Chhattisgarh govt transfers 24 IPS officers, changes SPs in 11 districts

Raipur, Jul 11 (PTI) In a major shake-up ahead of the state assembly monsoon session, the Chhattisgarh government has transferred 24 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, changing the superintendents of police (SPs) in 11 districts and appointing a new IGP for the Rajnandgaon Range. As per the order issued by the Home Department late on Friday, the SPs of four key Bastar region districts — Bijapur, Sukma, Dantewada, and Narayanpur — who were involved in anti-Naxal operations have been handed new assignments. The vacant post of SP in Sarangarh-Bilaigarh district was also filled. Ajay Kumar Yadav, director of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose State Police Academy in Raipur, has been appointed Inspector General of Police (IGP), Rajnandgaon Range. The 2004 batch officer has replaced Balaji Rao Somawar (2007 batch), who has been posted as IGP at the Police Headquarters (PHQ) in Nava Raipur. IGP Prashant Kumar Agrawal, who was serving as IGP of the Bastar Range of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF), has also been transferred to the PHQ. Bijapur SP Jitendra Kumar Yadav will take charge of Kabirdham, while Sukma SP Kiran Chavan has been transferred to Balod, Dantewada SP Gaurav Rai to Balodabazar-Bhatapara, and Narayanpur SP Robinson Guria has been appointed as the deputy commissioner of police (West), Raipur urban. Among the new district police chiefs, 2014-batch IPS officer Chandramohan Singh, who was the director of Training, Operations, Fire Services and Emergency Services, has been appointed SP of Dantewada, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Raipur Umesh Prasad Gupta has been posted as Bijapur SP, DCP (North) Mayank Gurjar as Sukma SP, and DCP (West) Sandeep Kumar Patel as Narayanpur SP. Assistant Inspector General (AIG), Special Branch, PHQ, Bhawna Pandey has been appointed Dhamtari SP, while Trilok Bansal, the SP of Special Task Force (STF), Baghera, will take charge of Bemetara. AIG PHQ Sunil Sharma has been appointed as the SP of Sarangarh-Bilaigarh, while Balod SP Yogesh Patel has been transferred as Surajpur SP. Harish Rathore, the SP of Chief Minister Security, has been posted as Koriya SP, replacing Ravi Kumar Kure, who, along with Balodabazar-Bhatapara SP Bhawna Gupta, has been posted as AIG at the PHQ. Meanwhile, Shweta Rajmani, Commandant of the 19th Battalion of the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF), has been appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG), CAF, Jagdalpur. Rajesh Kukreja, commandant of the 1st battalion CAF, Surajpur SP Prashant Kumar Thakur and Bemetara SP Ramkrishna Sahu have been posted as DIGs at the PHQ. Kabirdham SP Dharmendra Chhavvai has been appointed commandant of the 8th battalion CAF, while Dhamtari SP Suraj Singh Parihar will lead the 4th battalion. PTI TKP ARU