Geeta Johri first woman DGP of Gujarat: All you need to know

New Delhi : Geeta Johri is setting benchmark for women in India with every passing day; she was the first woman police officer in Gujarat and now she has become the first woman top cop (DGP) of the state.

She has been appointed as Director General of Police one day after the resignation of PP Pandey, an officer whose appointment was challenged because of the murder charges against him in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case.

In the wake of allegations Mr Pandey had to quit his services one month before his designated tenure.

60-year-old Geeta Johri is the officer who had probed fake encounter of Sohrabudin Sheikh. Her retirement is due by the year end, when assembly polls are due in Gujarat.

Who is Geeta Johri?

Geeta Johri is the first woman IPS officer of Gujarat from 1982 batch.  Her career graph saw several ups and downs since the 1990s. In September 1992, she tasted fame when she took on mafia don Abdul Latif by raiding his den in Popatiawad at Dariapur and arrested his gunman Sharif Khan. But Latif managed to escape.

In 1998, as Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG Police) in Gandhinagar, she was in the eye of the storm when a dispute with the top politicians in connection with the investigations of a case, saw her being sent on a 'punishment posting' to the Training Academy at Vadodara.

In 2006, she was an alleged accused in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter, but the court later dropped all charges against her.

Geeta Johri has now grabbed headlines for one more time after she has become first woman top cop of Gujarat.

In 2010, she accused the Central Bureau of Investigation of “pressurising her into falsely implicating former Gujarat Minister, Amit Shah, in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case,”, The Hindu had reported. In 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah was exonerated of charges in connection with the case.