Former AIG Pokharel, once backed by UML for IGP, joins RSP

Kathmandu / Nov 28: Former Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) Bishwa Raj Pokharel, once a key contender for the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP), has joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). He was welcomed into the party by Acting Chairperson DP Aryal during a formal event held at the RSP central office on Friday.

Pokharel gained widespread attention in 2022 when the then Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government appointed Dhiraj Pratap Singh as IGP instead of him. Pokharel had challenged the decision at the Supreme Court, which later upheld Singh’s appointment. Following the Gen-Z protests this year, Pokharel publicly claimed in a television interview that he was asked for a large sum of money in exchange for being made IGP.

Despite failure to make it to the top of the organization, Pokharel’s rise through the police hierarchy is often described as extraordinary. After the 2017 elections, the then Nepal Communist Party (NCP) government—with strong backing from UML leaders—rapidly advanced his career, pushing him from DIG to AIG in what many officers called a “rocket rise.”

He was promoted to DIG in 2019, surpassing several senior officers from earlier batches and later elevated to AIG in December 2020 after the Oli government created an additional AIG position widely believed to be designed for him.

However, by the time the IGP appointment was due in 2022, the government had changed, and the Deuba administration chose Singh over Pokharel, ending his accelerated trajectory. With his police career behind him, Pokharel has now begun a new political chapter with the RSP.