Patna, Oct. 5: A day after suspending the Khagaria superintendent of police, chief minister Nitish Kumar today reshuffled the police top brass in the wake of the massacre that left 16 people dead at Amausi-Bahiyar village in the north Bihar district.

Inspector-general (operations) S.K. Bhardwaj was transferred among eight other senior IPS officers. K.S. Dwivedi has replaced Bhardwaj as IG (operations).

Bhardwaj, who held the post for the past four years, has been designated as IG (railways). The IG (operations) is supposed to plan the deployment of forces in the extremist-affected areas, take decisions to tackle the Maoist menace, besides monitoring the spread and activities of the underground rebel outfits.

The change of IG (operations) within a week of the carnage that left 16 farmers belonging to Kurimi-Koiri communities is being interpreted as the change in the Nitish government’s strategy in dealing with the extremists, who have spread their tentacles in the riverine areas of north Bihar.

Dwivedi, though indicted by the Sarwar Ali Commission in connection with the infamous Bhagalpur riots in 1989 that took the toll over over 1,700 lives, is known as a strong-headed police officer. The appointment of Dwivedi, known for his proximity to the BJP circles, apparently indicates some tough action on the rebels.

Meanwhile, Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji, a top-ranking CPI(Maoist) leader, called The Telegraph to reiterate that the outfit “has no hands in the killing of 16 people in Khagaria on Thursday”.

Kishanji, however, said: “The government’s faulty policies in the riverine areas were responsible for the caste wars taking place. The region, populated by landless and oppressed people, needed a cultural revolution to end the caste animosity.”

He admitted that the CPI(Maoist) had its presence in the area, which witnessed the massacre. “But our organisation has turned a bit weak after the arrest of one of our prominent activists about two years ago.”

Additional director-general of police (headquarters) Neelmani said that deputy inspector-general of police (Champaran) Paresh Saxena was made the director of the state police academy. Similarly, DIG (railways) Arvind Pandey has been transferred to Saran range as DIG. Bettiah superintendent of police K.S. Anupam was posted as Gopalganj superintendent of police. Amrit Raj would now be the Bettiah superintendent of police, Neelmani said.

Muzaffarpur superintendent of police Sudhanshu Kumar and his Bhojpur counterpart Sunil Kumar would swap their places.