BENGALURU, 21 MAY
The Karnataka government appointed MA Saleem, a 1993-batch IPS officer, as the new Director-General and Inspector-General of Police (DG&IG) on Wednesday. Saleem succeeds Alok Mohan, who retired from service today.

Saleem was the DG (CID), Special Units, and Economic Offences, Bengaluru. The state government had extended the tenure of the outgoing Mohan by 21 days, pushing his retirement from 30 April to 21 May. Mohan, a 1987-batch IPS officer, was set to complete two years in the top post on 22 May, making the extension legally consistent with the Supreme Court’s directive mandating a fixed two-year tenure for State police chiefs. He had been appointed in 2023 after his predecessor Praveen Sood left for central deputation as CBI Director.

Saleem took charge as the new DG & IG on Wednesday. Saleem (59 years) is a post-graduate in Commerce and holds a doctorate in traffic management. Popularly known as one-way' Saleem for the 122 one-ways he introduced to ease traffic issues in Bengaluru during his tenure as Deputy Commissioner (Traffic-East), Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security), and as the Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic). He is credited with introducing the "Public Eye" — a citizens' participation programme in traffic enforcement in Bengaluru and Mysuru cities. He also launched the "Safe Routes to School" programme in Bengaluru to ensure the safety of school children.

Saleem has previously served in 26 key positions, ranging from SP of Udupi and Hassan districts to IGP (Eastern Range). He was also the Police Commissioner of Mysuru city.

He took over as the 42nd DG&IG of Karnataka and is the third Muslim to head the top post after AR Nizamuddin in 1990 and Abdul Rahman Infant in 2012.

Saleem is a recipient of the President's Republic Day Police Medal for Distinguished Services in 2017, the President's Republic Day Police Medal for Meritorious Services in 2009, and was awarded the Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award in 2023.

The front-runners for the DG&IG post included Prashant Kumar Thakur, Ramachandra Rao, whose tenure was clouded by a gold smuggling involving his step-daughter Ranya Rao, Malini Krishnamurthy, PK Mohanty, and Alok Kumar. The selection for the DG &I G post is at the discretion of the Chief Minister and is based on merit rather than seniority.