Senior IPS officer Jai Narayan Pankaj on Tuesday assumed charge as Inspector General of Police (IGP), Southern Range, Brahmapur, succeeding Niti Shekhar.
The charge-taking ceremony was held at the Southern Range headquarters in the presence of senior police officers and staff.
A 2005-batch Odisha-cadre officer, Pankaj thanked the state government for the assignment and said he would work to further strengthen policing across the range. Effective law-and-order management and closer coordination among police units, he said, would be among his immediate priorities.
The Southern Range covers Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamala and Boudh districts.
Pankaj was previously IGP, Intelligence, Odisha, Bhubaneswar. He takes over from Niti Shekhar, a 2007-batch officer who has been posted as IGP (Provisioning) at State Police Headquarters. The changes form part of a six-officer IPS reshuffle notified by the Home Department on August 21, 2026.
This is Pankaj’s second stint heading the Southern Range. He earlier served as IGP, Southern Range, in 2024, and has also held charge of the Special Task Force, Economic Offences Wing and police operations.
A native of Bihar, he has served as Superintendent of Police in Nayagada, Bhadrak, Kandhamala, Baleshwar, Jagatsinghpur, Baragada and Kendujhar, and as SP, Vigilance. He received the DGP’s Disc in 2013 and the Police Medal in 2020.
