Chattopadhyaya replaces Sahota as officiating DGP of Punjab

The move to make Chattopadhyaya officiating Punjab DGP comes as a surprise as Sahota is considered close to chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and continued on the post even after pressure from Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Navjot Sidhu to remove him.

In a late-night reshuffle, the Punjab government appointed Sidharth Chattopadhyaya as officiating director general of police replacing IPS Sahota.

The new officiating Punjab DGP Chattopadhyaya, a 1986-batch IPS officer, will continue to hold the charge of chief director, vigilance bureau. (HT photo)

The development comes as a surprise as Sahota is considered close to chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and continued on the post even after pressure from Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Navjot Sidhu to remove him.

Along with his new assignment, Chattopadhyaya, a 1986-batch IPS officer, will continue to hold the charge of chief director, vigilance bureau. Sahota will continue as DGP, PAP, Jalandhar.

Sahota, officials, privy to the matter, say has himself stepped down expressing his inability to “follow some orders which the government wants him to execute under pressure from the certain political quarters.”

Interestingly, the Union Public Service Commission has set October 5 as the cut-off date with criterion of six months of remaining service for the selection of the state police chief. This has put Chattopadhyaya and 1988-batch IPS officer Rohit Chaudhary out of the DGP race.

The much-awaited meeting of the UPSC for shortlisting a panel of three officers from the state government’s list of 10 has been scheduled on December 21 in New Delhi.