Embattled CRPF’s head transferred

The government has decided to shunt out the man in charge of leading the charge against the Maoists. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Vikram Srivastava will be moved to a police research body after just eight months into his tenure.

The government has decided to shunt out the man in charge of leading the charge against the Maoists. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Vikram Srivastava will be moved to a police research body after just eight months into his tenure.

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The man to replace Srivastava will be K. Vijay Kumar who had led operations to eliminate forest brigand Veerappan.

Srivastava was to continue till March 2012, but a string of incidents, beginning with the ill-planned Dantewada attack in mid-April that cost 75 lives of CRPF personnel, took a toll on the leadership’s image, which many in the security establishment believed had lost touch with personnel on the ground.

CRPF special director Vijay Raman, who was brought in to lead the anti-naxal surge from the Maoist heartland, Chhattisgarh, was the first casualty. Srivastava is the second.

Government sources said the appointments committee of the Cabinet had cleared the change of guard and home ministry orders were expected in a day or so.