The chiefs of the anti-terror unit and crime branch have been changed as well. While the former has been made the traffic chief, the latter has been given the charge of law and order. The DCPs of key districts like Central, New Delhi, Southwest, Dwarka and East have also been reshuffled, according to the order.
Shuffle seen as desperate bid to set house in order
The Delhi Police reshuffle orders have mixed imprints and the general consensus on Friday was that besides police commissioner Sanjay Arora, the list comprising 27 senior officers also had a visible stamp of lieutenant governor V K Saxena.
However, a rejig of this scale before the upcoming Republic Day celebrations and the elections indicated a desperate attempt to restore order in the force, which has been reeling under law and order challenges, besides corruption, with CBI raids becoming a routine affair.
Sources said two 1995-batch IPS officers, Ravindra Singh Yadav and Madhup Tiwari, have been posted as the law and order chiefs (in the rank of special commissioners) with a clear mandate to crack down on rising crimes and clamp down on corruption cases at police stations.
Both officers were praised for their roles during the G20 Summit. Known as a hard taskmaster who has a keen understanding of crimes and criminals, Yadav, who had been heading the Crime Branch till now, will have his task cut out with crime-infested areas falling under his jurisdiction. His tenure in the Crime Branch witnessed several high-profile operations and arrest of many absconding criminals.
Tiwari will have the challenge to ensure all goes well during the Republic Day celebrations, which falls under his jurisdiction.
Another big change came in the traffic unit where special commissioner HGS Dhaliwal has been sent to improve things. Dhaliwal, who is known for being result-oriented, will need to fix the traffic situation in central and south Delhi. He had a fairly good stint in the Special Cell, where the unit carried out several international operations and brought back fugitives from countries like Mexico and Azerbaijan. He also busted the fake stamp paper scam, besides arresting several terror suspects. While Dhaliwal will head zone II in the traffic unit, special commissioner K Jegadesan will head zone I.
Special commissioner R P Upadhyay, who will now head the anti-terror unit, also has his task cut out. He will inherit ongoing probes in cases like NewsClick, Parliament breach and the low-intensity blast near the Israel embassy.
Special CP Chhaya Sharma will head the training unit and is expected to vigorously conduct refresher courses for serving cops, something which many officials agreed was the need of the hour.
S S Yadav will head the Economic Offences Wing, which deals with crimes involving builders, property dealers and big businessmen and will look to ensure a corruption-free unit.
At the level of DCPs, who handle the districts, M Harsha Vardhan has been shifted from Dwarka to central Delhi while Ankit Singh from Crime Branch has been sent to Dwarka. Rohit Meena will head the southwest district, which has key areas like Vasant Kunj, Vasant Vihar and Safdarjung Enclave.
The New Delhi district will have Devesh Mahla (formerly DCP airport) as DCP while Apoorva Gupta has been shifted from Railways to East district. Kamal Pal Singh has been posted to Railways and Usha Rangnani is the new DCP airport. Surender Chaudhary has been posted as DCP of Shahdara, the order said.
Special CP Shalini Singh will head the Crime Branch. DCP Sanjay Sain has been transferred to crime branch and DCP Manoj C to special cell. DCP Pranav Tayal (formerly New Delhi) has been posted to special branch.
