Noida:Senior IPS officer Laxmi Singh on Wednesday took charge as the police commissioner of Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), according to officials. With the appointment, Singh has become the first woman officer to head Police Commissionerate in Uttar Pradesh. Singh, a 2000-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, has replaced Additional Director General Alok Singh.
"Singh had arrived in Noida late Tuesday night and joined duty Wednesday morning. She also met with all top officers of Gautam Buddh Nagar commissionerate at the Surajpur office," a police official said. The 48-year-old IG-rank officer is the second police commissioner of Gautam Buddh Nagar, where the commissionerate was introduced in January 2020.
She was serving as an Inspector General of Police, Lucknow range. She holds the distinction of being the first woman IPS topper (33rd rank overall) in the UPSC-held exams and was adjudged the best probationer at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, as per official records.
She has also been awarded the PM's silver bation and the home minister's pistol during her training. Holding a B.Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering, she had her first posting as senior superintendent of police in 2004. In 2013, she was promoted as a deputy IG and in 2018 she was promoted to the rank of IG.
Laxmi has previously served as the IG/DIG of the Special Task Force (STF) in Gautam Buddh Nagar from January 1, 2018 to March 5, 2018. Thereafter, she was made IG of the police training school in Meerut from March 2018 to May 26 in 2020 before being moved as IG Range Lucknow.
A senior official who has worked with her told news agency that she maintains a personal diary of criminal incidents that take place in her jurisdiction. The new Noida Police chief is married to BJP MLA from Sarojini Nagar seat in Lucknow and former ED officer Rajeshwar Singh. Among other awards, Laxmi has received the Police Medal in 2016, UP DGP's silver and gold medals in 2020 and 2021. She was last year honoured with the UP chief minister's excellence in service medal.