# UP STF inspector Sunil Kumar awarded Kirti Chakra posthumously 2026-08-15T17:30:31+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet UP Special Task Force inspector Sunil Kumar has been awarded the Kirti Chakra posthumously, the second-highest peacetime gallantry award, for exceptional courage during an encounter with armed criminals in Shamli district in January 2025. He is the first UP STF personnel to receive the honour. Kumar was fatally wounded on January 20 while leading an operation against the Muqeem Kala gang in Jhinjhana area. He died on January 22 at a hospital in Gurugram. According to the citation, Kumar's team had intelligence that gangster Arshad, carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh, and others were travelling in a white car. Despite intense firing from the criminals, Kumar moved to close in and was hit. Three criminals were killed in the exchange. Kumar had also received a Gallantry Medal posthumously this Independence Day for a 2023 encounter. ## Coverage - hindustantimes.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Kirti Chakra, Muqeem Kala gang, Shamli, Sunil Kumar, UP STF Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/up-stf-inspector-sunil-kumar-awarded-kirti-chakra-posthumously/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/up-stf-inspector-sunil-kumar-awarded-kirti-chakra-posthumously/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/