Punjab cadre senior IPS officer retires
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ March 31,2024
Today, former director general of Punjab police and presently heading India’s premier investigatiing agency, National Investigation Agency (NIA) Dinkar Gupta has retired.
A distinguished cop Dinkar Gupta of 1987 batch, who served Punjab during the peak of militancy, Gupta successfully, mapped and busted the narco-terrorism network in Punjab besides wiping off gangsters, was appointed as DG, NIA in June 2022.
Gupta was appointed as director general of Punjab police by Capt Amarinder Singh. He took over as the state police chief in February 2019, superseding five officers, two of whom fought a long and unsuccessful legal battle against him.
In Punjab, he served as district police chief of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur for more than seven years during the peak of terrorism in Punjab. He has also served as DIG (Jalandhar Range), DIG (Ludhiana Range), DIG (Counter-Intelligence), Punjab and DIG (Intelligence), Punjab till 2004.
He was on central deputation with the MHA for eight years, from June 2004 to July 2012. After repartition, he served on key posts including ADGP Administration & Community Policing (2015-17), ADGP Provisioning & Modernization (2014-2015), ADGP Law & Order (2012-2015), ADGP Security (2012-2015), ADGP Traffic (2013-2014).
His wife Vini Mahajan, a 1987-batch IAS officer was the chief secretary of Punjab from June 2020 to September 2021, making the two power couple of the state. Presently she is also on central govt deputation and is serving as secretary in a union ministry.
Last week, the Centre had appointed winner of President’s police medal for gallantry, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Sadanand Vasant Date as the Director General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He is replacing Dinkar Gupta.
In an order, issued on March 26, the deputy secretary in the Central Government said “Appointment of Date, a 1990-batch IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre, from the date of joining the post, for a tenure up to his superannuation on December 31, 2026, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.”
As per reports, Date was among the first few officers who reached one of the places on the night of November 26, 2008, when Mumbai was under attack by 10 terrorists, and engaged in a counter-operation and got injured during the exchange of fire.
