Ex-chief of Delhi Police SBK Singh appointed DG (Prisons)

Shashi Bhushan Kumar Singh appointed as Delhi's new Director General (Prisons), replacing Satish Golchha, amid police reshuffles following recent incidents.

Senior 1988-batch IPS officer Shashi Bhushan Kumar (SBK) Singh, who briefly held additional charge as Delhi Police Commissioner for 21 days, was appointed as the new Director General (Prisons), Delhi (Tihar) on Saturday. The posting order was issued by the Delhi government’s Home department.

SBK Singh. (ANI)

“The Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor is pleased to transfer Sh. S B K Singh, IPS (AGMUT: 1988), holding the charge of director general (home guards), and post him as director general (prisons) with immediate effect,” the order read.

Singh replaces 1992-batch IPS officer Satish Golchha, who was appointed as the new Delhi Police Commissioner on Thursday. Singh had held the police commissioner’s charge since July 31 through an order of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Golchha’s appointment as commissioner came a day after an attack on Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta during a public hearing at her Civil Lines office. Officials, however, said the posting had no connection with the incident.

In separate orders issued on Saturday with the approval of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, two other 1992-batch IPS officers — Nuzhat Hassan and Virender Singh Chahal — were also shifted out of the Delhi Police and given new roles. While Hassan was appointed as Director General (Home Guards), Chahal was made Director General (Civil Defence).

According to police officers, the transfers of Hassan and Chahal were inevitable since both are one batch senior to Golchha, the new police chief. Hassan, due to retire in January 2026, was serving as special commissioner of police (human resource division, HRD). Chahal, who will retire in September 2026, was heading the licensing and legal division as special commissioner of police.

Their transfers have created vacancies at the special commissioner level, which may lead to a wider reshuffle in the city police’s higher ranks. Robin Hibu, a 1993-batch IPS officer currently posted as special commissioner of police (transport zone), is likely to be appointed the next head of the HRD division since he is the seniormost IPS officer in the Delhi Police after Golchha, said a police officer who did not wish to be named.