Patna: Bihar government has appointed senior IPS officer of 1988 batch SK Singhal as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of the State. He was currently DG, Home Guards and Fire Services. The post of DGP was lying vacant ever since Gupteshwar Pandey opted for voluntary retirement from services (VRS). Pandey was an IPS officer of 1987 batch.

Singhal, who was also having the additional charge of DGP till his regular appointment was notified, would retire from the service on August 31, 2021. Singhal is going to helm the state’s Police Department at a time when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is putting a lot of emphasis on controlling the rate of crime in the State.

As per some media reports, Singhal had escaped a murderous attack on him allegedly carried out by the henchmen of Mohammad Shahabuddin in 1996, when he was serving as the Superintendent of Police, Siwan. Shahabuddin was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment in connection with this case. /BI/