Kamal Pant is new Bengaluru police chief
BENGALURU: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), State Intelligence, Kamal Pant has been appointed as the new Bengaluru City Police Commissioner. He replaces the incumbent top cop and his batchmate Bhaskar Rao. Both officers are of the 1990 batch of the Indian Police Service. Pant hails from Uttarakhand.
The New Indian Express had first reported about the change of guard a day before the government appointed Pant as City police commissioner. Pant is not new to Bengaluru. He was posted as Additional Commissioner of Police (law and order) in 2014, under the then police commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar.
Known to be a tough officer with impeccable service credentials, Pant has handled some sensitive assignments during his tenure. After his stint in the City between 2013-14, he was posted as ADGP-Prisons, during which time he headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the internal corruption in the Lokayukta.
Pant has also served as the ADGP, Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP), and was member of the Auradkar Committee, which was constituted in 2016 by the then Congress CM Siddaramaiah to address pay and allowances-related issues of the Group-C police personnel. Pant was posted as ADGP-Intelligence last August.
Bhaskar Rao led city police during tough times
Outgoing police commissioner Bhaskar Rao has successfully steered the City through various law and order crises, beginning with the protests against the CAA and NRC. Even as the protests were raging, the Covid lockdown was announced in March.
After some initial incidents of cops roughing up service and delivery agents during the lockdown, the city police in no time started issuing online passes for distribution of essentials. They helped BBMP officials, voluntary organisations and individuals distribute rations and meals to migrant workers, and also helped them get back to their hometowns.