Additional Inspector General (AIG) Basanta Kunwar has been promoted to the post of Inspector General of Nepal Police.

A Cabinet meeting held on Friday promoted Kunwar to the post.

Kunwar was promoted to the senior-most position of Nepal Police after the incumbent Inspector General of Police Dhiraj Pratap Singh retired on Friday completing 30 years of his service.

Singh and his batchmates had lobbied to extend the 30-year service period but the government promoted Kunwar to the post, continuing the provision for compulsory retirement.

Along with Kunwar, other additional inspector generals Tek Prasad Rai, Deepak Thapa, Shyam Lal Gyawali and Kiran Bajracharya were in the race for the top post. They were promoted to AIG only on Monday.

Kunwar entered the police force on March 19, 1995, as an inspector and will retire in mid-April 2025. He has experience of working in various districts in different capacities and also at Kathmandu Valley Crime Division and Nepal Police Headquarters.

Kunwar has been accused of human rights violations during the Maoist insurgency. Conflicts victims on Thursday had objected to the promotion of Kunwar to AIG but the government promoted him to the top post, ignoring the concerns over his tainted past.

Kunwar, who was deployed in the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia, was recalled in October 2011, within three months of his posting, in connection with his alleged involvement in a 2009 torture case in Nepal. A youth from Siraha district, arrested on theft charges, was severely tortured in 2009 when Kunwar was serving as the police chief in the district.