AGRA: A total of 479 policemen lost their lives while on duty across the country between September 1, 2015, and August 31, 2016, with Uttar Pradesh reporting the highest number of losses, at 116 deaths, according to data released on the occasion of 57th ‘Police Smriti Diwas’ (police commemoration day).Last year, UP police had lost 108 men in khaki. Most casualties were reported while policemen were engaged in riot control or crowd management, followed by encounters, road accident and illness due to work pressure.Among the total casualties, four central forces, including the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force and Sashastra Seema Bal — deployed in highly sensitive areas and in areas near the borders with Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar — reported 142 deaths. Of these, 55 were from BSF, 41 from CRPF, 39 from SSB and 7 from ITBP.Other central forces such as NDRF (National Disaster Management Force) and SPG (Special Protection Group) reported loss of five men each, followed by two of civil defence and one each from the ministry of home affairs, National Investigation Agency and National Security Guard.A senior police officer on condition of anonymity said, “Though the number of men on duty from various forces, including UP police, were killed in action (KIA), a large number of casualties were due to other reasons such as road accident, illness, etc. For instance, BSF recorded 12 martyrs who were KIA, though the force lost a total of 55 men in the past one year.”“In case of Agra police, five men died due to diabetes and heart attack during duty hours and one was killed in a road accident while on patrolling duty. Their names have been added in the list of casualties suffered by UP police, along with additional superintendent of police Mukul Diwedi and sub-inspector Santosh Kumar Yadav who died during the Jawahar Bagh violence in Mathura in June,” the police official added.Uttar Pradesh DGP, S Javeed Ahmad, said, “We stand by families of all the men who died while on duty. We salute and pay homage to the martyrs.”According to UP police, 57 constables, 27 head constables, 16 sub-inspectors, six constable drivers, four inspectors, two firemen and an assistant driver, a leading fireman, a home guard and an additional superintendent of police were killed in the past one year.On the occasion of Police Smriti Diwas, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said, “Parents of each of the deceased UP cops will receive additional financial benefit of Rs 5 lakh, apart from the Rs 20 lakh compensation that the state gives to the families of martyred policemen.”Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal lost 23 policemen each, Karnataka 22, Chhattisgarh 19, Delhi 17, Andhra Pradesh 14, Uttarakhand 10, Assam 8, Jharkhand and Bihar reported six casualties each, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra each lost five personnel, Meghalaya reported four deaths, Gujarat reported three deaths, Andaman and Nicobar, Nagaland and Kerala reported two casualties each while Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana reported one death each.