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Mukul Goel, an IPS officer of 1987 batch, will be the new director general of police of Uttar Pradesh.
Goel is presently on central deputation as ADG of Border Security Force (BSF) in Chandigarh and is likely to be relieved to take charge of the top UP cop post soon. Till then, Prashant Kumar will continue to work on the DG post.
Holding a BTech degree in electrical engineering from the IIT-Delhi, Goel has served in UP Police in various capacities. Goel, who was born in Muzaffarnagar, is also a recipient of the Police Medal for Gallantry (2003), Police Medal for Meritorious Services (2003) and the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services (2012). He was posted as ADG (Law and Order) during the Samajwadi Party regime.
Earlier, the present Director General of Police HC Awasthi retired from his post on Wednesday. He handed over his charge to Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar.
The UPSC had earlier sent the names of Nasir Kamal (1986 batch) , Mukul Goel and RP Singh (both of 1987 batch) for selection for the top UP cop’s post. Sujan Veer Singh is also an IPS officer of 1986 batch but his name was not included as he will retire in August this year.
Interestingly, after the meeting of Mukul Goel with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday evening, his name was taken as the front runner. Besides the above three senior most IPS officers, the names of some junior officers like Dr RK Vishwakarma, DS Chauhan, and Anand Kumar, all of 1988 batch, were also being taken for the DGP post.
It may be mentioned that Yogi Adityanath took to twitter to praise Awasthi for his services. He said that the officer had a good record of 36 years of service and had played a good role during the pandemic, as a member of Team 9.
Meanwhile, Awasthi said that he would not take a ceremonial farewell and parade on his retirement due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Along with Awasthi, 21 police officers, including nine IPS officers from UP cadre, retired on Wednesday. Among them are 1985 batch IPS officer Arun Kumar, presently on central deputation as DG, Railway Protection Force (RPF),  IG (Intelligence) in Lucknow, Jitendra Kumar Shukla, DIG Dinesh Chandra Dubey, IG Rajesh Kumar Pandey, DIG Dilip Kumar, and SPs Sadhna Goswami, Madhwa Prasad Verma and Virendra Kumar Mishra.