Pant out, Pratap Reddy new Bengaluru top cop

BENGALURU: Senior IPS officer CH Pratap Reddy, who was the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law & Order, has been appointed as the Police Commissioner of Bengaluru. DGP Kamal Pant, who had a long stint in the most coveted post, has been transferred and posted as DGP (Recruitment).

An IPS officer of the 1991 batch, Pratap Reddy, who hails from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, started his career as assistant SP at Arasikere in Hassan and has served as SP of Bijapur (now Vijayapura) and Gulbarga (now Kalaburagi) districts. A BTech graduate, Reddy is one of the few officers with a deep understanding and experience of technology. He has served as the Director of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) too.

Besides, Reddy has served as IGP of the western range, police commissioner of Mysuru and additional commissioner of police in Bengaluru. Last year, he was handpicked by Home Minister Araga Jnanendra to lead the investigation into the gangrape of a student in Mysuru. Pant, who had one of the longest stints of one year and 10 months in the top post, handled several high-profile cases during his tenure, including the Bitcoin scam, Sandalwood drug case, and also DJ Halli riots. 

Pant’s task is to rebuild trust in hiring process

In his new post, he will have the responsibility of reestablishing the credibility of the police recruitment process, which has been marred by the recent PSI exam scam. Pratap Reddy’s post will be occupied by Alok Kumar, who was ADGP, Karnataka State Reserve Police. Kumar has been replaced by R Hithendra, who was ADGP (Crimes & Technical Services).

DCP Anucheth transferred
The state government transferred MN Anucheth, DCP of Central division in Bengaluru, and posted him as SP, Criminal Investigation Department , replacing T Venkatesh. No officer has been posted as DCP(Central).