Ex-AASU leader & top ‘spy’ Tapan Deka to be next Assam DGP?

Guwahati: Tapan Deka, a former front-ranking leader of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) who also played a crucial role during the historic Assam Agitation, is likely to be the next Director General of Police (DGP) in Assam, said sources.

Deka’s appointment as DGP assumes significance in the run-up to the publication of the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state on August 31.

Kuladhar Saikia, the current DGP, is retiring from his service on August 31 and Deka is likely to take charge on September 1, the sources said. This is probably the second time that Assam will have a police officer belonging to a non-state cadre as the state’s DGP. Earlier Prakash Singh, an IPS officer of 1959-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre, was appointed as DGP of Assam after Operation Bajrang in 1991.