Assistant Commissioner of Police
Central Crime Branch · Karnataka State Police
The officer who plants trees
— and second chances.
L.Y. Rajesh
Asst. Commissioner of Police
“Back then I did not like cops and felt they were too intimidating.”…not only to be empowered to protect people but also to help them reform.
He came from a family of educationists — his father a Joint Director in the Department of Public Instruction, his mother a teacher — and practised as an advocate before he ever wore khaki. Policing was not the plan.
It changed after a college incident — where, instead of punishing the students involved, the police chose to counsel them. That single act of restraint rearranged what he thought the uniform could be for.
He joined not only to be empowered to protect people, but to help them reform. Two decades later, that is still the throughline of every posting.
The work, in numbers
Walk the years
A career read not as a list of postings, but as one long argument that policing can protect and reform at the same time.
Straight from the academy
His first posting was the forest: the Special Task Force raised to track Veerappan along the Tamil Nadu–Karnataka border, then the hill country of Somwarpet and Napoklu. Long stretches with only the barest necessities taught him how little a person truly needs — the quiet foundation of everything that followed.
Sub-Inspector
A lawyer turned officer takes his first station postings. The lesson he had carried since a college incident — counsel before you punish — becomes a working method, not a memory.
Inspector
Cameras turned inward on his own station for transparency. A citizen-feedback programme invited the public to grade the police. And on the side, a coaching camp for students about to drop out.
~2014
Traffic personnel pooled their own money into an emergency fund — so accident victims could be treated in the golden hour, before paperwork.
2017
On the Hosur belt, traffic violators were handed a sapling to plant instead of only a fine. Non-native speakers were offered free Kannada classes. As CEN Inspector, cyber and narcotics awareness went out to more than 200 schools. Enforcement and empathy in the same posting.
Dy. Superintendent of Police
A posting away from the street beat, into the machinery that holds public office to account — carrying the same instinct: serve the citizen first.
Recent
Investigative work at the Central Crime Branch — the hard, unglamorous end of policing that rarely makes the feel-good stories, and the side of the career the national investigation medal recognises.
PresentPresent
Sub-Inspector to ACP, by way of the forest, the traffic post and the Lokayuktha. The rank changed; the throughline did not.
Nine times the stereotype of a policeman quietly broke. Open any case to read what actually happened.
Work beyond the daily beat, in health, education and livelihoods.
Institutional recognition, recorded plainly.
A longer record of the investiture ceremony held on 24 July 2026.
Not our words — theirs. Real journalists, real outlets, over real years.
Seven interstate peddlers held in Bengaluru. The Anti-Narcotic Wing operation was led by ACP L.Y. Rajesh. (22 July 2026)
Read coveragePublic TV coverage of the DG–IGP Commendation honour. (24 July 2026)
Read coverageHis award money goes back to the children he coached.
A supplied montage of coverage from the Bengaluru operation.
As reported by
Featured interviews
On air“Police stand for trust, not fear.”
On airOn major Bengaluru cases.
On airA special class for students who failed their exams.
On airIn conversation on Shubhodaya Karnataka.
A short record of the investiture ceremony held on 24 July 2026.
L.Y. Rajesh at the DG–IGP Commendation Disc investiture ceremony.
A household of educationists whose quiet support has stood behind every posting, and behind every cause taken up beyond the beat.
Retired Joint Director, Department of Public Instruction
His father gave his working years to the Department of Public Instruction, retiring as a Joint Director. From him his son inherited the conviction that a public office is a public trust — one kept only when authority is turned toward lifting others.
Teacher
His mother spent her life as a teacher, keeping a home that was itself a first school. That belief runs straight into her son’s own work — the crash courses for failing students and the weekend Kannada classes carry a teacher’s faith out onto the streets.
Lecturer
Behind more than two decades of demanding postings has stood his wife, Rashmi. A lecturer by profession, she carries the family’s vocation of teaching into her own hall, while holding the household together through transfers and the uniform’s unpredictable hours.
Actor · Kannada cinema
The family’s long tradition of teaching and service takes a cinematic turn in the next generation. Jayasurya R. Azad first stepped before the camera in a minor role in Salaga, then made a prominent debut in Bheema (2024). His journey continued with The Task (2025), where he stepped into a leading role as Kanti, one of the film’s two central heroes.
Jayasurya R. Azad with his father, ACP L.Y. Rajesh.
On screen — a still from his work in Kannada cinema.Short reflections and updates from the beat — written from the field.
11 August 2026
Karnataka Police seize drugs worth ₹100 crore near Mangalore.
11 August 2026
Karnataka government conducts a major narco tax raid, seizing drugs worth over one hundred crores.
9 August 2026
Visited a government school in HSR Layout, distributing Kannada books to 50 students.
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