Bhubaneswar, Dec 15 (IANS): The Odisha government on Wednesday appointed senior IPS officer Sunil Kumar Bansal as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of the state.

Bansal, a 1987 batch IPS officer, is currently under central deputation and serving as the Special Director Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Delhi.

On the recommendation of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and in the interest of public service, Bansal is appointed as DGP, Odisha for a period of two years with effect from the date of joining in the post, the Odisha government's home department said in a notification.

He will replace the incumbent DGP Abhay. The DGP in his Twitter account has welcomed the appointment of Bansal as DGP Odisha and said he looks forward to his leadership.

Abhay, a 1986-batch IPS was appointed as DGP in November 2019, and is scheduled to retire from the services in June this year. However, the state government had extended the tenure of Abhay for another six month to comply with the directive of the Supreme Court, which mandated that the tenure of the state DGP should be at least two years.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday announced to set up a special crime investigation unit to control crime in the Bhubaneswar and Cuttack Commissionerate Police area.

The unit would investigate crimes related to organised crimes, economic offences and narcotic related offences. The special unit will be headed by a DCP, said the CMO in a statement.

In addition to it, the Chief Minister also sanctioned upgradation of three police outposts to police stations in the Commissioner Police area. The outposts at Pahal, Info Valley and Bayalish Mouza/ Bentakar will be strengthened and upgraded to police stations, the statement said.