Alok Kumar set to return as Bangalore Police Commissioner?

Alok Kumar has served as Bengaluru's Police Commissioner from June to August 2019. The incumbent Kamal Pant has been serving as the police commissioner for an year and eight months now.

Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar might be re-appointed as the new Bangalore Police Commissioner according to various reports.

Senior IPS officer Alok Kumar could be the next Bengaluru Police Commissioner.

Alok Kumar has served as Bengaluru's Police Commissioner from June to August 2019. The incumbent Kamal Pant has been serving as the police commissioner for an year and eight months now.

Normally, Bengaluru's police commissioners are replaced every year. However, reports said that Kamal Pant has been serving an extended tenure due to COVID-19-related restrictions. In addition to the above reasons, the change in senior level leadership, including the swap of the state's Chief Minister hindered the police chief's role change, reports said.

Kamal Pant is a 1990 batch IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre. He was appointed as the 34th Commissioner of Bengaluru Police in mid-2020 succeeding his batch mate Bhaskar Rao. Local reports speculated that talk of the police commissioner being replaced has renewed in the government as Kamal pant has been serving for an year and half in the position that is usually open for a restricted one-year period only.

As per reports from six months ago, it was believed that B. Dayananda, who is working in the intelligence department of the state government, was to succeed Kamal Pant as Commissioner of Police. However, local reports said that the government is considering Alok Kumar for the position keeping in mind that law and order will need a stricter check as the assembly election approaches next year.

Alok Kumar resigned from the post of Police Commissioner after a month and a half long tenure in the wake of the phone-tap allegations, and was transferred as the Additional director general of police (ADGP) to Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP), according to news agency IANS.

The then government headed by former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had reportedly transferred Alok Kumar unceremoniously from the post before appointing Bhaskar Rao in 2019. Alok Kumar had been appointed as the top cop a few months ago by then Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy during the JD(S)- Congress coalition government rule.

The CBI had filed a 'B' report in the case against Alok Kumar, who was accused to have tapped phones of several politicians and officials during the previous JD(S)-Congress coalition government between June 2018 and July 2019. It is being reported that the Commissioner of Police will be replaced by the end of May.