Race heats-up for new chiefs of ITBP, CISF as top IPS officers emerge front-runners

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is gearing up for a big top-level reshuffle, with new appointments likely any time now for top leadership positions.

This month, the Directors General (DGs) of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) are retiring, and the Border Security Force (BSF) chief will superannuate in November.

Senior officials say the probabilities of service extension for the outgoing officers are remote, heating up the race among senior IPS officers belonging to AGMUT, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and other cadres.

ITBP Director General Rahul Rasgotra, an IPS officer belonging to the 1989 batch of the Manipur cadre, is to retire this month. Having long experience in Jammu & Kashmir and Chhattisgarh, Rasgotra also worked in the Intelligence Bureau for many years and was involved in forming and commanding the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) formed after the Kargil war for coordination against terrorism.

He has also had major counter-terrorist assignments at Indian missions in Washington and Islamabad. Among the probable successors to him, 1993-batch UP cadre IPS officer Vitul Kumar, who is Special DG in CRPF, is a top favourite to head ITBP.

Similarly, CISF DG Rajwinder Singh Bhatti will retire on September 30. Sources indicate that his service extension proposal has not received clearance from the Home Ministry. For CISF, names under consideration include NSG DG B. Srinivasan, a 1992-batch Bihar cadre officer whose tenure is until August 2027, and NDRF DG Piyush Anand, a 1991-batch officer of the UP cadre who was appointed to head NDRF in March 2024 for two years.

Another potential front-runner is Praveer Ranjan, who is ADG presently in CISF. Ranjan, empanelled in June 2024 as DG rank, was previously DGP of Chandigarh and was also in the running for Delhi Police Commissioner before the government deployed 1992-batch officer Satish Golcha.