Senior Kerala cadre IPS officer Nitin Agrawal takes charge as new Director General of BSF

 

New Delhi: Recipient of the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2015, senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Nitin Agrawal on Wednesday took charge as a new Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF), which claims to be the largest border guarding force in the world.

Agrawal, a 1989-batch IPS from Kerala cadre, has held various prominent positions in the Kerala Police as well as serving as Deputy Inspector General in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), and Inspector General in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). He took charge from CRPF Director General Sujoy Lal Thaosen, who has been holding the additional charge of the BSF for the last five months after the retirement of Pankaj Kumar Singh in December 2022.

Prior to assuming the role of Director General of the BSF, Agarwal served as Additional Director General (ADG) Central Zone and as ADG Operations in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). He was promoted to the rank of ADG in 2014 while serving with the ITBP. Agarwal holds a B.Tech and an M.Tech degree from IIT Delhi, along with an M.Phil in Social Science from Punjab University. Acknowledging Agarwal’s outstanding contributions to the field of law enforcement, the Central government honoured him Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2007 and the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2015.

After lying vacant for five months post the retirement of Pankaj Kumar Singh in December 2022, the country’s prestigious BSF got its new chief on Sunday after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the Ministry of Home Affairs proposal of appointing Agarwal as the new Director General of the force last week. The BSF is the country’s premier security force primarily tasked to guard the 3,323 km of India-Pakistan and 4,096 km international border with Bangladesh apart from rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain. The BSF has over 2.65 lakh personnel working in various capacities.