Uttar Pradesh — 250 million people, India's largest state police force — managed its law enforcement continuity through five acting Director Generals of Police over four years before appointing a permanent chief on May 31, 2026.
When Mukul Goel was removed as UP's DGP in May 2022, the state settled into an extended acting-chief arrangement that would last through five different officers over four years. India's most populous state, with over 600,000 police personnel and one of the highest crime volumes in the country, processed its command structure through a rolling carousel of acting appointments that required no UPSC panel and left actual succession planning for another day. On May 31, 2026, the UPSC shortlisted three officers and the state government selected Rajeev Krishna — a 1991-batch IPS officer who had already been Acting DGP since June 2025 — as the first permanent DGP since 2022. The occasion was described as restoring "stability." The preceding four years were not described.