BENGALURU: In a surprise move, the State Government on Friday appointed Praveen Sood, an IPS officer of the batch of 1986, as the new Director General & Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP), overlooking the seniority of 1985 batch officer Ashit Mohan Prasad. Sood will be the longstanding DG & IGP of the state, as he is still left with another four years and four months of service.
Sood, who was DGP-Criminal Investigation Department, took charge as the Head of Police Force from outgoing DG&IGP Neelamani N Raju, who was the first woman officer to hold the top post in Karnataka.
The State Government had not issued the order appointing the new DG&IGP till 6 pm. Officers and staff, waiting to receive the new DG&IGP at the police headquarters, were curious to know who it will be. It was only by 6.15 pm that the state government cleared the decks for Sood to take charge.
Sood to be longest-serving DG & IGP
It is learnt that the government chose Sood over AM Prasad, who is currently DGP-Internal Security Division, as the latter is set to retire in another nine months. While Prasad will retire in October this year, Sood has until May 2024.
Also, it is said that a few factors like serving as the intelligence chief for almost four years during the Congress government and his name figuring in DySP Ganapati’s suicide case (Prasad was given clean chit by the CBI in the case) worked against Prasad.
3 Addl DGPs promoted as DGPs
As three DGP-rank officers — Neelamani N Raju, MN Reddi and Raghavendra H Auradkar — retired on Friday, the government promoted three Additional Director Generals of Police (ADGPs) to the rank of DGP. Alok Mohan, who was ADGP-Railways, has been posted as the DGP of the Prisons department.
NS Megharikh, who was heading the Prisons Department, has been posted as DGP-CID, Special Units and Economic Offences, replacing Praveen Sood. RP Sharma, ADGP (Communication, Logistics & Modernisation), has been posted as DGP & Chairman of Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation.
Three IGPs promoted as Addl DGPs
Three Inspector Generals of Police (IGP) were also promoted to the rank of ADGPs. The IGP of Eastern range, Amrit Paul, has been promoted and posted as ADGP-Recruitment and Umesh Kumar, who was Additional Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru West, is posted as ADGP & Secretary to Government (PCAS), Home Department. The IGP of Western range, Arun Jeji Chakravarthy, has been posted as ADGP-Railways.