MUMBAI/PUNE: Yielding to the Maharashtra chief minister’s demand, the federal home ministry approved a three-month extension to the serving state Director General of Police Sardeep Singh Virk, who was set to retire on July 31. Virk will now hold the post until after the state assembly polls in October.
Virk, the senior most Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1970 batch, was appointed as the state DGP following a Bombay high court judgment in March that overruled the appointment of the then state DGP Anami Narayan Roy, upholding the Central Administrative Tribunal judgment that stated that Roy, junior to three senior IPS officers, had superseded them wrongly to get appointed to the top post.
Virk, a Maharashtra cadre IPS officer, was on deputation to the Punjab government where he worked for 25 years. He played a vital role in eliminating terrorism from Punjab for which he was decorated with the highest civilian award of Padma Shri by the federal government. He also received the two presidential medals for gallantry.
Considered to be close to Congress, Virk was hounded after the Akali Dal government came to power in state last year.
