Hyderabad: B. Prasada Rao, the son of a police constable, on Monday took over as in-charge head of the state’s police forces. He succeeds V. Dinesh Reddy, who retired on Monday and was given a ceremo
Hyderabad: B. Prasada Rao, the son of a police constable, on Monday took over as in-charge head of the state’s police forces. He succeeds V. Dinesh Reddy, who retired on Monday and was given a ceremonial farewell. The state government issued a GO appointing Prasada Rao as head of the state police force as a temporary arrangement. His appointment will be formalised after due process. The government will send a list of names of all eligible officers to the Union Public Service Commission to select the new HoPF. Rao trained as a scientist before joining the IPS and has held several positions in the state police. He is also a visiting professor at JNTU Hyderabad and Andhra University at Vizag. Next: Prasada graduated from IIT Prasada graduated from IIT Prasada Rao, whose father was a constable in Guntur, is also the first DGP of the state from the Dalit community. “It’s a great event in my life to take up this post. A big thanks to the Chief Minister,” Rao said of his appointment. With daily agitations in the state on the bifurcation issue, being appointed to the top job comes at a difficult time, but Rao said, “Any problem will be dealt with as per the law. I appeal to both the sides to be like brothers and not to get emotional. I will ensure that the police force works impartially on these issues in both the regions.” He said terrorism in urban areas like Hyderabad will be dealt with effectively and preventive measures will be taken. “All the wings, including special branches and Intelligence will be strengthened after review.” He said training and support for cyber crime detection and prevention will be imparted to the staff. When asked about the merger of Hyderabad and Cyberabad police commissionarates, Rao said that the government will take a decision on it. He said Naxal violence will be dealt with and VIP protection will be ensured. “For the safety of women and school children we will take all measures,” he said. Rao also said that corruption in the police department will be dealt with seriously and action will be taken against erring officials. “We will ensure transparency in police transfers.” A post graduate in physics from IIT Madras, Prasada Rao joined the police service in 1979 and was allotted the AP cadre. He has been superintendent of police of Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Nalgonda districts and served as SP Vigilance cell, SP Intelligence and commandant of the Central Industrial Security Force at Visakhapatnam and Bhopal. He was deputy inspector-general of police of Eluru and Kurnool ranges and also additional director of the Anti Corruption Bureau and DIG of the Security Wing of Intelligence. Rao served as commissioner of police of Hyderabad and Cyberabad. He served as vice chairman and MD of APSRTC and Additional DG (Law and Order) and Additional DG (Provisioning & Logistics). He won the Indian Police Medal for meritorious service in 1997 and the President’s Police Medal for distinguished service in 2006. In his avatar as a scientist, he made a presentation at the Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru, titled ‘Wave theory of light — A historical blunder ” in 2003. He has published a paper, ‘New light on light’ in the Italian Optics Journal and took part in the 3rd International Conference on Physics in Hong Kong in December 2012.
