Neelamani N Raju, 1983 batch IPS officer, becomes first woman to lead Karnataka Police

Neelamani N Raju becomes the first woman in Karnataka to be designated the rank of Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG-IGP) and lead the strong state police force of around 80,000 personnel on Tuesday by the Karnataka government.

The State home minister R Ramalinga Reddy announced her appointment as the new DG-IGP, a post unique to Karnataka. In most states, the DGP is the top police post.

Former DG-IGP RK Dutta handed over the baton to Neelamani Raju, 57, a 1983 batch IPS officer. She is a  native of Roorkee in Uttrakhand.

The Karnataka’s first woman DG-IGP served her home cadre for 10 years and then served the Intelligence Bureau for around 23 years in deputation. She was promoted as joint director in the IB and returned to Karnataka as a DGP rank officer. After return she has served as Internal Security Division and Fire and Emergency Services DGP.  

Soon after her promotion as Karnataka Police, Chief Minister Siddarmaiah congratulated her.

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Talking to media soon after the announcement Neelamani said, “It is a responsible post. I am honoured to be selected.”

She added that she would like to focus on increasing the conviction rates. Neelamani also added that her focus will be to make police more citizen-friendly.