For the first time, the Karnataka government has appointed a woman as its state police chief. Neelamani N Raju, a 1983 batch IPS officer has been appointed the Director General and Inspector General of Police.

Former state police chief Rupak Kumar Dutta demitted office on superannuation on Tuesday and Neelamani N Raju will officially take charge as the DG and IGP from Tuesday evening.

Prior to her appointment as the DG and IGP, Neelamani N Raju served as the DGP of Fire and Emergency Services, Chief of Home Guards, Civil Defence and the State Disaster Response force.

After her confirmation in 1985, Neelmani N Raju served as the SP of Bengaluru Rural district before being posted for central deputation in 1993.

She has served in central intelligence as the Joint Director of the Intelligence Bureau before returning to Karnataka in 2016.

In May 2016, she was posted as the DGP of Internal Security Division. The state had only six sanctioned DGP posts till 2016. The state government had to write to the Centre requesting it to sanction one more position for Neelamani Raju.

After the sanction came through, she was appointed the DGP of the ISD. Neelamani N Raju is an Intelligence Bureau veteran and the highest-ranking officer in the state police department following the retirement of DG and IGP RK Dutta.

She is set to retire in January 2020 and will serve as the state police chief for over 2 years.

Traditionally, the senior most officer becomes the chief of police and Neelamani Raju was competing with Director General of CID HC Kishore Chandra and DGP of the state Anti-Corruption Bureau MN Reddi.

Congratulating her on the new position, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tweeted, "Congratulations to Karnataka's first woman DG-IGP Neelamani N Raju on her appointment. Wish her a successful tenure in the post.

Congratulations to Karnataka's first woman DG-IGP Neelamani N Raju on her appointment. Wish her a successful tenure in the post.

— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) October 31, 2017