Many of the IPS officers who have served as police commissioners in the city are self-employed, but Bayyarapu Prasada Rao was different from the rest.
B. Prasada Rao was born in Vijayawada on September 11, 1955 and reportedly died of cardiac arrest on Monday morning in the United States, where he had lived with his son.
Bayyarapu Prasada Rao was Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner and held many high-level positions that led to the General Director of Police (DGP) of the unified Andhra Pradesh in 2013-2014.
However, physics and the English language remained his first love.
He graduated from Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada with a B.Sc (Major in Physics) in 1975 and obtained his M.Sc from IIT in Chennai in 1977. In 1979 he passed the public service exams in his first attempt. As the son of a police officer, he granted his father’s wish to become a police officer.
Ph.D. on light waves
His hectic professional life couldn’t stop him from pursuing his passion for physics. He received his doctorate in 2014 from Sri Krishnadevaraya University for his dissertation “Studies on the wave particle duality of light”.
His love of the subject was so great that he started teaching it after he retired. He enjoyed discussions about the birth and evolution of the universe, the nature of light, subatomic particles, dark matter, and dark energy. He would also boldly negate the Big Bang theory and explain its “anomalies” over the course of discussions that would span hours.
Science lab at home
As a commissioner, he had converted one of his rooms in his official residence into a laboratory and was eager to show visitors around. His experiments revolved around the wave nature of light, his friends recalled.
In one of his conversations with this reporter, he said, “I have been in the habit of reading since my early days The Hindu, and pick up at least five new English words and write them down in a book with their meanings every day. I would then try to use them in a specific context during the day. “
In 2005, when he was CP of Visakhapatnam, his word collection had exceeded 10,000 words.
“During my school days, my mother gave me 10 paisas a day to bring the lunch box to my father. I saved the money and bought my first English dictionary. I’m in love with the language, ”he said.
A touch of darkness
With his death an air of darkness fell on the officers and policemen who had served with him in Visakhapatnam.
“Bayyarapu Prasada Rao was one of the best people I have ever met. He has always shown concern for our health and the education of our children. He had sanctioned bedding with pillows for all police officers on guard duty after seeing a guard sleeping on the floor during the change of duty, ”recalls policeman Beesetti Venkateswara Rao.
People at PAPA Home, a city police orphanage, say Prasada Rao enjoys spending time with the children. He never missed visiting the house on festival days for sweets and chocolates.
Prasada Rao is survived by his wife Sowmini, son Vilas and daughter Soumya and grandson. Prime Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and several officials including additional DG (CID) PV Sunil Kumar paid tribute.