Shobha Ohatkar

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shobha Ohatkar

• Shobha Ohatkar is an Indian civil servant who is known for being the first female DGP of Bihar appointed in 2020.

• She was born into a Marathi family. ^[8]Dainik Bhaskar

• Her father always wanted her to join the service regardless of any cadet. She cleared the UPSC exam on the first attempt and got Patna cadet for service as Assistant Superintendent of Police. In an interview, she said that she gained a lot of inspiration from her father who always told her to work sincerely and honestly.

  

• When she was posted in Bihar, her mother was hesitant, but her father told her to be confident and do the service properly. As she was the first female ASP in 1992, questions were raised about her posting.

• In 2000, she was transferred to Pune as the additional police commissioner. She also worked in the post of Executive Director of Security at Air India when she was in Maharashtra.

• When she was on deputation in Maharashtra, she made a committee and gave a helpline for the safety of women. She was also the nodal officer for human trafficking.

• Her priority was to threaten the criminals and make them fear the police. Because of her strict behaviour, she was given the name Hunterwali by people in Bihar. In an interview, she revealed why she was given this name and said that when she was posted in Deoghar, women who used to visit temples were raped. So, Shobha used to beat the criminals fiercely because of which people started calling her ‘Hunterwali.’

• In an interview, she said that while she was the SP in 6 districts including Darbhanga, Hazaribagh, Chhapra, Vaishali, and Deoghar, she tried to motivate women.

• When she was transferred to Vaishali, there was a lot of crime in the area. She stopped triple riding on the bike in the place, leading to a 50 per cent decrease in crime. In the Diara area of Bihar, she arrested a gang of 16-17 criminals and created fear of the police in criminals’ minds. In the year 2000, when she was transferred to Hazaribagh, she sent 40 coal mafia to jail. In an interview, she said that when she was posted to Darbhanga in 1998, there used to be a lot of kidnapping incidents.

• In an interview, she talked about the toughest case she solved in her career and said that when she was on deputation, there was a big sex scandal case in Ahmed Nagar, Maharashtra where two minor girls were raped in 2006. At that time, she was the SP in the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) and arrested 26 powerful people. After the investigation, a charge sheet was also filed against all the accused within 90 days.

• She used to earn people’s trust wherever she was posted as an SP. In an interview, she said that she works 18 hours a day and expects her colleagues to also work hard. She further suggested that an SP can win the people’s trust only when he/she connects directly with the public.

• She returned in December 2020 and became the Director General of Bihar.

• As of 2022, she is holding the command in Home Guard and Fire Services.