Senior IPS officer Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal appointed Head of the Tamil Nadu Police

The Tamil Nadu authorities connected Friday appointed elder IPS officer  Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal arsenic the Director-General of Police and Head of the Police Force.

The 1994-Batch IPS serviceman is serving arsenic the DGP in the Border Security Force (BSF), Delhi. He replaces DGP/HoPF Sandeep Rai Rathore. He was successful the sheet of 3 IPS officers recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) arsenic acceptable for assignment to the apical post. The Tamil Nadu authorities has written to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to relieve Dr. Aggarwal from the BSF, authoritative sources said.

In accordance with the Supreme Court guidelines successful the Prakash Singh case, Dr. Aggarwal volition person a minimum tenure of 2 years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, helium served arsenic the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, wherever helium launched assorted schemes, including Drive Against Drugs and ‘Kaaval Karangal’. He was besides the Commissioner of Police in Madurai and Tirunelveli. Dr. Aggarwal was the State Police Nodal Officer of the Election Commission of India successful the last Lok Sabha elections and Member-Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Police Commission.

Communal murders

As the Inspector-General of Police successful the Crime Branch-CID, helium supervised the probe conducted by the Special Investigation Division into a bid of communal murders crossed the State and besides the sensational bid heist successful which a northbound Indian pack broke into the manager of Salem-Chennai Express and took mode ₹5.78 crore belonging to the Reserve Bank of India.

In his erstwhile stint astatine the Centre, helium worked successful the Central Bureau of Investigation arsenic its Joint Director successful Chandigarh.

In the BSF, helium served arsenic the Commander, Eastern Command, liable for much than 4,000 km of the challenging India-Bangladesh Border. Dr Aggarwal is the recipient of the President Police Medal for Distinguished Service and Police Medal for Meritorious Service. He is simply a autochthonal of Bathinda in Punjab, and got his doctorate from  Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

Inordinate delay

A regular DGP/HoPF should person been appointed with effect from September 1, 2025, successful spot of the past incumbent, Shankar Jiwal, who attained superannuation. However, the process was delayed for assorted reasons, including a mates of contempt cases.