Overview
- The Gujarat government has appointed ADGP Anupam Singh Gahlaut as the new commissioner of Ahmedabad City Police and reclassified the ex-cadre post from DGP to ADGP level.
- Gahlaut will leave his current role as Surat city police chief while he is named as a respondent in a High Court petition over a Ved Darwaja demolition that led to the clearing of more than 100 units.
- A 1997-batch IPS officer, Gahlaut has led policing in Gujarat's four major cities—Ahmedabad, Vadodara (twice), Surat and Rajkot—across a nearly three-decade career.
- He has overseen city policing initiatives such as traffic and grievance reforms in Surat and mentored development of 'NARIT AI', an AI tool for narcotics analysis and investigations.
- The downgrade alters protocol and administrative signalling for Ahmedabad police leadership and leaves a pending legal challenge from evicted residents as a near-term issue to watch.