Patna, Oct. 2: Divesh Sehra and Surendra Lal Das assumed charge as the district magistrate and the superintendent of police of Nawada respectively on Sunday after the state government issued marching orders to their predecessors — Safina A.N. and P.K.Raj — in the wake of people’s outcry over the murder of a jeweller on Friday.

The government also transferred sub-divisional officer (SDO) S.Z. Hasan and the sub-divisional police officer of Rajauli, Mithilesh Kumar. SDO Hasan was injured in the attack by an unruly mob protesting against the murder of a jeweller, Sanjay Kumar Verma, by motorcycle-borne criminals in the high-security zone. Verma’s younger brother Dhananjay was also injured in the attack.

Safina has been asked to join as additional secretary in the agriculture department while Raj has been made SP in the CID. Hasan has been shifted to panchayati raj department. He will be replaced by Diwan Jafar, who was earlier posted in Patna.

This is the second incident when the government has shifted officers out of the district in the wake of people’s anger. A fortnight ago, 30 police officials posted at the Noorsarai police station in Nalanda district were shifted in one go for their failure to contain assault on woman protesters.

Talking to reporters, Das said his first priority would be to win the confidence of people and restore their faith in the law-enforcing agency. “This is my second posting as the superintendent of police after Samastipur, also a crime-prone district,” he said.

He said he believed in people-friendly policing.

“If you are in constant touch with the people, you will get a lot of information about those involved in unlawful activities,” the SP said, adding that the arrest of the assailants of the jeweller is on his priority list.