Sudeep Lakhtakia takes charge as new chief of NSG

Sudeep Lakhtakia on February 1, 2018 took charge as the Director General (DG) of National Security Guard (NSG).

He would be succeeding S P Singh, who retired on January 31, 2018. Lakhtakia was serving as a Special DG in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters in New Delhi.

He was appointed following an order issued by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

About Sudeep Lakhtakia

Prior to being appointed as the Additional DG in the CRPF, the 1984 batch IPS officer was serving as the Additional Director-General of Law & Order in Telangana.

Among other positions, Lakhtakia occupied in his long career include Superintendent of Police in Warangal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and in Hyderabad-West Zone, Commissioner in Vijayawada and Deputy Inspector General of Security.

He also previously served as the Inspector-General in the elite Special Protection Group for around eight years before moving back to his home cadre as ADG-Law & Order.

About NSG

• The NSG is an Indian Special Forces unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

• It was raised in 1984, following Operation Blue Star and the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for combating terrorist activities with a view to protect states against internal disturbances.

• As a specialised counter terrorism force, the unit is intended for use only in exceptional situations and not meant to take over the functions of the State Police Forces or other Para Military Forces.

• The NSG is specially trained to conduct counter terrorist tasks including counter hijacking tasks on land, sea, and air, bomb disposal (search, detection and neutralization of IEDs), Post Blast Investigation (PBI) and Hostage Rescue missions.

• The unit’s commandos are often referred to as the Black Cats because of the black dress and black cat insignia worn on their uniform.

• They NSG commandos are based in five hubs apart from their main garrison in Gurgaon’s Manesar.