The Kerala government has engineered a major reshuffle in the top echelons of the Police Department.
The changes come in the wake of a recent meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and attended, among others, by State Police Chief Loknath Behera and special adviser to the government Raman Sreevastava.
Setting a new precedent, the government has appointed Shaik Darvesh Sahib, a 1990 batch IPS officer, as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order, for the entire State. S. Ananthkrishnan, ADGP, is the new Excise Commissioner in the stead of Rishiraj Singh. The government has shunted Mr. Singh to the post of ADGP, Prisons. The government has posted Kori Sanjay Kumar Gurudin, Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar, S. Surendran, and K. Sethuraman as Deputy Inspector Generals of Police and Additional Commissioner of Police in the Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thrissur, and Kannur ranges respectively. K.P. Philip, Deputy Inspector General, is the new Additional Commissioner of Police, Kochi City.
Downgraded
The government has downgraded the post of zonal chiefs from the rank of ADGP to the rank of Inspector General of Police. It has posted M.R. Ajithkumar as IG, South Zone; Vijay Sakhare as IG and Commissioner, Kochi City; and Dinendra Kashyap as IG and Commissioner of Police, Thiruvananthapuram.
Ashok Yadav is the new IG, North Zone. Merin Joseph, 2013 batch officer and SP, is the new District Police Chief, Kollam City. K.G. Simon has been posted as District Police Chief, Kozhikode Rural. P.K. Madhu has been posted as District Police Chief, Thrissur City. Pratheesh Kumar, 2011 batch, is the new District Police Chief, Kannur. Shiva Vikram is the new District Police Chief, Palakkad. T. Narayanan is the District Police Chief, Malappuram. K. Karthik has been posted as District Police Chief, Ernakulam, Rural. P.S. Sabu has been posted as District Police Chief, Kottayam. Harishankar has been posted as DPC, Kollam Rural. Manjunath is the new DPC, Wayanad. G. Poonkuzhali is the new Deputy Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Kochi City.
