For assistant police inspector Dnyaneshwar Wagh, winning gold medals for academic excellence is not new: In 2009, he had won three gold medals for being the highest scorer in Bachelor of Law (LLB). On Saturday, Wagh added two more gold medals to his tally.

At the annual convocation at the University of Mumbai, Wagh, who works with the Mumbai crime branch, received the two gold medals-one for his excellent performance in academics as well as extra-curricular activities and the other for scoring the highest marks in Master of Laws (LLM). Wagh won the medal for excellent performance in academics as well as extra-curricular activities over two finalists chosen from across all streams.

Wagh pursued his LLM in intellectual property rights (IPR) and information technology from the university's department of law.

"My family has been very supportive. Both my school-going kids studied with me during the exam," said Wagh, adding that a course in law is complimentary to his profession.

"These days, several police officers pursue law and wish to upgrade their qualifications," he said. In his career spanning 17 years with the Mumbai police, Wagh was posted in several police stations in the city and worked on fraud cases with the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

His father Raibhan, a farmer from Ahmednagar who attended the convocation ceremony in a traditional dhoti-pheta, stood proud as dignitaries congratulated him on his son's achievement.

Wagh has alredy set his eyes set on the doctorate degree. "I plan to appear for the PhD entrance test in February and wish to complete my thesis on IPR," he said.

Mukul Deoras, Asia-Pacific president of Colgate Palmolive, Hong Kong, the chief guest for the function and vice-chancellor Rajan Welukar handed over gold medals and certificates to candidates excelling in 58 categories. While 47 students were felicitated in the ceremony, degrees of most students will be sent to their colleges by the next week. The university, for the first time, had a live streaming of the event for cellphones.

WINNERS' GALLERY

DLitt was conferred on S K Mahajan, director of Directorate of Technical Education (Maharashtra) by the university. He had completed his PhD in business management.

Three students from the Institute of Distance and Open Learning won gold medals for their performance in English, Hindi and Marathi languages