Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta appointed full-fledged Assam DGP

As the situation of Assam turned worse due to unprecedented protests across Assam against the CAB, 2019, the state government on Wednesday promoted and posted IPS officer Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta as the full-fledged DGP.

The IPS officer of 1988 batch, Mahanta was recently appointed as the Director General of Police (DGP) In-charge, a day before Kuladhar Saikia retired as the DGP of the state.

Through a notification (No HMA 193/2019/304) issued on November 29, 2019, Mahanta, the special DGP (Border), Assam and director, Fire and Emergency Services, Assam, was allowed to look after the current duties of DGP, Assam.

Also read: Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta appointed Assam DGP In-charge

A notification issued on Wednesday by Kumar Sanjay Krishna, additional chief secretary to the Assam government, said Mahanta has been “promoted and posted as Director General of Police, Assam, in the Apex Scale of pay in Level 17 of the pay matrix with effect from the date of taking charge.”

According to media reports, the Assam government earlier sent a list of senior IPS officers’ names to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for selection as the DGP of the state.

The names of those IPS officers included Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, AK Sinha Kashyap, KB Singh Deu, BK Mishra and Mukesh Agarwal.

Earlier, it was also reported that Tapan Deka, an IPS officer of 1988 batch of Himachal cadre, who spent the better part of his career in the Intelligence Bureau, would take over as the next DGP of Assam.

But, keeping aside all speculations, the Assam government has chosen Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta as the full-fledged DGP of the state.

Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta is also a filmmaker who directed an award-winning Assamese short film ‘Yugadrashta: The Visionary’.

The film, based on the life of reformer and freedom fighter Pitambar Deva Goswami starring Moon Borkotoky, was produced by Swapnali Mahanta.