BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government on Saturday appointed senior IPS officer Arun Kumar Sarangi as the acting director general of police (DGP). Sarangi, who is the special DG of Police and director of Biju Patnaik State Police Academy (BPSPA), is allowed to remain in additional charge of DG of Police until a regular DGP joins, a notification issued by the Home Department said. The government’s order came a day ahead of incumbent DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal’s retirement on December 31.
Sources said the government appointed an acting DG of police since the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is yet to convene a meeting to select the names of three probable candidates. Once the state government receives the names of the three IPS officers from UPSC, it will select one of them as the DGP of the state police. UPSC’s committee has so far not notified the date of the meeting, said sources.
The committee to appoint the DGP is headed by the UPSC chairman, Union Home Secretary, state’s chief secretary and DGP and one of the chiefs of Central Armed Police Forces nominated by the Ministry of Home Affairs who is not from the same state cadre.
One of the finest police officers of the state, Sarangi served in crucial positions in Odisha Police during his career. He served as DIG, North Central Range, IG (Law and Order), IG Vigilance, IG (Operations) and Special Director of Intelligence. The 1990 batch officer who started his career as Talcher SDPO, served as SP of Rayagada, Berhampur, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Rourkela and CID-CB in Cuttack. He was the longest SP of Khurda district.