Delhi: Tihar DG among those shifted in IPS reshuffle

NEW DELHI: In a major shake-up of senior IPS-ranked police officers, lieutenant governor Anil Baijal shunted out Tihar Jail chief Ajay Kashyap on Tuesday and put him in charge of the Home Guard. He was replaced by Sandeep Goel, a 1989-batch IPS officer, who was special commissioner (law and order), north zone.
TOI had reported last week that a major reshuffle of IPS officers was on the cards.Tuesday's transfers are being considered by sources as the first among many expected in the AGMUT cadre. The transfers were termed as "surprising" given they took place a day before the meeting of joint cadre authority (JCA), which usually decides the transfers of IAS and IPS officers of the AGMUT cadre. Wednesday's JCA meet is expected to shift out IPS officers who have been in Delhi for three years or more and induct officers from outside Delhi to fill the gap.
Kashyap, appointed DG of prisons in September 2017, was moved out almost three months before the completion of the usual two-year tenure. Tihar has seen many controversies in the past one year, and courts and judicial officers have expressed concerns at the state of affairs in the central jail.
A judicial enquiry even recommended the filing of an FIR against Kashyap for the alleged favours given to the imprisoned Unitech honchos, the Chandra brothers.
The downward trend had seen jailed gangsters making video extortion calls from the prison. Delhi Police's Special Cell and other units had also busted plots hatched in the jail.
Incumbent Home Guard DG, 1982-batch officer J K Sharma, has been appointed DG of Delhi Disaster Management Authority. In other transfers, 1988 officer SBK Singh has been moved to Mizoram as DGP from DGP of Arunachal Pradesh. R P Upadhyay of the1991 batch will hold charge of DGP, Mizoram. Balaji Shrivastava of the 1988 batch has been transferred as DGP of Puducherry in place of Sundari Nanda who has been called to Delhi.