As reshuffle looms, Praveen Sood emerges as front runner for DG&IGP post

The state police is all set to witness a major reshuffle at the top towards the end of January, as four IPS officers, including the Director-General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) Neelmani Raju, will superannuate.

The major rejig, while bringing in new faces, is also expected to ring in changes at the Bengaluru Commissionerate level.

According to police sources, Director General of Police (CID) Praveen Sood is the top contender for the post of DG&IGP, considering his seniority among the serving IPS officers. If appointed to the top post, Sood will have a tenure of about four years as DG&IGP—the longest for any IPS officer in recent times.

Interestingly, Sood got into the IPS at a very young age of 21, which has given him an edge over other officers.

Similarly, the retirement of top IPS officers including MN Reddi, DGP, Home Guards, Raghavendra Auradkar, DGP, Housing Corporation, and P Rajendra Prasad, DIGP Security (Intelligence) will pave the way for elevation of a few IPS officers.

The rejig is also expected to bring in a new commissioner of police to Bengaluru. There are talks in political and bureaucratic circles that Kamal Pant, Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence), is likely to be appointed as the new commissioner of Bengaluru replacing the incumbent Bhaskar Rao.

This year will also see, after a gap of several years, three ADGP-rank officers retiring without getting elevated to the post of DGP.