Tripura DGP Anurag Dhankar cremated with full state honours in Uttar Pradesh

Tripura Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Dhankar, who was found dead at the state police headquarters in Agartala earlier this week, was cremated with full state honours in his ancestral town of Baraut in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district on July 22.

Dhankar's son, Abhishek, lit the funeral pyre at the cremation ground near Bawli Chungi on the Delhi-Saharanpur highway after the senior IPS officer was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour.

The 60-year-old IPS officer of the 1994 batch was found hanging in the washroom of his chamber at the Tripura Police Headquarters on Monday. Police have registered a case of unnatural death and are investigating the incident, which officials said prima facie appears to be a case of suicide.

A funeral procession stretching nearly one kilometre was taken out before the last rites, with around 500 people, including police personnel, public representatives and local residents, joining to pay their final respects.

Dhankar, a native of Biharipur village in Baghpat district, was brought to his residence on Gandhi Road in Baraut shortly after midnight on Tuesday. A large number of people, including senior police and administrative officials, elected representatives and local residents, gathered on Wednesday to offer floral tributes.

Uttar Pradesh Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Social Welfare Asim Arun, a former IPS officer and Dhankar's batchmate, attended the funeral and expressed condolences to the bereaved family.

Arun recalled that both of them belonged to the 1994 IPS batch and trained together at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad. They also served together in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo.

Dhankar was elevated from Additional Director General of Police to the post of DGP in May 2025 and was due to retire in about 11 months.

During his distinguished career, he led the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the ₹13,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud involving fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and the reinvestigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases.

He is survived by his wife and son, who resides in Canada.