Surajit Kar Purkayastha (; born 1 January 1957) is a retired senior

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

officer of 1985

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

cadre who served as the ''State Security Advisor'' of

from 1 June 2018 to 31 May 2021. Prior to that, he served as Director General of Police of

and was the 36th

Police Commissioner of Kolkata The Commissioner of the Kolkata Police (formerly Commissioner of the Calcutta Police) is the head of the Kolkata Police. The Kolkata police commissioner is appointed by the Minister of Home and Hill Affairs and reports independently to the Ho ...

Education

Purkayastha holds a

Mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

degree from

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT-KGP) is a Public university, public institute of technology, research university, and autonomous institute established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal. Foun ...

also completed PGDIT from

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is a public business school headquartered in New Delhi, Delhi, India. It has been proposed to be declared as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India. Established in 1963, it ...

, New Delhi and after completion of his studies he joined

Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) is the Kolkata-based flagship company of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, born from the erstwhile RPG Group, under the chairmanship of businessman Sanjiv Goenka. It is an Indian electricity gener ...

Police career

Purkayastha is an officer of 1985 West Bengal cadre, who completed his

training in

Burdwan Bardhaman (, ), officially Bardhaman Sadar, is a city and municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an a ...

district. His first posting was at

Bolpur subdivision Bolpur Subdivision is an administrative subdivision of Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. Overview Bolpur subdivision is part of the Suri-Bolpur Plain, a sub-micro physiographic region. It covers the interfluves of the Mayura ...

as SDPO in

Birbhum district Birbhum district () is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other impo ...

. He has also worked as

Additional Superintendent of Police Additional Superintendent of Police (abbreviated as Addl. SP or Addl. DCP) or Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, is a rank in Indian police forces. The officer holding this rank can be from the Indian Police Service (IPS) or from respec ...

South 24 Parganas district South 24 Parganas (Pron: pɔrɡɔnɔs; abbr. 24 PGS (S)), or sometimes South Twenty Four Parganas and Dakshin 24 Parganas, is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Alipore previously, with its Zilla Parishad now in ...

and also as Addl. SP, Asansol and Addl SP, Barrackpore. He later worked in

Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police () (formerly "Calcutta Police"), is the Law enforcement in India, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the Kolkata metropolitan region, metropolitan area of the city of Kolkata, ...

in various posts like ''DC Security Control'', ''DCDD'', ''DC Traffic,'' etc. After that he became the

Superintendent of Police Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territori ...

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

and then went to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

as a

Research and Analysis Wing The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is the foreign intelligence agency of the Republic of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, and a ...

(R&AW) officer and stayed there for 5 years. He also held the ranks of '' DIG-Vigilance'', ''DIG PR'', '' IG-South Bengal'', ''IG-Law and Order''. Then he became '' ADG- Law and Order'' before assuming the office of

As Police Commissioner of Kolkata

On 13 February 2013, Purkayastha was appointed as the 36th Police Commissioner of Kolkata replacing Ranjit Kumar Panchananda. He served as the Commissioner for three years and was succeeded by Rajeev Kumar.

As the Director General of Police

After serving as Police Commissioner of Kolkata for three years, Purkayastha was appointed as the DGP of the state succeeding G. M. P. Reddy and served as the State Police chief for two years until 31 May 2018 when he was succeeded by Virendra.

As the State Security Advisor

After his retirement, the state government created a post for Purkayastha -- ''State Security Advisor,'' on the lines of the National Security Advisor (NSA).

References