The senior most Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in the state, Rupak Kumar Dutta is Karnataka’s new Director General and Inspector general of Police.

RK Dutta will take charge from incumbent Om Prakash on January 31. Media reports suggest that the state government has written to the Centre to relieve Dutta from his post of Special Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs so that he can assume his duty as the DG and IG.

A 1981 Karnataka Cadre IPS officer, Dutta was the Assistant Director General of the Lokayukta in 2009 and had pursued a law course from a private college during his tenure at the anti-corruption wing.

During this time, a petition was filed against Dutta stating that he was either attending college while ignoring his official duty, or had forced the college to give him the attendance to make him eligible to take up the exam.The case, filed by RTI activist G Mallesh, was quashed by the Karnataka High Court due to lack of evidence.

The case was then taken to the Supreme Court, which gave Dutta a clean chit.

RK Dutta was eligible to be Karnataka police chief in 2015, but was not considered as he was a special director in the CBI. He was a strong contender for the post in 2016, before he was shifted to the Home Ministry in December.

Dutta will serve as the DG and IG for eight months as he is set to retire in October. Two others were in race for the top post: DGP H C Kishore Chandra and DGP M N Reddi.