The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet has approved the empanelment of Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta as Director General/DGE. According to an official Spokesperson, Gupta is one of the 11 officers from the 1987 batch of the IPS, which originally had over a 100 IPS officers, all over the country to be empaneled by GOI to hold DGP level as well as DGP Equivalent level posts in Centre and the only IPS officer from north India (Punjab, Haryana, HP, J&K, UP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan) to be so empaneled.The only other serving IPS officer of Punjab cadre empaneled as DGP to hold DGP level posts at the Centre by GoI is Samant Goel, present R&AW Chief.Dinkar Gupta was also one of the 20 officers of the 1987 batch of the IPS to be empaneled as ADGP by GoI in April 2018, and the only officer from Punjab.Gupta was also chosen as one of the top 25 IPS officers of the country by Fame India magazine on the basis of an All India Survey. The list included the Chiefs of Intelligence Bureau, R&AW, DG NSG etc.Notably, DInkar Gupta is presently posted as Director General of Police, Punjab since Februray 7, 2019. Before being posted as Head of the almost 80000 plus police force of Punjab, Gupta was also posted as Director General of Police, Intelligence, Punjab, which involved the direct supervision of Punjab State Intelligence Wing, State Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU).An experienced and distinguished officer, Gupta did an eight-year stint on central deputation with the MHA, from June 2004 to July 2012, where he held many sensitive assignments, including Head of the Dignitary Protection Division of the MHA.He had served as Senior Superintendent of Police (District Police Chief) of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts for more than 7 years during the terrorism phase in Punjab. He also served as DIG (Jalandhar Range), DIG (Ludhiana Range), DIG (Counter-Intelligence), Punjab and DIG (Intelligence), Punjab till 2004.Among his other past assignments in the state were ADGP Administration & Community Policing (2015-17), ADGP Provisioning & Modernization (2014-2015), ADGP Law & Order (2012-2015), ADGP Security (2012-2015), ADGP Traffic (2013-2014), DIG Range (over 1 year in 2002 & 2003-04), SSP (7 years from January 1992 to January 1999).
Dinkar Gupta was decorated with Police Medal for Gallantry (1992) and Bar to Police Medal for Gallantry (1994) for display of exceptional courage, conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty of a high order. He was also decorated with the Police Medal for Meritorious Services by the President and the Presidents Police Medal for Distinguished Service (2010).Gupta has also been a Visiting Professor (2000-01) at the George Washington University, Washington DC (USA) and American University, Washington DC, where he was invited to design and teach a course titled ‘Governments under Siege: Understanding Terrorism and Terrorists’ in January-May 2001.In 1999, Gupta was awarded the British Chevening Gurukul Scholarship by the British Council to attend the 10-week Gurukul Programme in Leadership and Excellence at London School of Economics, London.He has trained with many International Police Forces, including the Scotland Yard, London and New York Police Department. He has also lectured at leading American think tanks and universities. He represented India at a Symposium on International Terrorism organized by INTERPOL in 1996.He visited the UK in November 1997 on the request of the Crown Prosecution Service as an expert on Indian Criminal Law in connection with the trial of a double murder committed by a British citizen of Indian origin. He again visited the UK to attend a Conference on ‘Responding to International Terrorism’ in 2002.In 1997, he was invited to make a presentation during the DGPs/IGPs Conference of India on SuperCop, a Software developed by him for crime database management and Village Information System.During his career spanning around 31 years, Gupta launched many Community policing and people-friendly projects. As SSP Jalandhar in 1995, he conceptualized and launched ‘Koshish’ - a Rehabilitation project for weaning away the Sansis, a denotified criminal tribe, from a life of crime, drugs, poverty and disease. Since ‘Koshish’ was a unique demonstration project for the protection of human rights of these so-called branded tribes, Chairman, National Human Rights Commission visited Gannapind village in Jalandhar district in 1996 (where the project was launched) and commended the Jalandhar police on its unique initiative.In August 2013, Gupta conceptualized the design and launch of Punjab Police helpline launched DIAL 181, a Helpline and public grievance redressal police-public contact centre, which has already emerged as a big boon for most vulnerable sections of the society, women and senior citizens by providing them timely help through prompt and active intervention of the State police. Punjab is first state in the country that has so successfully piloted and implemented this pro-people initiative.