Will Karnataka get its first woman police chief?

BENGALURU: With the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) of state R K Dutta set to retire on Tuesday, there is speculation whether state intelligence head Neelamani N Raju will become Karnataka’s first woman police chief. According to sources, three names have been cleared for the coveted post, including Raju, CID chief HC Kishore Chandra and M N Reddi, who heads the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Raju and Chandra are frontrunners.

Recently, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy had convened a meeting to decide on the next DGP. The name is likely to be announced on Tuesday.

Neelamani Raju, a 1983 batch Karnataka cadre IPS officer, is seniormost among the three. She has served most of her tenure in central intelligence agencies. What works in her favour is that over the past 10 years, the state government has never overlooked seniority list. The other frontrunner Kishore Chandra, a 1984 batch officer, is the only Kannadiga in the list.

Sources say that many Vokkaliga ministers have backed Chandra’s appointment as no Kannadiga IPS officer has been posted as DGP for many years. Chandra hails from Mysuru district. Sources also said that Raju has sought central deputation.

However, the government is likely to take a cautious approach so as not to land in legal trouble. Dutta, who had a tenure of 10 months as state police chief, is set to get a farewell at KSRP grounds in Koramangala on Tuesday morning.