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Sanjay Arora is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1988 batch of Tamil Nadu cadre who assumed the charge as the Delhi Police Commissioner on 1 August 2022 after his inter-cadre deputation was approved by MHA. He is the second successive non-AGMUT cadre IPS officer to head the Delhi Police and the third since the Delhi Police Act was passed in 1978. Prior to his posting in Dehli, he served as the Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
Wiki/Biography
Sanjay Arora was born in 1965 (age 57 years; as of 2022), and he hails from Rajasthan, India. He pursued a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 6′ 2″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Not much information is available about his parents and siblings.
Wife & Children
He is married. Not much is known about his wife and children.
Sanjay Arora with his wife
Career
Sanjay Arora is a 1988 batch officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. In 1991, after receiving training from NSG, Arora had a pivotal role in forming the Special Security Group (SSG) to provide security to the Tamil Nadu CM when the Tamil militant organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was at its peak. He has also led Central Police Organizations like CRPF, BSF & ITBP in various profiles. He served as a commandant in the paramilitary force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) from 1997 to 2002. From 1997 to 2000, he commanded a border-guarding ITBP battalion in Matli, Uttarakhand. As an instructor, he contributed to the field of training while serving as commandant (combat wing) at the ITBP Academy, Mussoorie, from 2000 to 2002. He has served in various capacities in Tamil Nadu Police including the Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City from 2002 to 2004. He has led the Chennai City Police as Additional Commissioner (crime & headquarters), and Additional Commissioner (traffic). As Superintendent of Police (SP), Special Task Force, he hunted down forest brigand Veerappan and received the CM’s Gallantry Medal for Bravery and Heroic Action for it. He was Inspector General (special operations) in BSF and IG (Chhattisgarh sector) and IG (operations) in CRPF.
Sanjay Arora as CRPF Inspector General (Chhattisgarh)
Arora has also held the positions of Deputy Inspector General of Police, Villupuram range, and Deputy Director of Vigilance and Anti-corruption. He was later appointed ADGP (operations) and ADGP (administration) in Tamil Nadu police. Later, he went to be appointed as ADG (HQ & ops) in CRPF and special DG (J&K) in CRPF before finally being appointed as the ITBP director general on 31 August 2021. In December 2021, Sanjay Arora, while serving as DG ITBP took additional charge of DG SSB from Kumar Rajesh Chandra, DG SSB at S.S.B. Force Headquarters, New Delhi. He served as the director general of ITBP till 31 July 2022; Arora was succeeded by Sujoy Lal Thaosen.
Sanjay Arora handing over the charge of ITBP DG and customary baton to Sujoy Lal Thaosen on 1 August 2022
On 1 August 2022, he assumed the position of Commissioner of Police, Delhi, replacing 1984-batch officer Rakesh Asthana, who retired after completing his one-year stint as Delhi Police Commissioner. The inter-cadre deputation of Arora, a Tamil Nadu Cadre IPS officer, into the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre was approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). He is due for retirement in 2025.
Sanjay Arora as Delhi Police Commissioner
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- CM’s Gallantry Medal for Bravery and Heroic Action for his crackdown on forest bandit Veerappan’s syndicate
- Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service (2004)
- President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service (2014)
- Police Special Duty Medal
- Antrik Suraksha Padak and UN Peacekeeping Medal
Facts/Trivia
- Delhi Police functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and its officers belong to the AGMUT cadre. Sanjay Arora’s appointment as Delhi police commissioner is the third time that the central government has gone for an “outsider”, i.e., an officer not belonging to the AGMUT cadre for the post of Delhi top cop. In 1999, Ajay Raj Sharma from UP cadre was posted as Delhi police commissioner. The experiment was not repeated until Rakesh Asthana of Gujarat cadre was appointed as Police Commissioner of Delhi in July 2021.