BS Sandhu appointed new Haryana police chief

Pradeep Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 27

In a swift move, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government on Thursday appointed senior IPS officer BS Sandhu as state’s Director General of Police (DGP). The current incumbent KP Singh was appointed as DGP (Prisons).

The appointment 1984-batch “non-controversial” IPS officer as the DGP is seen as an effort to “mollify a section of the dissident” ruling party MLAs and government’s effort to put up a “fresh face” before the public.

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Sources said by effecting  changes in  the top police brass, the state government wanted to send message to people and the party legislators that it would not shy away from large-scale reshuffle at the police and administrative in “public interest”.

It has been a long-standing grouse of the “dissident” party MLAs that the officials at the state and district levels did not spare time to “redress” their grievances.

The Khattar government had appointed KP Singh, a 1985-batch IPS officer and a year junior to Sandhu, as state police chief on April 13, 2016, apparently as fallout of the violence during the February Jat quota agitation, in place of Yashpal Singal.

Talks of KP Singh’s removal have been doing rounds for several weeks following registration of case against kin of a senior functionary of the BJP government recently.

Meanwhile, the 1986-batch IPS PR Deo, on return from Central deputation will replace Sandhu, who was CMD of the Haryana Police Housing Corporation. The 1985-batch officers RP Singh, DGP (Rules), and K Selvraj, Commandant General (Home Guards) and Director (Civil Defence), will swap their places of posting.