Besides them, senior IB officer S K Sinha and Additional DG of Border Security Force Rina Mitra have been promoted to the same rank.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved grant of Special DG rank to these four officers, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said.
All of them are Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of 1983 batch.
Patnaik, who belongs to Gujarat cadre, is the Chief Executive Officer of NATGRID -- an intelligence gathering mechanism being set up to track any terror incident, suspect and to enhance India's counter-terror capabilities.
Mitra will now be Special Director General in the border guarding force.
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