Sadhu Ram Chaudhari, OBE, IGP (born July 14, 1899, date of death unknown) was the first police chief of the states of Himachal Pradesh , Delhi and Ajmer ( then union territories) in independent India.
Family Background
He was born on July 14, 1899. He was the son of Chaudhari Gurdit Singh Saini and Smt. Shanti Devi of village Rallana in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. He was Indian Police Services (IPS) officer of Punjab cadre and had joined Punjab Police in Oct 1922.
Sadhu Ram Chaudhari's family belonged to Banwaitgot of Sainis.
Police Career: Commissioner of Police for Three UTs
He joined the Indian Police as Asst-Supdt. of Police and worked in the various districts of the Punjab as Supdt. of Police up to 1946. In 1948 he was given the joint command of the police forces of Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Ajmer as Inspector General of Police, also called Commissioner of Police in union territories.
It should be noted that Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Ajmer were still union territories in 1948.
In terms of rank his position to was superior to that of the current Director General of Police as he was the joint Commissioner of Police for three different UTs, two of which are now full fledged states. The current DGP heads the police force of merely one state.
OBE Decoration
In 1945 Chaudhari received the decoration of Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
References
1. "...examination was instituted in 1922, the following IP officers who came to the Indian Punjab in 1947 had joined: SR Chaudhari, 1923", Police and politics in twentieth century Punjab, pp 57, Bhagwan Singh Danewalia, Ajanta, 1997 2. The India Office and Burma Office list for 1945, pp 324, Great Britain. India Office, Harrison and Sons, ltd., 1945 3. The Times of India directory and year book including who's who, pp 698, Times of India, Bombay, The Times of India Press, 1952 4."The Police Administration in the State was headed by an Inspector General of Police who was also Inspector General of Police for Union Territories of Delhi and Ajmer. Sh. S.R. Chaudhary IP, was the first IGP.", BRIEF HISTORY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH POLICE 5.The Times of India directory and year book including who's who: Volume 38, Sir Stanley Reed, Bennett, Coleman & Co., 1953
