Delhi Police appoints medal winning IPS officer M Harsha Vardhan as new DCP Dwarka

New Delhi, June 8

The Delhi Police have appointed IPS officer M Harsha Vardhan as the new deputy Commissioner of Police in Dwarka district.

The move came after Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana shifted DCP Shankar Chaudhary following the incident of alleged brawl at a pub in Great Kailash where a woman's had sought police control help during an assualt where the woman received injuries.

IPS officer M Harsha Vardhan was posted as Additional DCP in South district of Delhi Police.

M Harsha Vardhan is 2012 batch AGMUT cadre IPS officer who was transferred to Delhi in 2021 from Arunachal Pradesh.

M Harsha Vardhan was awarded Union HM’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for his investigation into a major recruitment scam in the exam conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB).

Harsha Vardhan was posted as SP  Special Investigation Cell in Arunachal Pradesh.

It was found that candidates had paid 8-12 lakhs each to the then Under Secretary of APSSB for clearing the exam. They were asked to leave the OMR sheet blank and later the then Under Secretary of APSSB used her access to the strong room to fill in the correct answers.

The scale of crime was such that during investigation Harsha Vardhan and his team and found that even evidence like CCTV footage had been destroyed. More than 20 persons were arrested in the case. Unexplained transactions were traced to an account linked to the arrested Under Secretary and her husband in Arunachal Pradesh.

The accounts containing more than 1 crore rupees was seized. Electronic gadgets like mobile phones of accused, hard disks of CCTV system were seized and sent to CFSL Chandigarh, as there are no forensic facilities for digital evidence in Arunachal Pradesh.

The investigators had traced various deleted WhatsApp chats and images were recovered from the phones of the accused persons which provided vital evidence in the case and also revealed that a similar scam had occurred in UDC examination conducted by APSSB earlier, for which SIC registered a separate case.

IPS officer Harsha Vardhan had ensured that for the first time ever in Arunachal Pradesh, approver evidence was secured against the main accused in a Prevention of Corruption Act case.

Harsha Vardhan Rao's father M Vishnu Vardhan Rao is also an IPS officer who was former DGP of Jharkhand. An officer of 1987 batch Vishnu Vardhan is known to be a strict officer in Jharkhand, he is now DG Home Guards.

His sister M Deepika, an IPS officer is posted in Andhra Pradesh cadre and first woman IPS officer to be posted in Kunoor.
Harsha Vardhan followed steps of his father Vishnu Vardhan Rao and joined the IPS in 2012.

Meanwhile, four other IPS officers were reshuffled on June 7 following the appointment of new DCP Dwarka.
In an order passed by the Lieutenant Governor Delhi, Shankar Choudhary, a 2011 batch IPS officer, has been transferred to the police technology and implementation wing, Pawan Kumar, a 2009-batch DANIPS officer, has been posted as additional DCP-1 (south district).

M Harsha Vardhan, a police son and medal winning cop hails from a family known to be the only family that has four IPS officers in one family serving the country.