Kempaiah is a police officer from Karnataka, India. He is famous for investigating the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
He led the Karnataka police team that tracked Sivarasan, prime suspect in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case, to his hideout in Konanakunte outside Bengaluru. However, Sivarasan killed himself before he could be captured. Kempaiah is one of the few living people from Karnataka who has had a movie made about his life. Kempaiah IPS features Shashi Kumar as the hero.
When Kempaiah was in charge of the STF, he pursued sandalwood smuggler and forest brigand Veerappan.