Bengaluru: The senior most Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in the state and Director General of Police, Internal Security Division (ISD), Neelmani N. Raju, on Tuesday was appointed the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP). A veteran intelligence officer with over two decades of experience with the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Ms Raju is the first woman police chief in Karnataka, who will be heading a one lakh strong uniformed force.
Deccan Chronicle was the first newspaper, to break the news on her appointment as the police chief. In her appointment, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government has also sent a strong message on gender equality and women's empowerment.
Having broken the glass ceiling in a hardcore male-dominated police force, Ms. Raju's biggest challenge is to bring in discipline in the department and to ensure that the 2018 Assembly elections are held smoothly. Karnataka is one of only three major states in the country where the Congress is ruling and there will be large-scale efforts to derail fair and smooth elections. She met the chief minister on Monday and assured him that she would ensure maintenance of law and order in the state.
Newly appointed DG&IGP Neelmani Raju takes charge from R.K. Dutta, in Bengaluru on Tuesday. (Photo: Shashidhar B.)
Ms Raju had stiff competition from two other officers of 1984 batch; DGP, Criminal Investigation Department, H.C. Kishore Chandra and DGP, Anti-Corruption Bureau M.N. Reddi, who were also in the zone of consideration for the top post.
Till Monday late evening, there was wide speculation that the chief minister has finalised the appointment of Mr Chandra.
On the contrary Mr Siddaramaiah had made up his mind on Ms Raju's candidature considering her seniority and track record.
She had returned to Karnataka in January 2016 after a 23-year-long stint with the IB, where she had last served as the Joint Director. Her husband and retired IAS officer D.N.
Narasimha Raju was additional chief secretary to the chief minister before he retired in April last year. Ms Raju is originally from Uttar Pradesh. She had served in Karnataka for 10 years before she left on a Central deputation in 1993.
She has succeeded Mr R.K. Dutta, who demitted office on Tuesday on superannuation. She has a more than two-year-long tenure and will retire in January 2020.Her appointment has been welcomed by the IPS fraternity.
In the hot seat
The road ahead for the newly appointed and first ever woman Director General and Inspector General of Police Neelmani N. Raju is not going to be easy.
Her challenge starts from November 2 itself, when the BJP has called for ‘Nav Karnataka Parivarthan rally,’ in Bengaluru in the presence of party president Amit Shah.
Eight days later the police are gearing up for a major confrontation with the BJP on Tipu Jayanthi on November 10, followed by a stormy 10-day-long Assembly session in Belgavi, which kick starts on the same day as Tipu Jayanthi.
The Assembly elections in 2018 will be a litmus test for the Congress party in Karnataka and for Raju, as monitoring law and order and the smooth conduct of the election process will be the toughest challenge, said an officer on condition of anonymity.
