BHOPAL: Sudhir Kumar Saxena, a 1992-batch IPS officer, assumed office as director-general of police (DGP), at the Madhya Pradesh Police Headquarters in Bhopal on Friday.
After CSP Jabalpur in 1989 and postings in various districts as SP and DIG in CID, Saxena was posted as secretary at MP Bhawan in New Delhi from 2009 to 2011.
He returned to MP as IG Intel and served as OSD to Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from 2012 to 2014.
He moved back to Delhi as Joint director MHA in 2016 and was then posted as DG CISF in 2018.
He was promoted and continued as Special DG CISF before being appointed secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat in August last year.
The secretary (Security) is the administrative head of the Special Protection Group (SPG) that provides security to the prime minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at his official residence.
The SPG also provides security to any former prime minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at the residence allotted to him for a period of five years from the date he ceases to hold the office of the prime minister.
After assuming his office Saxena said that his focus will be on smart policing and the use of technology besides working for community policing.
“We will work on the priority of the state government and will strengthen the police technically” he said.
Saxena thanked chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him the opportunity as DGP, and said that he would work to the expectations of the government as well as the public.
Saxena took charge from 1884-batch IPS Vivek Johri, who was announced as DGP by the then chief minister Kamal Nath replacing V K Singh in March 2020.
During the farewell ceremony, Johri stressed teamwork.
“162 police personnel sacrificed their lives during Covid19. More than 14,000 police officers and employees were tested positive. Despite lack of training on dealing with pandemics, police performed effectively and efficiently. The department has also created many records with public cooperation.”
Johri said that controlling the Moist movement was a big challenge. “We were able to stop their funding sources,” he told reporters.
He said attempts were made to connect the department with technology by starting e-FIR and e-deliberation in the state.
“Police department has won a lot of trust in front of the government. Due to this, we were able to start the police commissioner system in two cities, Bhopal and Indore.” he added.
Johri, who was DG of Border Security Force, was special secretary in Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) before the appointments committee of cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and with home minister Amit Shah among its members, appointed him as head of BSF.
There were several twists and turns in Johri’s appointment as well.
Controversy erupted on February 8,2020 after the government rejected the UPSC panel for director general of police on grounds that it overlooked “willingness” of one of them.
Those named in the panel sent by UPSC were VK Singh, Vivek Johri and M S Gupt.
In a letter to the UPSC secretary, MP home secretary Rajesh Kumar Jain wrote that Johri had not given his ‘willingness’ for the post of DGP in writing, so naming him in the panel was against the mandate of UPSC’s guidelines for selection.
During a melee over this DGP’s post, IPS officer Maithili Sharan Gupta (now retired) had pitched himself publicly for the post.
An officer of the 1984 batch, Gupta put up social media messages, declaring himself as an officer who has the capacity to ‘turn around policing in the state’.
He also sought support from the public and media.
