Sanjay Arora’s journey from tackling Veerappan’s gang to becoming Delhi Police Commissioner

New Delhi: The government, for the second consecutive time, decided to go ahead with an inter-cadre appointment to choose Sanjay Arora as the new Commissioner of Delhi Police. Arora, a 1988-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer, will succeed Rakesh Asthana, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer, whose tenure was set to end on Sunday. Arora will assume the charge on Monday (August 1). A graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Malviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur (Rajasthan), Sanjay Arora has received several accolades for his services throughout his career spanning over three decades.

He was awarded the Police Medal for meritorious service in 2004, President’s Police Medal for distinguished service in 2014, Police Special Duty Medal, Antrik Suraksha Seva and UN Peacekeeping Medal among others.

After joining the IPS, he served in various capacities in Tamil Nadu police. He was Superintendent of Police (SP), Special Task Force, where he achieved significant success against the Veerappan gang, for which he was even awarded the Chief Minister’s Gallantry Medal for bravery and heroic action.

In 1991 after being trained by NSG, Arora had played a pivotal role in forming the Special Security Group (SSG) to provide security to the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu during the days of LTTE activity. He also served as the Superintendent of Police in various districts of the state.

Arora also had the privilege of serving in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on deputation as commandant from 1997 to 2002. He had commanded a border guarding ITBP battalion in Matli, Uttarakhand from 1997 to 2000. As an instructor, he had made contributions in the field of training, serving as commandant (Combat Wing) at the ITBP Academy, Mussoorie from 2000 to 2002.

The senior IPS officer earlier served as Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore city from 2002 to 2004. He has also served as Deputy Inspector General of Police, Villupuram range and Deputy Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. Arora led the Chennai City Police as – Additional Commissioner – Crime & Headquarters and Additional Commissioner – Traffic. On promotion, he was appointed as ADGP (Operations) and ADGP (Administration) in Tamil Nadu Police. He assumed the charge of DG ITBP on August 31, 2021 as the 31st chief of the force. – IANS