Himachal DGP Verma retires sans official farewell

Director general of police Atul Verma, before retiring, issued an order awarding DGP Disc to 172 police personnel, but it was soon withdrawn by his acting successor Tiwari

Himachal Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Atul Verma got no official farewell on his retirement on Saturday. Also, an order issued by Verma awarding DGP Disc to 172 police personnel was withdrawn hours later.

Himachal’s retired DGP Atul Verma.

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had on May 27 directed Verma, additional chief secretary (ACS) Onkar Chand Sharma and Shimla superintendent of police (SP) Sanjeev Gandhi to proceed on leave. The development came amid a slugfest within the state police force triggered by the probe into the death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) chief engineer-cum-general manager Vimal Negi, who died under suspicious circumstances in March this year.

Meanwhile, the government has officially handed over the additional charge of the DGP to IPS Ashok Tiwari. Chief secretary Prabodh Saxena issued related orders on Saturday which mentioned that Tiwari would look after the work of DGP till further orders.

The state government had formed a panel of three senior IPS officers — Shyam Bhagat Negi, Ashok Tiwari and Rakesh Agarwal — who are being seen frontrunners for post of DGP.

DGP (jail) SR Ojha also retired on Saturday. The chief secretary issued an order for handing over the additional charge of the jail department to ADGP (law and order) Abhishek Trivedi.