The State Government on Tuesday appointed C. Sylendra Babu as Director-General of Police/Head of Police Force, Tamil Nadu. He replaces J.K Tripathy who retires from service on June 30.
A 1987-batch IPS officer, Dr Babu will hold office for a tenure of two years irrespective of his date of superannuation as per the Supreme Court guidelines in the Prakash Singh case.
After the Union Public Service Commission approved a panel comprising three names - Sylendra Babu, Karan Singha and Sanjay Arora - the DMK government chose Dr Babu to head the force.
A native of Kuzhithurai in Kanniyakumari district, Dr Babu is a post-graduate in Agriculture and was awarded a Ph.D for his thesis on "Missing Children" by the University of Madras. He is popular among sections of youth aspiring for a career in civil services as he visits educational institutions and coaching academies to deliver "motivational speeches."
Dr Babu has authored about a dozen books in English and Tamil, mostly focused on motivating the youth to achieve their goals. He follows a strict training regimen and posts videos in social media, where he has a huge following, on fitness, healthy eating habits, marathons, cycling and other lifestyle activities.
He served the State police in various capacities, including Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore, Additional Director-General of Police, Coastal Security Group etc. He is presently the DGP, Railways.
It was during his tenure as Joint Commissioner of Police (North) Chennai when extensive raids were conducted, resulting in huge seizure of pirated CDs which ultimately led to the illegal business shifting base from Burma Bazaar, which was the hub for pirated versions of latest movies.
Dr Babu has received many awards, including the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service (2005), President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service (2013) and Chief Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Public Service (2019).
Other strong contenders in the race to the top post were Mr Singha, DGP, Tamil Nadu Fire & Rescue Services and Sanjay Arora, Special DGP, Central Reserve Police Force. Though the Tamil Nadu Government initially sent seven names to the UPSC for empanelment, a revised list was called for to accommodate other ADGP rank officers who had completed 30 years of service.
While a panel of five names, like in 2017, was expected to include DGPs Sunil Kumar Singh (Prisons and Correctional Services) and P. Kandaswamy (Directorate of Vigilance & Aanti-Corruption) the UPSC shortlisted three names as done in 2019, police sources said.