Delhi police commissioner Sanjay Arora retired on Thursday, marking the end of a career spanning nearly 37 years. SBK Singh, who is currently the Director General of Home Guards in Delhi, has been assigned the additional charge of the post of the Commissioner of Police.
Arora's younger brother Akhil Arora is an IAS officer of 1993 batch in Rajasthan cadre, who is currently serving as additional chief secretary public health engineering and ground water department.
A Tamil Nadu cadre officer of 1988 batch, Arora is well known for killing notorious sandalwood smuggler Veerappan.
Arora was the superintendent of police (SP) of the Special Task Force and carried out operations against forest brigand Veerappan in the sandalwood forests of the state.
In 2004, the sandalwood smuggler was killed in a shootout by Arora's team, which was led by famed IPS officer K Vijay Kumar. Arora was awarded the CM's Gallantry Medal for Bravery and Heroic Action for his role. His work in Tamil Nadu earned him a Police Medal for meritorious service in 2004.
On his farewell parade held at the New Police Lines in Kingsway Camp, Arora said, “Only after I left police training and joined a police station did I learn how to prevent crimes on streets, catch criminals, handle court proceedings, fight for police rights, manage the police force, and deal with criminals with sensitivity, etc.”
Arora has served in key positions in Tamil Nadu Police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), and other branches of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).
Key challenges during his tenure
During his tenure, Delhi witnessed several major challenges, including threats, extortion, gang wars, street crimes, and cyber fraud. In the past three years, gangsters operating from abroad have posed a significant challenge to the Delhi Police, even issuing threats to officers on the force.
In 2023, the Special Cell successfully brought back one of the most wanted gangsters, Deepak ‘Boxer' — an associate of Lawrence Bishnoi — from Mexico, marking one of the major successes of the force during Arora's tenure.
One of the biggest achievements of the Delhi Police during Arora's stint was the busting of an international drug syndicate, resulting in the seizure of narcotics worth over Rs 13,000 crore by the Special Cell. For this, the MHA had appreciated the Delhi Police.
However, several cases involving bomb threat emails sent to schools, hospitals, airlines, and other government institutions remain unsolved, besides two mysterious blasts that occurred in Rohini last year.
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