Chennai: After being the first woman to serve as Chennai's police commissioner, Letika Saran will become Tamil Nadu's first woman Director General of Police (DGP) and the second woman in the country to head a state police force.
The 57-year-old Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, currently director general (training) will take over her new post Jan 13.
The state government appointed Saran as the DGP in the place of KP Jain who is going on leave Jan 14 ahead of his retirement in April.
Saran was chosen over four other officers - R.Nataraj, DGP (Fire and Rescue Services), SK Upadhyay (under suspension), V Balachandran, DGP (Vigilance) in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and N Balachandran, who heads the Uniformed Services Recruitment Board. A fact in her favour was that she retires in 2012, much later than the others.
A 1976 batch IPS officer, Saran has several firsts to her credit in her career. A native of Idukki district in Kerala, she was appointed the first woman Police Commissioner of Chennai in 2006. Last September, she became the first woman to be elevated to the rank of director general in the state police.
Saran will be the second woman to head a state police in India - the first being Kanchan Chaudhry Bhattacharya in Uttarakhand.
The Tamil Nadu Police is one of the oldest police forces in the country, dating back to 1859.
IANS
First Published: Saturday, January 09, 2010, 21:30