Agartala: Tripura’s police department and administration were left in shock on July 20th after Director General of Police Anurag Dhankar was found dead inside his office at the State Police Headquarters in Agartala.
“It was a shock for all the officials and personnel in the police headquarters after the tragic incident”, said a top official who wanted to remain anonymous.
Chief Minister Manik Saha, along with several of his cabinet colleagues and civil administration officials, rushed to the Police Headquarters soon after the news broke.
Preliminary reports say the senior IPS officer was discovered unconscious in his office. He was rushed to Govind Ballabh Pant (GBP) Hospital for emergency treatment, where he was declared dead after an hour.
Several political leaders of Tripura, including Pradesh BJP President Abhishek Debroy and Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury, reached the hospital to pay their respects. Former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar also visited the hospital to pay his respects.
A senior physician at GBP Hospital informed that DGP Dhankar was brought into the hospital around noon. His condition was critical, and the medical team immediately started emergency treatments. The doctor’s team began CPR immediately, but despite applying it for about 48 minutes, he was unable to survive. He was declared dead at 12:48 pm.
The cause of the death was not disclosed by the authorities so far, but only a post-mortem report would be able to establish the exact cause of death. A distinguished career:
The Tripura State Council of Ministers held a Cabinet meeting on Monday and observed two minutes of silence in respect of DGP Dhankar.
Dhankar was a 1994 batch IPS officer in the Tripura cadre, and he joined service in the state in 1995. Starting his career as SDPO, he rose through the ranks over the years. His work took him beyond Tripura as well. He served with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and held key positions with national agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Police Research and Development, and the Central Industrial Security Force.
Over the course of his career, Dhankar received recognition for his service, including the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and the President’s Distinguished Police Medal.
New DGP appointed
Within hours of his death, the state government named senior IPS officer G.S. Rao as the in-charge Director General of Police. Rao, from the 1999 batch, was serving as Additional Director General of Police (AP) at the time and will now hold additional charge as head of the police force until further orders.
The order came from Tripura’s General Administration (Personnel & Training) Department and was issued in the name of the Governor. It noted that Rao, being the sixth senior-most officer in the state cadre, has been given the responsibility to ensure the police force continues to function smoothly during this period.
