Punjab director general of police Dinkar Gupta has been empanelled to hold director general-level posts in the central government, an order by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said on Saturday.

Dinkar Gupta is the only Indian Police Service officer from seven north Indian states to be named in the ACC order. In all, 11 IPS officers of the 1987 have been empanelled.

The only other Punjab cadre IPS officer empaneled to hold DGP level posts at the Centre is Samant Goel, the Research and Analysis Wing chief.

Gupta was hand picked to lead Punjab Police in February 2019 in view of his impressive track record as director general of police (intelligence) and his career profile. As the DG intelligence, Dinkar directly oversaw the working of the state police's intelligence wing, anti-terrorist squad and the organised crime control unit.

The soft-spoken officer had played a key role in solving high-profile targeted killing cases and busting more than 50 pro-Khalistan modules.

Dinkar Gupta had started his career in the IPS when terrorism in Punjab was at its peak and was part of the group of police officers who had fronted the battle. He was the district police chief of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts for over seven years during this phase before getting promoted as a DIG. In this role too, he had had field postings and served as DIG of Jalandhar and Ludhiana ranges before becoming part of Punjab's counter-terror and intelligence teams for a decade or so, a police spokesperson said.

Gupta joined the Intelligence Bureau in 2004, spending the next eight years on central deputation to handle sensitive assignments that also included leading the Dignitary Protection Division of the Intelligence Bureau.

In between his career, the IPS officer who has been twice decorated for gallantry, was also a visiting professor at George Washington University and American University, Washington DC, in 2000-01 where he taught a course on fighting terror. He has also delivered several lectures at leading American think tanks.

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