Patna: The race for the post of the director-general of police (DGP) has gained momentum with only three days left for the present state police chief, P.K. Thakur, to retire from service.
Thakur, a 1980-batch IPS officer, is retiring on February 28. He was appointed to the post on June 24, 2014, replacing Abhayanand.
The state police headquarters is agog with the buzz that Ravindra Kumar, a 1984-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, will replace Thakur. Ravindra had earlier served as additional director-general of police (headquarters) during the tenure of 1977-batch IPS officer Abhayanand. Ravindra is now posted as DG-cum-commandant general of civil defence and also holds additional charge of the home guard and fire service. He will retire from service on October 31 this year.
Ravindra, a native of Himachal Pradesh, had also served as Patna senior superintendent of police of and is known for his integrity.
"He is the strong claimant for the post of the DGP if seniority is taken into account," said a senior IPS officer. "His only senior, S.K. Sinha (1983-batch) is currently on central deputation and has not returned to his parent cadre (Bihar) for over two decades."
Sinha, who is posted as secretary (security), cabinet secretariat, government of India, had earlier served as special director in the Intelligence Bureau. A source in the police headquarters said that it would be a tough task for Sinha to deal with the law and order situation in the state as he has not been involved in routine policing for a long time.
"I have not seen him (Sinha) during 20 years of my career as a police officer in Bihar. Many officers even don't know his name," said an inspector-general-rank officer.
Two other contenders are Rajesh Ranjan and K.S. Dwivedi, a batch-mate of Ravindra Kumar. While Ranjan is on central deputation, Dwivedi is posted as director-general (training) at the police headquarters.
Dwivedi, sources said, was posted as the Bhagalpur superintendent of police when the communal riots broke out in the district in 1989, which continued for over two months. Dwivedi was transferred on the instruction of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who visited Bhagalpur.
"Rajiv Gandhi had ordered then chief minister Satyendra Narayan Sinha to immediately shift Dwivedi ," recalled a police officer.
Dwivedi is currently engaged in recruitment of constables for the Bihar police.
"The recruitment process is underway and it wouldn't be proper to shift him. He has been credited with completing the recruitment of constabulary without any controversy. So his name is doing the round," said a senior IPS officer.
The names of R.K. Mishra (1986 batch), Sunil Kumar, and Gupteshwar Pandey (both 1987 batch) are also doing the rounds. Mishra, who is posted with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), is considered close to chief minister Nitish Kumar. However, Mishra and Pandey's senior Kumar Rajesh Chandra (1986 batch) is not in the race.
Nitish stunned the media on Saturday by saying that all speculation about the next DGP would prove wrong. This has sparked buzz that he opt for an IPS officer from some other cadre.
