BENGALURU: A change of guard in the city police force is likely this month-end with the scheduled promotion of incumbent Police Commissioner and Additional Director General of Police Kamal Pant as Director General of Police (DGP) on April 30. Pant, an IPS officer of the 1990 batch, is also the seniormost ADGP in Karnataka, followed by his batchmate and former police commissioner Bhaskar Rao. With DGP (Training) P K Garg retiring on April 30, one post of DGP will fall vacant.
While there is speculation that the government may retain Pant as Bengaluru City police commissioner for some time at least, since he has not completed his oneyear tenure, the names of the top contenders for the hot seat have already started doing the rounds. “Other than his promotion, there is no reason for the government to shift Pant from the commissioner’s post.
He is non-controversial and has provided clean administration in the city since his appointment as commissioner in August last year,” said sources. Meanwhile, the name of ADGP (Intelligence) B Dayanand, of the 1994 IPS batch, is a new addition, and of “considerable importance” to the list of officers who are in the race for the commissioner’s post. Other than him, the names of ADGP (Law & Order) Pratap Reddy of the 1991 batch, ADGP (Fire & Emergency Services) Sunil Agarwal (1991) and ADGP (Recruitment & Training) Amrit Paul (1995) are in the reckoning,” said sources.