Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, July 14:

Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashok Kumar Patnaik’s family members residing in Odisha capital are ecstatic after the top cop’s recent assignment as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).

A file picture of Ashok Patnaik's family with Gursharan Kaur. A file picture of Ashok Patnaik's family with Gursharan Kaur.

“We were elated after getting news from my brother over phone. We also read in the newspapers about it. As family members, we are obviously happy… particularly my mother Ratnamala Patnaik,” Ashok Patnaik’s elder sister Rajalaxmi Patnaik told OST.

Notably, Odisha-born IPS officer has been appointed as the CEO of NATGRID yesterday.

The Gujarat cadre 1983-batch IPS officer is currently posted as Additional Director, Intelligence Bureau.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri A.K. Patnaik, IPS (GJ: 83), Additional Director, Intelligence Bureau as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID). The appointment of CEO, NATGRID will be effective from the date of assumption of charge of the post upto December 31, 2018 i.e. the date of his retirement on superannuation or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” a Home Ministry release said on Wednesday.

Patnaik is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is married to Singh’s second daughter Daman Singh.

The Rs 3,400 crore NATGRID project was approved by Cabinet Committee on Security in June 2011 by the UPA government. However, the implementation of the project slowed down after the exit of the then Home Minister P Chidambaram in July 2012. Last year, it received a fresh thrust with the NDA government roping in National Informatics Centre to create a state-of-the-art networking system for the project.

The appointment comes a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the progress on NATGRID and the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, a project launched by the previous UPA government in 2009 aimed at connecting 15,000 police stations across the country and an additional 5,000 offices of supervisory police officers.