9 and raised concerns that CAPF personnel were being deployed for route marches in peaceful areas and highways instead of in locations requiring voter confidence-building measures.
At least eight persons, including a police officer, were injured in brickbatting, which broke out half an hour before the arrival of the Prime Minister at the Brigade Rally. The clash continued for about an hour as both sides fought a pitched battle on the road and nearby by-lanes before reinforcements brought the situation under control.
