Superseding two seniors in the running for the job, Amulya Kumar Patnaik, a 1985-batch IPS officer, was appointed the next Delhi Police Commissioner on Monday.
Having become the police chief at a relatively younger age of 57, Mr. Patnaik will have one of the longest tenures till January 2020 when he is scheduled to retire. He replaces Alok Kumar Verma, who was appointed as the CBI Director.
Sources said the decision to appoint Mr Patnaik was taken on January 23 itself. He edged out Deepak Mishra and Dharmendra Kumar, both of whom are 1984 batch officers.
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Currently Special Commissioner of Police (Administration), Mr. Patnaik has handled several critical assignments in the Delhi Police, the key among which was heading the Crime Branch and the Southern Range as Joint Commissioner.
Known to be adept in handling both law and order and investigation, one of the highlights of Mr. Patnaik’s career so far was the solving of the kidnapping of a schoolboy by armed gangsters in Sarita Vihar in a record 12 hours.
He also led the police action during the anti-Dunkel protest in 1994 in which he received serious injuries.
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In 1995, Patnaik took the initiative to launch ‘Pratidhi’, a Delhi Police programme to extend counselling and other assistance to victims of traumatic crimes, an initiative that is working successfully till date.
During his stint as the IG of the Special Protection Group, he is credited with the planning and managing the security of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003, who had undertaken the lone train journey ever undertaken by a Prime Minister.
One of the earliest cases reported this year was the brutal Najafgarh stabbing incident where a girl was stabbed a dozen times by her stalker bringing the focus back on crime against women.
Mr. Patnaik, who is credited with steps like launching the Anti-Obscene Call Cell and the Anti-Stalking Cell, will have to look into this aspect.