The Punjab Police on Saturday saw its third Director General with the State Government appointing senior Indian Police Service Officer Viresh Kumar Bhawra to the post. The order came just before the announcement of the dates for the Assembly elections in Punjab.
Bhawra, who was the DGP of Punjab Home Guards, replaced officiating DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya.
The Charanjit Singh Channi Government selected the 1987 batch officer Bhawra out of a panel of three officers shortlisted by the UPSC.
The other two officers in the panel were senior IPS officers Dinkar Gupta and Prabodh Kumar.
“On the consideration of the panel received from the UPSC, the Punjab Governor is pleased to appoint Viresh Kumar Bhawra, IPS as director general of police, Punjab (Head of Police Force),” the order said. Bhawra’s term shall be for a minimum period of two years from the date of assumption of office, it added. Punjab got its third DGP in a span of three months.
A few days back, the UPSC had sent a panel of three IPS officers -- Dinkar Gupta, V K Bhawra and Prabodh Kumar for the appointment of a regular Director General of Police of Punjab. According to the Supreme Court guidelines, out of the three shortlisted IPS officers by the UPSC, the State Government is to finalise the name of one officer for the appointment of a regular DGP.
After Channi took over as the new Chief Minister last September, the 1988-batch IPS officer Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota was appointed as the officiating DGP replacing Dinkar Gupta who was the State police chief when Amarinder Singh was the Chief Minister.
But Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was against the appointment of Sahota.
Later after facing pressure from the former cricketer, the State Government had appointed 1986-batch IPS officer Chattopadhyaya as officiating DGP until a regular DGP is appointed out of a panel of three IPS officers shortlisted by the UPSC.
After assuming charge, newly appointed DGP Punjab said with Punjab Assembly Elections 2022 around the corner, Punjab police will ensure smooth conduct of elections. He said keeping in view the elections, the Punjab police will also ensure that elections are being conducted in Inducement free manner.
Apart from ensuring smooth elections, DGP Viresh Bhawra said his focus would be on eradicating drug menace and terrorism from the State. He added that People Centric Policing and Public Service delivery are among his top priorities. The DGP said the Punjab police will make optimum use of technology for carrying out investigations of the various crimes.