PM honours Mary Kom, Yogeshwar Dutt

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, honoured Olympic medal winners MC Mary Kom and Yogeshwar Dutt at a gathering of top police and intelligence sleuths of the country.

Both the medal winners were awarded Rs 22 lakh cash each and given a plaque by the Prime Minister amidst applause by top police officials here.

An announcement was also made at the gathering that Mary Kom, who was till now a Deputy SP in Manipur Police, has been promoted to the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP).

This is a rare instance where the Intelligence Bureau (IB) made elaborate arrangements to felicitate the sport stars as they both are enrolled as police officers in their states.

Dutt holds the rank of Deputy SP in Haryana Police. Mary Kom had won a bronze medal in boxing while Dutt had bagged a bronze in 60kg free style event in the London Olympics.

The Prime Minister was meeting the Director Generals and Inspector Generals of the state and central police forces at their three-day annual conference, which ends Saturday.