Seemanth Kumar Singh takes charge as new city police chief

Seemanth Kumar Singh, new Bengaluru Police Commissioner, makes arrests in stampede case, with past controversies and pandemic relief efforts.

Seemanth Kumar Singh, a 1996-batch IPS officer born in Ranchi, Jharkhand in 1970, took charge as Bengaluru City Police Commissioner from B. Dayananda close to midnight on Thursday, hours after the latter was suspended in connection with the stampede case. 

Hours after he took charge, the city police arrested a prominent office bearer of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise and three others from the event management company that organised the victory celebrations. “I had to take charge late in the night. I immediately held a meeting with senior officers and reviewed the investigation into the case and we made arrests,” he said. 

Chandragupta, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) have been given additional charge of Additional Commissioner of Police (West) and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), as both officers who held these posts have also been suspended.  

Mr. Singh was heading Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) before he was posted as the City Police Commissioner. He had earlier served in the city police as Additional Commissioner of Police (East) and earlier as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic East). 

Starting his career as a probationer in Belagavi, he served as Superintendent of Police (SP) in Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, Vijayapura, Mandya, Kolar, and Ballari districts. He held key positions like Commissioner of Mangaluru city, commander of Anti Naxal Force, IGP (Central Range) and headed Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Karnataka State Reserve Police Force (KSRP), and BMTF. He also served in the Border Security Force (BSF) on a central deputation. His work in arranging dry rations to migrant labourers during the pandemic was much appreciated. His personal mobile phone number had gone viral among migrant labourers during that period. 

However, controversies have also dogged him since his tenure as Superintendent of Police in Ballari district. His name figured in the illegal mining report of the Lokayukta. He was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the illegal mining probe. However, no case was registered against him. When he was heading ACB in 2022, hearing a bail petition, Karnataka High Court Judge H.P. Sandesh made adverse remarks on the functioning of ACB and suggested the agency’s chief was tainted. However, Mr. Singh got relief from the Supreme Court which stayed the remarks against him by the High Court observing the remarks were “irrelevant” to the bail petition.