IPS officer Harpreet Sidhu repatriated to Punjab cadre on own request

In a related development, Praveen Kumar, an officer junior to Sidhu, has been appointed as Director General of ITBP. Kumar, a 1993-batch of IPS officer, had been serving with the Intelligence Bureau. Sidhu is not empanelled as DGP in the Centre whereas he is a DGP-rank officer in Punjab.

Before moving to central deputation in 2022, Sidhu served as Additional Director General of Police, Prisons, and was later promoted as Special Director General of Police.

His career is marked by high-profile assignments in counter-narcotics and internal security. A postgraduate in law from the London School of Economics, with an MPhil from Cambridge University and a degree in War Studies from King’s College London, prior to his ITBP stint, Sidhu was a key figure in Punjab’s fight against the drug menace.

Handpicked by then chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Sidhu was repatriated early from a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deputation in Naxal-affected Chhattisgarh to head Punjab’s Special Task Force (STF) on drugs in March 2017. However, his tenure was marred by internal frictions within Punjab Police’s top brass, leading to his temporary removal in September 2018 amid reported rifts with then DGP Suresh Arora. He was reinstated as STF chief in July 2019 and held additional charge as ADGP (Prisons) from June 2022.