Karnataka got its first woman police chief after Neelamani N. Raju, a 1983 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was appointed the director general and inspector general of police on Tuesday.
Neelamani Raju
Raju (57) succeeds Rupak Kumar Dutta who retired on superannuation on October 31.
Raju, who was serving as DGP (fire and emergency services) made it to the top post owing to her clean image and her seniority over two other strong contenders—IPS officers of 1984 batch: DGP (CID) H.C. Kishore Chandra (now posted as DGP, Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation) and DGP (Anti-corruption Bureau) M.N. Reddi (now posted as DGP (Home Guards, Civil Defence and Fire force).
Hailing from Roorkee in Uttarakhand, Raju holds an MA and MBA degrees. She began her career in 1985 as the Bengaluru Rural SP, and was later posted on central deputation in 1993. She served in central intelligence as the joint director before returning to Karnataka in May 2016, when she was appointed the DGP (internal security). In fact, the state government requested the Centre to sanction an additional DGP post (in addition to the existing six) for Karnataka to accommodate Raju.
She is married to retired IAS officer D.N. Narasimha Raju, who last served as additional chief secretary in the CM's secretariat.
With Neelamani Raju is set to retire only in January 2020, her two year tenure is bound to be hectic with two consecutive election years in Karnataka.
