Commissioner of the Hyderabad City Police


The Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad City is the head of Hyderabad City Police.
The commissioner is an Indian Police Service officer of the rank of Director general of police or Additional director general of police. The commissioner heads the police force in a jurisdiction consisting of approximately 650 km2 area and home to a population of 1.6 Crore with a 40 lakh floating population.

History

The post of Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad City has its roots in Hyderabad State during the Nizam period. Called Kotwal-e-Balda or Kotwal for short, the Commissioner of police was appointed by the Nizam of Hyderabad. Apart from holding the powers and privileges as the head of police, he also enjoyed certain judicial and civil powers. He was the chief adviser to the Nizam on all police matters and was part of his durbar. Most of the Kotwals were nobles. The first Hindu kotwal was Raja Bahadur Venkat Rama Reddy, who served as the Commissioner during mf the reign of Mir Osman Ali Khan Nizam VII.