Chandigarh: Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and counter-intelligence expert Gaurav Yadav has been appointed Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He will also continue to discharge his duty as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Modernisation, the Punjab Police.

Yadav had headed the Punjab Police’s 2014 international operation to nab Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the most wanted terrorists. Son-in-law of former Punjab DGP PC Dogra, Yadav has held several important postings, including officiating as head of the Intelligence Wing during the SAD-BJP government in 2016. He has remained SSP in Punjab for 10 years and Commissioner of Police for four years. He was the Chandigarh SSP from 2002 to 2004.

The government also posted ADGP Varinder Kumar as the head of the Prisons Department, relieving incumbent PK Sinha. Kumar was the Director, Bureau of Investigation, when DGP Inderpreet Singh Sahota headed the Punjab Police in later part of 2021. Before that, he was the ADGP, Intelligence.

It is worth noting that Yadav and Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal cleared the Civil Services Examination together in 1992. Yadav got selected for the Indian Police Service, while Kejriwal joined the Indian Revenue Service. /BI/