Mahendar Reddy set to be Telangana in-charge DGP

HYDERABAD: City police commissioner and 1986 batch IPS officer M

Mahendar Reddy

is all set to become the Telangana Head of the

Police Force

once incumbent Anurag Sharma demits office on November 12.

Mahendar Reddy will take over on that day as in-charge DGP of the state and his position will be made permanent only after the centre clears his name, said sources.

The TRS government has not yet finalised the panel of names to be sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the appointment of the new DGP. Though there are seven DGP rank officials in the race for the top post, the chief minister is said to be keen on giving the mantle to Mahendar Reddy based on his previous experience as intelligence wing chief and city police commissioner. The government has to send a list of seven names who are qualified to get promoted as Head of Police Force (HoPF) from which the UPSC will select three names. The chief minister can then select one of the three as the next director general of police. As the process would take more than one month, the state government has decided to make Mahendar incharge DGP, as was done in the case of Anurag Sharma.

Three DGP officers who are working on central depu tation have conveyed their reluctance to come back to the state and will continue in their present posting in the New Delhi. They are Sudeep Lakhtakia, Ish

Kumar

and Aloka Prabhakar. While Sudeep was recently promoted as Director General of CRPF, Ish Kumar is heading the

National Crime Records Bureau

and Aloka Prabhakar is in the Intelligence Bureau.

The other DGP rank officers are Tejdeep Kaur Menon, Rajiv Trivedi, M Mahendar Reddy and T Krishna Pra sad, in that order.

Politically , Mahendar Reddy's elevation will also put to rest the speculation reportedly floated by some opposition parties that the TRS has been alienating the Reddy community because of which they are looking for other avenues than the ruling party for their political growth. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is now seriously searching for a suitable officer to be appointed as Hyderabad city police commissioner.

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