UP govt appoints Prashant Kumar as acting DGP

Lucknow, Jan 31 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday appointed Director General, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar as the acting director general of police.

Kumar will replace the present acting Director General of Police Vijay Kumar, who is retiring on Wednesday.

“Prashant Kumar has been appointed as acting DGP of Uttar Pradesh,” a senior official told PTI.

A 1990 batch IPS officer, Kumar belongs to Bihar.

This is the fourth consecutive time that Uttar Pradesh has got an acting police chief as no full-time DGP has been appointed after the removal of Mukul Goel on May 11, 2022, for “not taking interest in departmental work and inefficiency”.

Goel, a 1987 batch IPS officer, is currently posted as director general of the Civil Defence Department and is set to retire next month.

After Goel, D S Chauhan took over as the acting DGP and retired in April 2023. Later, R K Vishwakarma served as the acting DGP for over a month before Vijay Kumar was appointed to the post on May 31, 2023.