Senior IPS officer Sunil Kumar Bansal has been appointed as the director general of police (DGP) of Odisha Police, as per a notification issued by the Odisha home department on Wednesday.
Sunil Bansal will take over charge as the new DGP from January 1 on a two-year term. The incumbent DGP Abhay will retire on December 31. DGP Abhay was initially scheduled to retire in June this year, but his tenure was extended till December 31, 2021, by the government in line with the Supreme Court’s recommendation that state police chiefs, once appointed, should have a 2-year tenure, irrespective of their retirement age.
Sunil Bansal is currently serving as special director, Intelligence Bureau. His name was among the three names sent by the Odisha government to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for appointment as state DGP. The other two police officers were 1988 batch officer Manoj Chhabra and 1986-batch IPS officer Pradip Kapoor, who are posted as head of State Armed Police and as advisor (scientific) of national technical research organisation (NTRO) respectively.
“It is a great opportunity for me. I will be happy to return to Odisha and will try to serve the people of the state sincerely with all my heart,” said Bansal shortly after his name was announced.
Bansal has been on central deputation since 1994 but has never worked with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government which was founded by chief minister Naveen Patnaik only in 1997, three years after the police officer exited the state to serve central security agencies. The IPS officer was superintendent of police in Odisha districts such as Dhenkanal, Angul and Mayurbhanj, before he moved to the intelligence bureau.
A commerce graduate, Sunil Bansal, was a chartered accountant before he opted for a career in law enforcement. He also holds a degree in law.
