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Centre transfers Srinagar SSP Rakesh Balwal to Manipur
According to an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Balwal has been prematurely transferred from the AGMUT cadre to his parent state
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has transferred senior IPS officer Rakesh Balwal to Manipur, an order issued by the government on Wednesday stated.
The officer was posted with the Jammu and Kashmir police since 2021.
Officials in Manipur said Balwal is yet to be assigned a post in the state.
Balwal, a 2012 batch IPS officer of Manipur cadre was earlier on deputation to National Investigation Agency (NIA) after which he was transferred to the AGMUT cadre in 2021 and assigned to the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police.
In Srinagar, he was posted as the Srinagar senior superintendent of police (SSP) of the district since December 2021.
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During his stint in the NIA, the central agency had also probed the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
The officer’s repatriation to Manipur police comes in the backdrop of the ethnic clashes that has affected the state leading to deaths of at least 176 people since May 3.
This is not the first time that the Centre has repatriated an officer or sent them from outside cadres to restore normalcy in the state.
In June, the government had ordered the cadre change of senior police officers Rajiv Singh from Tripura to the Manipur police and appointed him as the police chief of the state.
In its order, the government had cited Singh’s transfer as a “special case in public interest.”
Last month too, the state government appointed a former army colonel as the SSP in the state police.
In May, the Centre also appointed former CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) chief, Kuldiep Singh as the security advisor to supervise the operations in the state.
Violent protests broke out again in the northeastern state after viral photos of two children from the Meitei community, who were allegedly kidnapped and murdered by Kuki militants on July 6 surfaced on social media on Monday.
A CBI team led by the agency’s special director was sent to the state by Centre on Wednesday to probe the case.
