Kempaiah

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Kempaiah IPS is a police officer from Karnataka, India. The high point of his career was successfully hunting down Rajiv Gandhi's assassins in Bangalore.

He led the Karnataka police team that tracked Sivarasan, prime accused in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case, to his hideout in Konana Kunte outside Bangalore. However, Sivarasan killed himself before he could be captured. He is one of the few living people from Karnataka who has had a movie made about his life. Kempaiah IPS Kannada movie features Sashi Kumar as the hero.

Mr. Kempaiah has left behind his indelible mark of service in Mysore District. He turned out to be a renaissance man of the Police Department having restored almost all the dilapidated Police Stations without sacrificing the heritage character of the buildings. Till he came to Mysore, the Police Commissioner did not have an office of his own and was functioning from a temporary premise on Lalitha Mahal Palace Road, in the office of the KSRP.

When he was in charge of STF, he made sandal wood smuggler and forest brigand Veerappan to run for a shelter in M M Hills and he was about to catch him but by that time the State Government transferred him. Immediately after his change, Veerappan resurfaced from his hideout and took Nagappa, Ex-Minister of Karnataka for a ransom. During his tenure as STF Chief, he maintained wonderful relationship with his Tamil Nadu counterparts like Walter Dewaram IPS and Vijayakumar IPS. If fact, the then TN Chief Minister Jayalalitha praised him for his best co-ordianation and exchange of intelligence with TN STF in her interview to BBC.

He handled many sensational cases including bringing the culprit like Shradhananda into the crime book for murdering his wife Shakereh Khaleeli.

He was very close to Dr. Rajkumar, the Kannada Matinee Idol. Dr. Raj preferred Kempaiah for his police costumes in films.

Kempaiah left Bangalore under a cloud as the police wing of the Lok Ayukta charged him with both corruption and misconduct. However, Kempaiah was subsequently cleared of all charges.