Senior cop Kamal Pant set to retire, police organise farewell parade in his honour

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Senior IPS officer and Director General of Police (DGP), Kamal Pant is set to retire on June 30 this year. Karnataka State Police have organised a farewell parade to honour him on Saturday morning at Koramangala Parade Grounds.

Pronab Mohanty IPS (Batch 1994), who is currently serving as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Police Computer Wing, is in the reckoning to become the new DGP replacing Kamal Pant.

The 1990-batch IPS officer during his 34 years of service, has added many feathers to his cap including the post of Director General of Police and Director General Fire Safety and Emergency Services, Commandant General Home Guards, Director General for State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Director of Civil Defence, apart from holding the position of Bengaluru Police Commissioner before Pratap Reddy IPS.

Born in Uttarakhand, Kamal Pant grew up in Delhi. After clearing the UPSC exam, Pant was selected as a Karnataka cadre police officer and completed his training following which he served as Superintendent of Police (SP) in Shivamogga, Dakshina Kannada and Mangaluru districts.

He also served as a SP in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and later as Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Central Zone. Pant was also posted as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Prisons and for the Law and Order Department.

One of the tough Commissioners in the history of Bengaluru

Kamal Pant took charge as the Bengaluru Police Commissioner in 2020 and during his tenure as the top cop, cracked many important cases of national and international ramifications and strived hard, facing challenges to maintain law and order.

One of the challenges was a massive riot that broke out in Bengaluru East due to an objectionable post shared by a political leader's nephew in DJ Halli and KG Halli. Later the top cop also led an investigation into the Sandalwood drug scandal in which many popular actors from the Kannada film industry were allegedly involved.

His administrative skills were further put to test when the popular Bitcoin scam broke out leading to the arrest of hackers.

Introduced new initiatives Kamal Pant brought many innovations and earned fame in introducing people friendly policing by introducing 'Jana Sampark Divas' across the city to address the grievances of the general public.

For cyber-related cases, he came up with an innovative 'Golden Hour' initiative in deporting cyber criminals and recovering the lost money. Pant brought many reforms in the night beat and revamped the patrolling system to check crime and law and order. He is considered one of the best city police chiefs by his colleagues and officers who worked under him.