Bhubaneswar: With the government recommending Director General of Police (DGP) Rajendra Prasad Sharma as a member of the state Lokayukta Committee, speculations are rife about the new DGP.
Sharma, who has also reportedly applied for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), has been going through tough times due to the recent death of his wife.
DGP Sharma, who hails from Rajasthan, is a 1986-batch IPS officer of Odisha cadre. Sharma has been leading the police from 2017 after his predecessor KB Singh was posted as the Chairman and MD of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC).
Meanwhile, the names of several top cops are doing the rounds for the DGP’s post. The frontrunners for the post are 1986 batch officers. The 1962 born Bijay Kumar Sharma who currently holds the post of DG of Fire Services and Home Guards is one of them. The others, Shree Abhaya, Pradeep Kapur and M Nageswar Rao are on Central deputation now.
BK Sharma is considered to be leading the race as he has been in the good books of the government, and is now the DGP in-charge in the absence of Sharma.
Sunil Roy, a 1987 batch IPS officer, who has been recently promoted as special DG of Police Intelligence is also in the race. The other two officers of his batch are on Central deputation.
The names of some IPS officers of the 1988 batch like the Commissioner of Police Satyajit Mohanty and MK Chabra are also in the list.
However, according to Supreme Court guidelines the state will send the names of probable IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission who will pick three names and send them back to the state. Subsequently, the state will choose one of the three as the DGP.
