Sanjay Arora, an IPS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, has now become the Delhi Police Commissioner, which is one of the law enforcement positions in the country. Though his jurisdiction would be within Delhi, he would directly fall under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. He had been serving as the Director-General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) before posting to his new role.

As the new Police Commissioner of Delhi, 57-year-old Arora would be succeeding Rakesh Asthana, who was a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer. According to an official order dated Sunday, July 31, the competent authority has approved the inter-cadre deputation of Arora to the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, whose officers serve in the Delhi Police.  

As a 1988-batch IPS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre, Arora has held crucial roles in the Tamil Nadu Police. He had served as the Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Tamil Nadu Police Special Task Force (STF) that was tasked to take down forest brigand Veerappan. As a BTech graduate in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Arora served as the Coimbatore Police Commissioner from 2002 to 2004. For his service at the STF,  he was conferred with the Chief Minister's Gallantry Medal to honour his bravery. 

He also served in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and in the Border Security Force (BSF). Arora was appointed as the ITBP Director-General in August last year and he has tenure in service till July 2025. In a separate order, the Home Ministry said Sanjay Arora's tenure as DG ITBP has been curtailed and his inter-cadre deputation from the Tamil Nadu cadre to the AGMUT cadre will begin from the date of joining till July 31, 2025.  

In yet another order, the Home Ministry said Director-General of the Services Selection Board (SSB), SL Thaosen, a 1988-batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh will hold additional charge of DG, ITBP till further orders. During his tenure, Sanjay Arora has also led the Chennai City Police as an Additional Commissioner of Crime & Headquarters and Additional Commissioner of Traffic. He was also promoted as the Additional Director-General of Police Operations and Administration in Tamil Nadu Police. 

Arora has received the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2004, the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2014, the Police Special Duty Medal, Antrik Suraksha Padak and the UN Peacekeeping Medal. Arora's colleagues said his appointment as the Delhi Police Commissioner will boost its morale adding that the force will get a professional, no-nonsense, and uncomplicated officer." 

Arora's race for Tamil Nadu DGP: 

Notably, Sanjay Arora was among the three final probables in the race of Tamil Nadu DGP along with Karan Singha and Sylendra Babu, both were 1987 batch IPS officers. These three names were finalized by the Union Public Service Commission and of these three, one would win the post of heading the Tamil Nadu Police as its Director-General. The race was intense after Tamil Nadu got a new government formed by Chief Minister MK Stalin. 

In a keenly-watched race, the Tamil Nadu government has finally picked C Sylendra Babu to lead the police force. Succeeding the outgoing chief JK Tripathy, Sylendra Babu has become Tamil Nadu's Director-General of Police on June 30, 2021. Two months later, Arora was in August 2021 appointed as the Director-General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police and nearly after a year, he has now been appointed as the Commissioner of Delhi Police.