Like father, like son is an adage we often hear but seeing it happening in real life is another experience! And a classic case of this is the senior Indian Police Service officer Pankaj Singh, who was appointed as Director-General of the Border Security Force on July 25 (Wednesday).
It was a strange yet a pleasant coincidence that it was a post that his father Prakash Singh held about 30 years ago. Pankaj Singh, who belongs to the IPS batch of 1988, according to an official order will take over as BSF chief on August 31. He belongs to the Rajasthan cadre.
On taking over the incumbent DG will follow the footsteps of his father Prakash Singh – an officer who is reputed to have brought about several police reforms. Prakash Singh served DG from 1993 to 1994 and also received the coveted Padma Shri in recognition for his services.
Prakash Singh, former DG BSF
Meanwhile, Prakash Singh is currently posted as a Special Director General at the BSF headquarters in Delhi. The 58-year-old officer will take charge following the retirement of the S.S. Deswal.
Deswal, again an IPS, is holding two posts at present. He is the Director-General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and also holds the additional charge of DG of BSF as Rakesh Asthana, a Gujarat officer and the earlier DG had ended his tenure in July and his charge was given to Deswal.
During his service, Pankaj Singh has served in the Rajasthan Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – where he brought to light the sex scandal in Jammu and Kashmir. A politically sensitive case, it saw the arrest of a serving Minister, high-profile bureaucrats and other individuals.
Also as crime branch head exposed the nexus between gun manufacturers, bureaucrats and gangsters in Jammu and Kashmir for giving out arms licenses without proper verification.
Pankaj Singh will retire in December 2022 from the post of BSF DG.
The Union Government also appointed 1988-batch IPS officers Sanjay Arora (Tamil Nadu cadre) and Balaji Srivastav (AGMUT cadre) as the new heads of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), a government think tank on police subjects.
