Delhi Police chief Satish Golchha takes charge

Satish Golchha has officially taken charge as Delhi's new police commissioner, sharing his vision for law and order after recent incidents.

Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Satish Golchhaon Friday officially took charge as the commissioner of police (CP) in the national capital. The Ministry of Home Affairs had announced him as the new police chief on Thursday.

Satish Golchha at Delhi Police Headquarters on Friday. (HT Photo)

Golchha reached the Delhi Police Headquarters at Jai Singh Road in Connaught Place around 10am where he was greeted with the guard of honour. He also met the officers present at the headquarters.

An impromptu meeting was later held with senior officers. “During the meeting, he shared his vision for the force and the city and shared his thoughts on the law and order. He didn’t give any direction as it wasn’t a formal meeting. The formal meeting is due to be held in a day or two,” an officer present in the meeting said.

During the day, Golchha also met chief minister Rekha Gupta in her office. He also said a crime review meeting will be held with all senior officers on Saturday.

A day after CM Rekha Gupta was attacked at a public hearing, Golchha, Director General (Prisons), was appointed as the new CP, Delhi. He took charge 21 days after Shashi Bhushan Kumar Singh, Director General of Home Guards in Delhi, was given interim charge following the retirement of IPS officer Sanjay Arora on August 1.

People familiar with the matter said Singh’s appointment was a stop-gap arrangement, but the change was expedited after Wednesday’s incident involving the attack on the CM. However, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, “The order of appointment of the new CP has nothing to do with the attack on Rekha Gupta. The DG Home Guard was given additional charge only of Delhi Police.”

An order on the new DG (prisons) is yet to be released.

The official order dated Thursday, issued by the MHA, read: “With the approval of the Competent Authority, Sh. Satish Golchha, IPS (AGMUT:1992), presently posted as Director General (Prisons), Delhi, is hereby appointed to the post of the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, with effect from the date of assumption of charge and until further orders.”

Born in April 1967, Golchha joined the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre in October 1992. He has served as Director General of Police in Arunachal Pradesh and as special commissioner in Delhi Police in both law and order and intelligence units. He also spent several years in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and was part of the team probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Golchha took over as DG (Prisons) in May 2024, overseeing Tihar, Mandoli, and Rohini jails.