Ranchi, June 16: Anoop T. Mathew, a 2006 batch IPS, will be the new SSP of East Singhbhum (Jamshedpur) district, replacing incumbent Amol V Homkar, who has been transferred to state CID (crime investigation department) as an SP.
Mathew's new posting was among 11 announced today, barely 24 hours after yesterday's reshuffle in which four police officers were transferred.
Mathew, who was police chief of Dumka, will be replaced by Vipul Shukla, an SP in the state Vigilance Bureau.
Pakur SP Anoop Birthare has been transferred to Naxalite hub of Latehar, which amidst an ongoing anti-rebel operation, witnessed the murder of Congress leader Prahlad Prasad Sahu, alias Ladu Babu, yesterday.
Latehar SP Ajay Linda, a 2008 batch IPS who is a year junior to Birthare, will be replacing him in Pakur.
In other changes, Sanjay Ranjan Singh, commandant of special auxiliary police (SAP) battalion 1, has been transferred as SP of Special Task Force (Jharkhand Jaguar), while Sanjeev Kumar, SP in STF, would now be posted in Godda district of Santhal Pargana commissionary area.
Md Arshi, sub-divisional police officer of Gumla (a 2012 batch IPS), has been transferred to Kiriburu under West Singhbhum district, a mineral rich area sharing borders with neighbouring Odisha.
Anjani Kumar Jha, former SDPO of Kiriburu, has been transferred to Gumla to replace Arshi.
Naveen Kumar Sinha, commandant of Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) battalion 4 stationed at Bokaro, has been given additional charge of JAP-5 battalion in Deoghar.
As expected, the 15 transfer orders issued within 48 hours have not gone down well within the IPS fraternity.
While additional director-general of police (CID) Rezi Dungdung, considered to be an effective officer, was removed from his post after serving for barely two months, another tribal officer Hemant Toppo, who was serving as DIG-Palamau, was also shunted out.
Dungdung is now ADG (JAP), while Toppo is DIG (Jungle warfare).
"What was the need for the government to bring in such changes? An SP rank officer has been made DIG (in-charge) of Palamau where an encounter with Maoists took place recently. Is this justified?" a senior state government official involved with police administration said.
He also pointed out that after the two reshuffles, posts of ADG (CID) and IG-Ranchi zone were unmanned. "This raises some questions on the government's real intentions," he said.
