Praveen Sood, a 1986 batch IPS officer took charge as the new Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) of Karnataka on Friday, following the retirement of incumbent Neelamani N. Raju.
The appointment of Mr. Sood has been made overruling the seniority Ashit Mohan Prasad, a 1985 batch IPS officer, another frontrunner for the post. Mr. Prasad will retire in October 2020 and would have had a very short tenure prompting the State government to appoint Mr. Sood as DG&IGP, sources in the government said.
Mr. Sood, born in May 1964, is likely to have one of the longest tenures – four years, five months, retiring in May 2024. He has earlier headed the Police Computer Wing modernising the police force, has been commissioner of Bengaluru, and helmed CID, among other key posts.
Hailing from Himachal Pradesh, he is an alumnus of IIT Delhi, and has a B.Tech. in Civil Engineering.
Three senior DGP rank officers – Neelamani N. Raju, M.N. Reddi and Raghavendra Auradkar — retired from service on Friday.
