Early career Prior to joining the police service, Sreelekha, worked as a lecturer at the Shree Vidyadhiraja College. She also worked for the
Reserve Bank of India, as a Grade B Officer and was posted as a Statistical Officer in
Mumbai.
Indian Police Service In January 1987, at the age of 26, Sreelekha became the first woman IPS officer in Kerala Cadre. After joining the police service, she has served as
District Superintendent of Police in 3 districts,
Alappuzha,
Pathanamthitta and
Thrissur. Sreelekha also worked with the
Central Bureau of Investigation for 4 years as
Superintendent of Police in Kerala and
DIG in
New Delhi. She was promoted to Deputy Inspector General of the
Ernakulam Range. In 2005, Sreelekha was posted as the Managing Director of the Kerala State Co-operative Rubber Marketing Federation. In June 2007, Later on, she also served as the
Inspector General,
CID. She also served as Addl. DGP, Armed Police Battalions with additional charge for Training. on 15 February 2014, she has been posted as ADGP (Police Home Guards, Community Policing, Gender Justice and Nodal Officer for Nirbhaya). She was the Organising Secretary of the 5th National Conference of Women in Police, organised by the Bureau of Police Research & Development in July 2012, and is also a strong advocate of gender parity in the Kerala Police force. As ADGP, Sreelekha was asked by
Kerala Home Minister,
Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan to conduct an inquiry into the involvement of Kerala Information Commissioner K. Natarajan, who had allegedly persuaded a Dy.S.P of Police to leave out the name of
V. S. Achuthanandan from the list of accused in a land scam case. After completion of investigations, Sreelekha recommended the suspension of the Information Commissioner, upon finding that the official had misused his office. R. Sreelekha as ADGP Vigilance & anti-corruption Bureau, chargesheeted the Disproportionate Asset case against
IG Tomin J. Thachankary, accused also in several other cases. As retaliation, Thachankary accused Sreelekha for violating norms in visiting
Thailand prior to Government Permission. Sreelekha sought permission from the government to file a defamation suit against Tomin J. Thachankary, and obtained the same. As the Transport Commissioner in Kerala, she reduced the road accidents and fatalities substantially through inclusive road safety measures and in 2014, there were 292 less fatalities in Kerala against the statistics in 2013, which was a record achievement in India. The revenue from taxes and penalties reached an all-time high of Rs 3000 crore during her tenure.
Motor Vehicles Department became successful in e-governance, Vahan-Sarathy was completed and an android app called 'Smart trace' was made to detect vehicle duplications and digital record of around 98 lakh vehicles in the state. She also conducted Asia's first ever Road Hackathon with assistance from the World Bank, at Technopark where over 300 participants showcased their technological innovations to better road safety in the State. For detecting Praveen Murder case in Kottayam and arresting the then - DySP R Shaji and also for getting lifetime imprisonment for him and his accomplices within 90 days of chargesheeting the case, she was awarded the Government's Meritorious Service Award. She was the officer investigating the Kiliroor sex scandal case, and reported to the CBI court that there was no VIP involved.
Thomas Chandy, an MLA and K. P. Mohanan was accused of being linked to the case. However, Sreelekha's deposition to the court was on the basis of the statement from the victim which absolved the two. R.Sreelekha investigated the irregularities in Consumerfed in procuring rice above the market price and for irregularities found in various godowns in
Kochi and
Thiruvananthapuram She was the Transport Commissioner of Kerala from July 2013 to September 2015, during which time, road accidents and fatalities were at an all-time low. Asia's first ever road safety Hackathon conducted by her with assistance from World Bank at Technopark Trivandrum was a huge success. As ADGP Crime Records Bureau, she completed the Crime & Criminal Tracking networking system and started an interactive website "THUNA" (The Hand U Need for Assistance) for a public interface with police. As Additional DGP, Intelligence, Kerala from June 2016 to January 2017, her proposal to start a counseling center HATS (Help and Assistance to Tackle Stress) for police officers who are suffering from mental stress, to help those who have personal problems such as addiction, issues with senior officers, family problems, financial problems, suicide tendencies etc. has been approved by the Department. She got promoted to the rank of Director General of Police in September 2017. From January 2017 to June 2019, she worked as the Director General of
Kerala Prisons and Correctional Services. She had introduced several positive changes in the 54 prisons in the State which are now referred to as Correctional Centers. From June 2017 to 1 June 2020, she was the head of a newly created post, "Social Policing & Traffic" in Kerala and was stationed at the Kerala State Police Headquarters. She took charge as the
Director General heading the
Kerala Fire And Rescue Services on 1 June 2020, becoming the first 'Woman DGP' of independent charge in Kerala. She retired on 31 December 2020, as the Director General of the
Kerala Fire And Rescue Services, after completing 33 years and 5 months in the service.
Police career == Political career ==