44 IPS officers shifted in Bihar, senior most to head Vigilance

Alok Raj, the 1989-batch IPS officer who recently lost the race for the post of director general of police (DGP) to the 1990-batch IPS officer RS Bhatti, has been made DG, Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB).

In a big reshuffle in Bihar Police administration at the top level on Saturday, 44 IPS (Indian Police Service) officers were transferred and assigned new postings, according to a notification issued by the state’s home department.

This is the first big reshuffle in police after R S Bhatti took charge as the state police chief earlier this month. (HT file)

Alok Raj, the 1989-batch IPS officer who recently lost the race for the post of director general of police (DGP) to the 1990-batch IPS officer RS Bhatti, has been made DG, Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB).

Alok Raj, the most senior IPS officer in the state and currently posted as DG (training), needed to be accommodated on a post which would not require him to report to the DGP, as per practice and precedence. While such posts existed in the Bihar State Sports Authority, Vigilance, Home Guards and Fire Services, most of them already have DG-rank officers as their incumbent heads. Only DG (Vigilance) post was vacant and it is a key post, according to officials in the police headquarters.

In the past, several DG-rank officers, including Ashish Ranjan Sinha, Abhayanand and PK Thakur, have held the post of DG (Vigilance).

Additional DG (VIB) Sunil Kumar Jha has been made ADG (technical services and wireless).

Preeta Verma, a 1991-batch IPS officer, has been made DG (training) while ADG Sudhanshu Kumar has been made ADG (traffic). Both were waiting for posting.

In Patna, M S Dhillon would continue to be the senior superintendent of police (SSP) despite being promoted to the rank of DIG. In the past also, Patna had DIG-rank officers as SSP.

Saran SP Santosh Kumar has been sent to Special Task Force (training) in the same capacity. In the wake of the recent hooch tragedy that left scores dead, his transfer was expected.

Nawada SP Gaurav Mangla has been sent to Saran. Patna City SP (Central) Ambrish Rahul will replace Mangla at Nawada.

Inspector general (IG), prohibition, Amrit Raj, has been promoted as ADG but will continue on the post, which has been upgraded.

M R Nayak, the 1998-batch IPS officer currently posted as IG (Magadh Range), has been promoted as ADG and shifted to Bihar Special Auxiliary Police (BSAP).

Sahabad range deputy IG Kshatranil Singh, who has been promoted as IG, will replace Nayak in Gaya.

Among the district police chiefs, Muzaffarpur SSP Jayant Kant has been promoted as DIG and posted with BSAP (central division). Kaimur SP Rakesh Kumar has been shifted to Muzaffarpur in place of Jayant Kant.

Additional SP (special security) Lalit Mohan Sharma has been promoted as SP and will replace Kumar at Kaimur.

Gaya SSP Harpreet Kaur has been promoted as DIG and shifted to special branch. Rohtas SP Ashish Kumar Bharti will replace her in Gaya.

Gopalganj SP Anand Kumar has been made new SSP of Bhagalpur. Bhagalpur City SP Swarn Prabhat has been made the new SP of Gopalganj.

Aurangabad SP Kantesh Mishra shifted to East Champaran. BSAP-2 commandant Swapna Ji Meshram will take his place at Aurangabad.

East Champaran SP Kumar Ashish has been made new SP (rail) Muzaffarpur.

Samastipur SP Hridaykant has been shifted to BSAP-2 in place of Meshram while Binay Tiwari, SP (Prohibition), replaces Hridaykant at Samastipur.

Bhojpur SP Sanjay Singh has been transferred as SP (ATS) while Patna City SP (East) Pramod Kumar Yadav replaces him at Bhojpur.

Buxar SP Neeraj Kumar Singh has been made AIG (Inspection) while Gaya additional SP Manish Kumar, after a promotion, has been shifted to Buxar in his place.