Bhubaneswar: Amid the backlash in the drugs bust case involving Aryan Khan, Odisha-born senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Satya Narayan Pradhan has been appointed Director-General of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
He had been holding the additional charge of NCB DG since June this year, after Rakesh Asthana was appointed as Delhi Police Commissioner, while serving as the Director-General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
With the appointment of 1988-batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer Atul Karwal as NDRF Director-General on Tuesday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) in a late Wednesday order appointed Pradhan as Director-General of NCB on a full-time basis with effect from the date of his assumption of charge of the post and till the date of his superannuation on August 31, 2024, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also requested to relieve Pradhan from his charges of NDRF Director General immediately to enable him to take up the new assignment.
He belongs to Bhubaneswar.
Notably, Sanjay Kumar, a 1996-batch Odisha cadre IPS officer, is investigating the drugs-on-cruise case involving Shah Rukh Khan’s son.
Singh joined the NCB in January and is currently posted as the Deputy Director General at the NCB headquarters in New Delhi.
Also Read: Aryan Khan Case: New Probe Officer Of Odisha Cadre, Busted Drug Rackets In Bhubaneswar
He earlier headed the Drug Task Force of the Twin City Commissionerate Police and busted several drug trafficking rackets.
However, they are not the only officer with an Odisha connection, who served in the anti-drug agency.
Also Read: Sanjay Singh To Take Over Aryan Khan Case Today; Know The Odisha IPS Officers In NCB
Odisha DGP Abhay is a former NCB DG. The 1986-batch police officer of Odisha cadre took charge as the DG at the NCB headquarters in Delhi in 2018. He later headed SVPNPA, Hyderabad, and was subsequently appointed as Odisha DGP.
Former DGP RP Sharma, who also served as Commissioner of Police of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate, worked as NCB Zonal Director at Jodhpur and effected seizures of a record quantity of illicit drugs with the arrest of many international drug traffickers.
