Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress government has submitted a list of seven senior IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to be considered for the position of Director General of Police (Head of Police Force), amid growing anticipation over who will secure the state’s top police post.
The list includes senior officers: C V Anand, Ravi Gupta, Jitender, B Shivadhar Reddy, Shikha Goel, Soumya Mishra, and K Sreenivasa Reddy. According to sources familiar with the developments, Hyderabad Police Commissioner C V Anand and Director General (Intelligence) B Shivadhar Reddy are emerging as frontrunners for the role.
Special Chief Secretary (Home) Ravi Gupta, the senior-most officer among the contenders, had served as in-charge DGP from December 2023 to July 2024 before being replaced by Jitender. Anand is due to retire in June 2028, while Shivadhar Reddy’s retirement is scheduled for April 2026.
In accordance with Supreme Court guidelines, any DG-rank officer appointed as Head of Police Force (HOPF) must be given a minimum tenure of two years, regardless of their retirement date.
Interestingly, since the Congress assumed power in Telangana in December 2023, no full-time DGP has been appointed. All officials serving in the role since then have held in-charge or additional charge positions. The last full-time DGP was M Mahendar Reddy, appointed in 2018 by the previous BRS government and who served until December 2022.
Following Reddy’s tenure, officers including Anjani Kumar, Ravi Gupta, and Jitender were posted as DGP (Coordination) with additional charge of DGP (HOPF), but no permanent appointment has been made.
The UPSC will now evaluate the list based on parameters like service record, seniority, tenure, and pending years of service. It will then recommend a panel of three officers to the Telangana government, from which the final selection will be made.
