Rakesh Asthana takes charge as Delhi Police Commissioner

He praises city police force for its ‘good work’ in the past

Rakesh Asthana, senior IPS officer of Gujarat cadre, took charge as the Commissioner of Delhi Police on Wednesday.

He was accorded the ceremonial guard of honour by the police force upon his arrival at the Delhi Police headquarters at Jai Singh Marg.

“I took charge as the Delhi Police Commissioner today. I believe in the basic concepts of policing, that is, maintenance of law and order, prevention of crime that is the basic thing which we are supposed to do. If these things are done properly, peace prevails in the society. There are certain specialised problems, for which there are separate SOPs. We will work accordingly,” he told reporters.

Mr. Asthana also praised the city police for its past performances and said that he hopes to work in tandem with everyone to ensure the betterment of society.

“Delhi Police has a brilliant past. A lot of good work has been done by the force in the past. A lot of complicated cases have been solved. A lot of complicated situations have been handled by the Delhi police. I believe in teamwork and I hope with this, we will be able to put the best foot forward for the betterment of society and prevalence of peace,” he said.

Superannuation date

In an order issued on Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said that Mr. Asthana, who was serving as the Director General of the Border Security Force, would join as the Delhi Police Commissioner with immediate effect.

His appointment came just days before his superannuation on July 31. He will have a tenure of one year.

This is one of the very few instances when an IPS officer outside of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre has been appointed as the Delhi police chief.

A 1984-batch IPS officer, Mr. Asthana had earlier served as the special director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). During his stint in the CBI, he was engaged in an unsavoury spat with the then CBI director Alok Verma with both of them levelling allegations of corruption against each other.

Senior IPS officer Balaji Srivastav was given the additional charge of police chief after the retirement of S.N. Shrivastava in June-end.