Outgoing Delhi Police chief bids an emotional farewell

Bidding an emotional farewell to the Delhi Police force, of whom he was the Commissioner for 13 months, a teary-eyed Neeraj Kumar today termed his last day in office as both "happy and sad".
"After 37 years of the police duty I am retiring today, this is a mixed feeling. I'm both happy and sad. I am happy because I worked with India's best police force and worked 13 months as the Delhi police commissioner. But I am sad because, as this is the last day today to wear this uniform, I can't believe this," he said.
He was speaking at his farewell parade here today.

In a trembling voice, Kumar said that during his 13-month long tenure, he faced a lot of challenges but he was never shaken as he knew that the police 'family' is behind him.
While taking pride that there was not even a single terror incident during his tenure in Delhi, Kumar said it was under his tenure that the Delhi Police busted a cadre of Indian Mujahideen (IM), which was involved in Pune serial blasts.
Kumar said that once a news anchor during an interview told him that Commissioners of Delhi Police arrive on an elephant but leave on foot.

"The anchor meant that I was on my way out soon. But today I would like to tell all my well wishers including that this Commissioner came on an elephant and is leaving on it," he said.

"We have filed chargesheet in every important case in my tenure which includes Indian Premier League (IPL) spot fixing scandal, Deepak Bhradwaj murder case, Defence colony five crore robbery case," the former Delhi Police Commissioner said.
After the parade Kumar handed over the charge to Bhim Sain Bassi, who is the 20th Commissioner of the Delhi Police.
Neeraj Kumar, a 1976 batch IPS officer, took charge of Delhi Police from B.K. Gupta July 1 last year. Kumar had an eventful tenure, he had come under severe criticism after the December 16 gangrape of a 23-year-old which triggered widespread anger across the country.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had slammed Kumar for the way Delhi Police handled the protests in the city in the wake of the brutal gangrape and even demanded his resignation.
Kumar had also come under severe criticism following rape of a five-year-old girl in Gandhi Nagar area of North East Delhi in April.
Hundreds of people had staged demonstration outside Delhi Police headquarters here after it was alleged that two police personnel had offered Rs 2,000 bribe to the victim's poor parents to hush up the case.
However, Kumar and his force was recently praised for exposing spot-fixing scam in the Indian Premier League (IPL).