New Delhi, Jul 31 (IANS): Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Bhim Sain Bassi will take charge as Delhi Police chief Wednesday, succeeding Neeraj Kumar.

The new commissioner will take charge at 1 p.m., a police official said.

A 1977 batch IPS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, Bassi, 57, was the front-runner for the post.

Currently special commissioner of police (administration), he previously headed the Delhi Traffic Police and was also Goa's director general of police.

Bassi has also been the special commissioner (vigilance), joint commissioner (southern range) and additional commissioner (northern range).

Neeraj Kumar, a 1976 batch IPS officer, took charge of Delhi Police from B.K. Gupta July 1 last year. His tenure saw the brutal Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape of a young woman, which unleashed unprecedented mass protests in the capital. The woman died while under treatment in Singapore Dec 29.