Commissioner of the Delhi Police


The Commissioner of Police, Delhi or Delhi Police Commissioner is the head of the Delhi Police, the law enforcement agency of the 15 police districts of India's capital, Delhi.

Origins

In 1966, the Government of India constituted the Delhi Police Commission headed by Justice G.D. Khosla to investigate problems faced by Delhi Police. It was on the basis of the Khosla Commission Report that the Delhi Police was reorganised. Four Police districts were constituted: North, Central, South and New Delhi. The Delhi Police Commission also recommended the introduction of Police Commissioner system, which was eventually adopted on 1 July 1978.
Following the recommendations of "Khosla Commission", Commissioner of Police system in Delhi, the capital of India was started in 1978, with J.N. Chaturvedi being appointed as the first Police Commissioner of Delhi. It replaced the earlier Inspector General of Police system, where the Inspector General of police would report to the Divisional Commissioner of Delhi, thus having a dual authority in effect. The Commissioner system brought an end to this dual authority as since then the appointed Commissioner of Police is of Director General of Police reports to the Union Home Minister and the Lt Governor.
The longest serving Commissioner of Delhi Police is Krishan Kant Paul who served for 42 months.

Incumbent police commissioner

The incumbent Commissioner of Delhi Police is Satish Golcha, IPS who took office on 22 August 2025.

Former police commissioners

#NameTook officeLeft office
1J.N. ChaturvediJul 1978Jan 1980
2P.S. BhinderJan 1980Dec 1981
3Bajrang LalDec 1981Apr 1983
4S.C. TandonApr 1983Nov 1984
5S.S. JogNov 1984Apr 1985
6Ved MarwahApr 1985Apr 1988
7Raja Vijay KaranApr 1988Dec 1990
8Arun BhagatDec 1990Feb 1992
9M.B. KaushalFeb 1992Jan 1995
10Nikhil KumarJan 1995Apr 1997
11T.R. KakkarApr 1997May 1998
12V.N. SinghMay 1998Jun 1999
13Ajay Raj SharmaJul 1999Jun 2002
14R.S. GuptaJul 2002Feb 2004
15Krishan Kant PaulFeb 2004Jul 2007
16Y.S. DadwalJul 2007Nov 2010
17B.K. GuptaNov 2010Jun 2012
18Neeraj KumarJun 2012Jul 2013
19Bhim Sain BassiJul 2013Feb 2016
20Alok Kumar VermaFeb 2016Jan 2017
21Amulya PatnaikFeb 2017Feb 2020
22S.N.SrivastavaMarch 2020June 2021
23Balaji Srivastava 'July 2021July 2021
24Rakesh AsthanaJuly 2021July 2022
25Sanjay AroraAug 2022July 2025
26Shashi Bhushan Kumar Singh 'Aug 2025Aug 2025
27Satish GolchaAug 2025Incumbent

Controversy

Opposition parties questioned the appointment of Rakesh Asthana, a 1984-Gujarat cadre IPS officer, as the Commissioner, who was appointed to the post on 27 July 2021, just before 4 days of his superannuation.