KATHMANDU, March 23: With the appointment of Deepak Thapa as the 31st Inspector General of Police (IGP) on Tuesday, the police organization is set to experience a significant leadership transition, marked by the vacancy of several high-ranking positions including six Additional Inspectors General (AIGs).
Former IGP Basanta Bahadur Kunwar, along with several high-ranking officers, retired on Monday due to the 30-year service limit in the police force. AIGs Tek Prasad Rai, Buddhi Raj Gurung, Durga Singh, Kuber Kadayat, and Janak Bhattarai, leaving five AIG positions vacant. The promotion of Thapa from AIG to IGP has left six AIG positions vacant in total, opening a battleground for promotion for more than a dozen DIGs.
The vacant AIG positions are in critical departments of the police organization: Human Resource Department, Administration Department, Operation Department, Criminal Investigation Department, Provincial Coordination Department and the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB). The race for these vacant AIG roles has prompted fierce lobbying among the current DIGs hopeful of promotion.
The frontrunners for the six vacant posts are seven DIGs: Chandra Kuber Khapung, Lalmani Acharya, Krishna Hari Sharma Pokharel, Dan Bahadur Karki, Dr. Manoj Kumar KC, Rajan Adhikari, and Siddhi Bikram Shah.
Several DIGs, including the seven frontrunners, have made their way to the capital to claim their stake in the competition for promotion. Some of the DIGs are all set to retire in the near future, with Khapung, Acharya, and Pokharel having been inducted into the police service in 1995 and expected to retire in 2025.
The key contender for the position of AIG on the basis of seniority, DIG Khapung has served in a variety of roles, including the chief of the Koshi Province Police Office (PPO). DIG Acharya, the current chief of the Madhesh PPO, is known for his exceptional coordination skills in border security. He has received several accolades for his work in border security.
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Meanwhile, DIG Pokharel has been serving as the head of the Bagmati PPO. His career has come under heavy public scrutiny due to allegations of financial misconduct. He is still facing multiple investigations regarding claims of extorting money from subordinates.
Alongside them, several other officers who entered the police service in the mid-1990s, including DIGs Karki, Dr. KC and Adhikari, are also vying for the vacant AIG roles. Karki and KC, in particular, have distinguished themselves in investigations such as the Bhutanese refugee case. DIG Karki has also served as the spokesperson for the Nepal Police.
Controversy over order of promotion
In addition to the DIGs who entered service as inspectors of Nepal Police, officers from the National Investigation Department (NID), who were transferred to Nepal Police, are also claiming their stake in the race.
However, their seniority has been a contentious issue, as their entry into the force was based on different criteria, with some having received training only after 2000, when other current DIGs had already held command positions by that time. This discrepancy has led to debates within the force regarding the legitimate order of promotion.
Prominent officers, including DIG Siddhi Bikram Shah, Sushil Singh Rathore, Uma Prasad Chaturvedi, and Himalaya Kumar Shrestha, who were previously part of the National Investigation Department, are also making their case for promotion to AIG, despite their later induction into the police force.
The controversy over the ongoing competition for AIG positions is exacerbated by political influences amid the long-standing dispute over seniority.
DIG Shah, who has been in the police service since 1996, is also in the race, with his strong political backing from leaders of the ruling party Nepali Congress from western part of the country. According to senior officials at the Nepal Police headquarters, Shah is currently seen as a frontrunner for promotion to the post of AIG.
“Although DIG Shah is not the prime candidate for promotion on the basis of seniority, he has strong political support which might just land him a promotion,” a high-ranking source at the Police headquarters said.
Race for DIG
Several of former IGP Kunwar’s batchmates, including several Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs), also retired on Monday exposing a leadership crunch at the provincial command of police.
The positions of three provincial police chiefs are vacant following the retirement of DIG Bhola Rawal, the former chief of Gandaki PPO, DIG Ganesh Chand of Sudurpaschim PPO, and DIG Janak Bhattarai of Karnali PPO.
Additional posts of DIGs will also be vacated after six DIGs are promoted to fill in the vacant AIG posts. If DIGs Khapung, Acharya, Pokharel and Karki are promoted to the post of AIG before the currently vacant DIG positions are filled, all of the seven PPOs will be left without a DIG as the chief.