Sanjay Arora, a Tamil Nadu-cadre Indian Police Service officer, was on Sunday appointed as the commissioner of Delhi Police, PTI reported.

Arora, who is currently serving as director general of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, will succeed Rakesh Asthana. He will take charge on Monday.

Arora has worked as the superintendent of police in the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force that chased forest brigand Veerappan – for which he also received the chief minister’s gallantry medal.

The officer has also served as the Coimbatore police commissioner between 2002 and 2004 and has worked with the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force.

Outgoing Police Commissioner Asthana has been embroiled in a controversy surrounding his appointment.

Asthana’s appointment had also drawn criticism from Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. On July 29, the Delhi Assembly passed a resolution opposing his appointment.

In January, a non-governmental organisation claimed that Asthana’s appointment violated the Supreme Court judgement in the Prakash Singh case in which the bench had held that an officer needs to have at least six months of service left to become the chief of the police administration of a state.

The Centre, however, said that the judgement applies to the post of the director general of police of a state, and not for the post of commissioner of police or the police chief in a Union Territory. The Union government also said that there was a “compelling need” to appoint a person who had the experience of heading a large police force, and of working in a central investigating agency.

Asthana had also served as the special director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, where his name cropped up in a major controversy related to a bribery case in 2018. However, he was cleared of all charges in February 2020.