Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey voluntarily retired from duty Tuesday evening. September 22 was the last business day for the 1987 IPS officer. The Governor of Bihar approved Pandey’s request for VRS of services on Tuesday evening. The Department of the Interior also issued a notice in this regard.
Pandey will in all likelihood contest the assembly elections. He was due to retire in February of next year.
Following the VRS of DGP, General Director of Homeguard and Fire Services, Sanjiv Kumar Singhal has received the additional position of DGP.
Gupteshwar Pandey has been in the news recently. It has made headlines and is a topic of conversation on social media in relation to the Sushant Singh Rajput case.
Pandey had retired early to participate in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Gupteshwar Pandey, a 1987 IPS officer from the Bihar cadre, reportedly wished to compete from the Buxar Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket in 2009.
With the intention of contesting the Lok Sabha polls, the now Bihar DGP opted for a voluntary retirement plan in March 2009. However, his dream of immersing himself in electoral politics did not materialize.
Nine months after his VRS, Pandey petitioned the Bihar government to allow him to withdraw his resignation.
The Nitish Kumar-led government approved Pandey’s request and the high-profile police officer returned to work. He then became the DGP of the Bihar Police before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He was born in 1961 in the village of Geruabandh in the Buxar district of Bihar. Pandey graduated from Patna University in Sanskrit and even took his UPSC exam in Sanskrit. He passed the UPSC on his first try and became an income tax officer. On his second attempt, he cleared the IPS.
Pandey served as SP of several districts affected by Naxal such as Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Arwal, Begusarai and Nalanda, as well as being DIG of the Munger and Muzaffarpur area. Later, he became the IG of the Muzaffarpur Area and was the Director General of the Bihar Police (training) before becoming the Director General of Police.
He has also been actively involved in leading the Bihar government’s alcohol prohibition campaign.
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