When Sam Varghese, IPS (KN:2022) takes charge as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law & Order), Mangaluru City, he brings with him a career story that began well before he entered the police service.
Varghese is a Chartered Accountant who cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination after five unsuccessful attempts, finally making it in his sixth attempt with an All-India Rank of 134.
That journey - from accounting and corporate work to one of India's most competitive examinations and eventually the Indian Police Service - is among the more interesting aspects of the career of Mangaluru's new DCP.
Karnataka government transferred Varghese on September 7, 2026, from his position as Superintendent of Police, Criminal Investigation Department, Bengaluru, and posted him as DCP, Law & Order, Mangaluru City.
Five failures before the sixth-attempt breakthrough
Varghese's UPSC journey was far from straightforward. According to a 2022 profile published by Onmanorama, he began preparing for the Civil Services examination in 2013. It took five unsuccessful attempts before he finally cleared the examination on his sixth attempt in 2022, securing Rank 134. His story is therefore less about an overnight success and more about persistence.
Same profile quoted his approach to preparation as systematic learning and following a schedule - a method that eventually helped him crack the examination.
He was already a Chartered Accountant
Before choosing the civil services, Varghese had already built a professional qualification in finance. He completed his Chartered Accountancy qualification in 2013 and subsequently worked with a Bengaluru-based IT company before clearing the Civil Services examination. Onmanorama reported that he studied commerce at Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi, after schooling in Muscat and Plus-II studies at Rajagiri Public School in Ernakulam.
Interestingly, the official IPS Civil List records his educational qualification as B.Com (Honours) and identifies him as a direct-recruit IPS officer of the 2022 batch, Karnataka cadre, with Kerala as his home state. His professional journey therefore spans three very different worlds: Commerce - Chartered Accountancy - Civil Services - Policing,
A black belt who writes poetry
There is also a less conventional side to Varghese. 2022 profile described him as a black belt in karate, an avid traveller and someone interested in writing English poetry.
Those interests offer a glimpse of a personality beyond the uniform - someone whose career has combined financial training, competitive examination preparation and policing with interests in travel, writing and martial arts.
From Kerala to Karnataka Police
Varghese is from Kerala and was allotted the Karnataka cadre after clearing the Civil Services examination. Government IPS records identify him as a direct-recruit (RR) officer of the 2022 batch, with IPS identity number 20221026. His official date of joining the IPS is recorded as August 29, 2022.
After his initial period of training and district probation, he moved into field policing. His early Karnataka assignment was as Assistant Superintendent of Police, Channagiri Sub-Division, Davanagere district, from September 2024.
A major bank robbery investigation
His Channagiri posting also brought him into the investigation of a major bank robbery case. In the Nyamati SBI bank robbery case in Davanagere district, police arrested six accused and recovered around 17 kg of gold valued at approximately ₹13 crore, according to a report published by India Today.
Varghese, then ASP of Channagiri, was among the officers involved in the investigation. The probe used CCTV footage, mobile tower information and toll-related data to trace the suspects. For a young officer in his first major field assignment, the case offered experience in handling a complex investigation involving multiple suspects and interstate movement.
From ASP to SP, CID
Varghese subsequently moved into a specialised investigation role. Official IPS Civil List records him as Superintendent of Police, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Bengaluru, from January 1, 2026, at Level 11. His September 7 transfer now takes him in the opposite direction — from specialised investigation to frontline city policing.
Why the Mangaluru posting matters
As DCP, Law & Order, Mangaluru City, Varghese will be responsible for one of the city's most important operational policing portfolios. Job is considerably different from his recent CID assignment. CID work is heavily investigation-oriented. A city DCP handling law and order must focus on public order, policing operations, preventive measures, deployment, major events and rapid response. That makes his experience particularly interesting: he arrives in Mangaluru having already worked both on the ground as a subdivision-level police officer and in a specialised investigative organisation.
A career built on persistence
Perhaps the most striking fact about Varghese's career is the number of times he had to try before succeeding. He did not clear the UPSC examination on his first attempt - or his second. It took six attempts. He entered the examination journey as a Chartered Accountant and eventually emerged as a nationally ranked civil services candidate before joining the IPS.
Now, four years after joining the service, he has moved through district probation, ASP-level field policing, CID and SP-level responsibility and is taking charge of law and order in one of Karnataka's major coastal cities.
For Mangaluru, that makes his appointment more than just another transfer in the IPS list. It marks the arrival of a relatively young officer whose career so far has combined financial training, persistence in competitive examinations, field policing and criminal investigation.
Sam Varghese - A quick look at his profile
- Name: Sam Varghese
- Service: Indian Police Service
- Batch: 2022
- Cadre: Karnataka
- Home state: Kerala
- UPSC: Civil Services Examination, Rank 134
- UPSC attempts: Cleared on the sixth attempt
- Professional qualification: Chartered Accountant
- Degree: B.Com (Honours)
- Early field posting: ASP, Channagiri Sub-Division, Davanagere
- Previous posting: SP, CID, Bengaluru
- New posting: DCP, Law & Order, Mangaluru City
- Interesting facts: Black belt in karate; interested in English poetry and travel
Government of India records confirm his 2022 Karnataka-cadre IPS status and official service details, while contemporary reporting from 2022 provides the details of his UPSC journey and personal interests.
In one line: Mangaluru's new DCP is a Chartered Accountant who took six attempts to crack the UPSC Civil Services Examination and turned a long road to success into an IPS career.
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Four IPS Officers Transferred in Karnataka, Sam Varghese to Mangaluru
Keywords: Sam Varghese IPS, Sam Varghese Mangaluru DCP, UPSC Rank 134, Chartered Accountant IPS officer, Mangaluru DCP Law and Order, Karnataka IPS officers