Gujarat-Cadre IPS Officer Rakesh Asthana Appointed New Delhi Police Commissioner

The Centre on Tuesday (27 July) appointed former Special Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Rakesh Asthana, as the new Commissioner of Delhi Police.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said in an order, "Consequent upon the appointment of Rakesh Adthana, IPS, (GJ:84) Director General, BSF, as Commissioner of Police, Delhi, the competent authority has approved that S.S. Deswal, IPS (Hy:84), Director General of ITBP, shall hold the additional charge of post of DG, BSF, vice Asthana, till the appointment and joining of the regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier."

The order further stated that accordingly, it is requested to relieve Asthana immediately to enable him to join as Cimmissioner of Police, Delhi.

Asthana will be in charge of of Delhi Police for a period of one year, till 31 July 2022. His date of retirement was 31 July, which has been extended by one year "as a special case in public interest".

The government had given additional charge of Delhi Police to Balaji Srivastava after the retirement of S N Shrivastava on 30 June.

Asthana, a 1984 batch IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, was holding the posts of Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) and chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

In October 2018, the battle between then CBI Director Alok Verma and Special Director Asthana became public, forcing the government to intervene in the matter and transfer both the officers from the agency.

Asthana as the Director General of NCB has been at the forefront of drug seizures and has directed investigation into the influx of cocaine and synthetic drugs in the Mumbai film industry.

He also led the NCB in its probe into the drugs angle in Bollywood that emerged following the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput last year.

As the Director General of BSF, Asthana has pushed the force to make the borders more secure by unravelling tunnels used by Pakistan-based terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

The move comes days after the Delhi LG Anil Baijal granted the power of detaining under the National Security Act to the city's Police Commissioner. The Delhi police chief can exercise the power till 18 October.

The NSA allows preventive detention of an individual for months if the authorities feel that the individual is a threat to national security and the law and order of the country.

Earlier, similar orders were passed by the Delhi LG in the wake of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

(With inputs from IANS)