Andhra Pradesh’s former Director General of Police Bayyarapu Prasada Rao died following a massive cardiac arrest in the United States of America in the wee hours of Monday.
An IPS officer of 1979 batch, Rao, complained of chest pain and wanted to be taken to a hospital, but by the time the ambulance reached a medical facility, he breathed his last around 1 a.m. (IST).
In November 2013, Rao took charge as the DGP (Head of the Police Force) after the retirement of V. Dinesh Reddy. On attaining superannuation he retired in May 2014.
Prior to his appointment as DGP (HoPF), he served as the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and after the bifurcation of the State, he was deputed as Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Son of a retired police officer, Rao hailed from Guntur district. He served in several key postings, including Superintendent of Police, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Nalgonda districts, and Commissioner of Police Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Visakhapatnam.
He was also the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of AP State Road Transport Corporation. While on central government deputation he was commandant of the Central Industrial Security Force at Visakhapatnam and Bhopal.
Rao also served as DIG of Eluru and Kurnool ranges, Additional DG (Law and Order) and Additional DG (Provisioning and Logistics).
He was awarded the Indian Police Medal for meritorious service in 1997 and the President's Police Medal for distinguished service in 2006.
Post retirement he was working as the professor in Physics and Director (Training, Placements and Industry Interface) at Bharat Institutions, Hyderabad. A postgraduate (M.Sc.(Physics)) from Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, he authored a book ‘Word power to mind power', a unique method of learning and memorising English vocabulary applying visualisation and contextualisation. He was awarded PhD for his research on ‘Studies on the Wave-Particle Duality of Light’ by Sri Krishnadevaraya University in 2014.
He is survived by his wife Sowmini, son Vikas, daughter-in-law Soumya and a toddler grandson.
