Lokanath Behera

Lokanath Behera (born 17 June 1961) is a retired Indian Police Service (I.P.S.) officer. He was State Police Chief and Director General of Police (DGP) of the Kerala State Police. He was the former Director of Vigilance in the state of Kerala, after T. P. Senkumar IPS was reappointed as the Kerala State Police Chief and Director General of Police following the verdict of the honorable Supreme Court of India. Behera is from Odisha. He was one of the founding members of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He was also instrumental in modernizing the Kerala police, equipping it with modern vehicles and state-of-the-art small arms and non-lethal weaponry.

Quotes

• Islamic sleeper cells exist in Kerala... According to [intelligence] inputs, Kerala is a recruiting ground for Islamic State as the people here are educated and the IS requires professionals like engineers and doctors. But we have dealt with it in a systematic way.
• After the exodus of 21 families to IS-controlled areas, we did lots of things. How many went after that? We have formed one of the best ATS [squads] in the country and it is doing a great job behind the scenes. That’s why there is not much concern. But we cannot be complacent in mounting our surveillance against suspected sleeper cells activities of terror outfits.
  • as quoted in Why Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is denying the existence of IS sleeper cells in Kerala