Bengaluru: Senior IPS officer from the State, K. Madhukar Shetty, 47, passed away at a hospital in Hyderabad on Friday.

He was hospitalised for over a week on a suspected case of H1N1 infection-induced pneumonia. He underwent heart surgery on Wednesday and was on life support. He passed away at the hospital on Friday at around 8.30 p.m., sources said. He was last posted as Deputy Director, Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad.

He was the son of renowned editor, Vaddarse Raghurama Shetty, who started the Kannada newspaper ‘Mungaru’ in the 1980s. Madhukar Shetty hailed from Udupi and was a 1999 batch IPS officer posted to Karnataka cadre.

Known as tough and honest, he was a high-profile officer in most of his assignments. He is still remembered in Chikkamagaluru as a pro-people officer, where he served as Superintendent of Police. He made a name in the State when he was SP, Lokayukta police, Bengaluru, during the stint of Justice N. Santosh Hegde as Lokayukta. He later took a five-year sabbatical and went to study in the U.S. He recently returned to service, but did not take up an executive posting. He served a short stint in the State and later went on a Union government deputation to the NPA, Hyderabad.

The mortal remains of Madhukar Shetty will be kept for people to pay their last respects at the Yelahanka Armed Police Training School from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. It will then be taken to his home town Yedadi, at around 5 p.m.