Gujarat has a new top cop. Gyanender Singh Malik, a 1993-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Gujarat cadre, was on Saturday, 5 June appointed Director General and Inspector General of Police (DGP) of Gujarat, with immediate effect. The appointment, notified by the state's Home Department, elevates Malik from his previous role as Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, a post he has held since 31 July 2023.

A Career Built Across Borders and Battlefields

Malik's three-decade career is unusually broad even by IPS standards. After training, he served as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Bhuj and subsequently as Superintendent of Police (SP) across six districts — Dangs, Porbandar, Surendranagar, Ahmedabad Rural, Bharuch, and Kutch. He later commanded four major police ranges: Border Range, Ahmedabad Range, Vadodara Range, and Surat Range.

His central deputation took him to the Border Security Force (BSF), where he served as Inspector General of the Gujarat Frontier for approximately four years. During that tenure, he personally supervised a helicopter-borne operation in the Harami Nala area of Kutch, mounted jointly with the Army and Air Force. The operation resulted in the seizure of 11 Pakistani boats and the capture of six Pakistani intruders. He subsequently served with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) as Additional Director General (North) and later as Additional Director General of the Airport Sector in New Delhi.

In 2002, Malik was deployed with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, for a one-year assignment that included investigations into war crimes in the post-conflict region.

Mass Recruitment and Administrative Record

Between 2014 and 2018, Malik simultaneously held several senior positions — Additional Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Secretary in the Home Department, and Inspector General of Police for the Vadodara and Surat ranges. During this period, he was appointed chairman of the police constable recruitment board on three occasions.

According to official records, approximately 24,000 police constables were recruited under his supervision, with each cycle completed and results declared within 10 months. Officials noted that nearly 20 per cent of all personnel currently serving in the Gujarat Police were recruited through boards chaired by Malik — a figure that underscores his lasting institutional imprint on the force.

Ahmedabad: Encroachments, Surveillance, and a Safety Ranking

As Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, Malik oversaw what officials described as one of the largest encroachment-clearance drives in Gujarat's history — a sweep around Chandola Lake that cleared nearly four lakh square metres of government land and removed more than 10,000 illegal structures without any reported untoward incident. Officials noted the area had long been under scrutiny over the alleged presence of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

Under his leadership, the city's surveillance network was substantially expanded through community participation. More than 24,000 CCTV cameras were installed by citizens and organisations, with feeds from over 3,000 strategically important cameras monitored by police stations and the Police Control Room. These supplement nearly 4,000 cameras installed by the government and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

Officials cited Numbeo, an international organisation that compiles safety and crime-related indicators, which ranked Ahmedabad as India's safest city in 2025 — attributing the distinction to a combination of policing measures, technology-driven surveillance, and community participation.

Academic Background and Distinctions

Malik holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, and a Bachelor of Laws from Gujarat University. Before joining the IPS, he worked with ONGC at Bombay High and later served in the Indian Railways. He is a decorated sportsman with medals in horse riding, tent pegging, pistol shooting, tennis, table tennis, and golf, and has been awarded both the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service.

Malik now assumes command of the Gujarat Police as its highest-ranking officer, bringing with him a profile that stretches from grassroots district policing to international conflict zones — a combination that will be closely watched as the state heads into the next phase of law-and-order priorities.