J&K's NC, PDP Suspect Biased Intent In Major Police Reshuffle: ‘Orchestrated By BJP-Appointed LG To...’

J&K Police underwent a significant reshuffle with the appointment of Nalin Prabhat as the new Special DG and the transfer of several senior officers, including the head of the intelligence wing.

Representational Image | The J&K administration announced a reshuffle of major police officials.

Source : PTI

In a significant reshuffle within the Jammu and Kashmir Police, several senior officers were transferred on Friday, with the intelligence wing receiving a new chief. The transfers, effective immediately, were announced through three separate orders by the Jammu and Kashmir administration.

This reorganisation follows the appointment of senior IPS officer Nalin Prabhat as the Special DG of Jammu and Kashmir Police, who will succeed R R Swain as the force's chief upon Swain's retirement on September 30.

As per PTI, these changes in the police force, along with the transfer and posting of several officials within the civil administration, are widely seen as a precursor to the upcoming assembly elections in the Union Territory, which will be held in three phases. 

J&K Police Reshuffle: NC, PDP Suspect Biased Intent Of LG Sinha

In response to this reshuffle, Jammu-Kashmir National Conference wrote in a post on its X, "Why has a massive reshuffle been ordered in the police and administration since last evening, and today morning, seemingly to preempt the Election Commission’s announcement? It appears to have been orchestrated by a BJP-appointed LG to benefit his party and its allies."

"This move seems clearly intended to undermine the integrity of the electoral process, which restricts such transfers to prevent the ruling party from gaining an undue administrative advantage over the opposition. The LG government has strategically shaken up the entire administrative setup compromising the principles of free and fair elections. We call on the @ECISVEEP to thoroughly investigate this blatant attempt and to immediately suspend the implementation of these orders," it further wrote.

Vice President of Jammu-Kashmir National Conference, Omar Abdullah, suspected a biased intent on the part of J&K's governor. In a post on his X, he also wrote, "That the J&K administration had to call officers in the secretariat & police HQ to work on Independence Day to order this massive reshuffle tells me they had absolutely NO CLUE that the ECI would be announcing poll dates today. All the more reason that the @ECISVEEP should look at this transfer order from the prism of a free & fair poll. @JKNC_ suspects a biased intent on the part of the @OfficeOfLGJandK.

That the J&K administration had to call officers in the secretariat & police HQ to work on Independence Day to order this massive reshuffle tells me they had absolutely NO CLUE that the ECI would be announcing poll dates today. All the more reason that the @ECISVEEP should look… https://t.co/KpUZNX09p2

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) August 16, 2024

PDP leader Iltija Mufti also raised questions regarding the reshuffle as she said, "Our concern is that elections should be conducted free, fair and transparent. Just before the announcement of the election date around 150-200 transfers happened abruptly and arbitrarily by the LG government. LG administration's behaviour here is full of prejudice, it's full of bias and they favour the BJP."

#WATCH | PDP leader Iltija Mufti says, "Our concern is that elections should be conducted free, fair and transparent. Just before the announcement of the election date around 150-200 transfers happened abruptly and arbitrarily by the LG government. LG administration's behaviour… pic.twitter.com/nolsp1xKvk

— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2024

"You all know how hostile they have been with the other parties here...DG was issuing political statements that are not in his jurisdiction...Election should be free and fair and should not favour any political party- BJP in this case..." she added, as per news agency ANI.

The official order that "In the interest of administration, it is hereby ordered that Nitish Kumar, IPS (AGMUT: 1999) ADGP CID is posted as Head of CID, relieving R R Swain, IPS (AGMUT: 1991) DGP, J&K of the additional charge of the post." Another document detailed the transfer of 12 senior police officers, including Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) and Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs).

Bhim Sen Tuti, IGP (Hqrs) PHQ, with additional charge of IGP (POS) and IGP Traffic, has been assigned as IGP (POS) with additional charge of IGP (Hqrs) PHQ, IGP (Technical Services) and IGP (Telecom).

Sujit Kumar, DIG CID, has been assigned as Incharge IGP Security, and Sunil Gupta, DIG, Jammu-Samba-Kathua Range, has been posted as Incharge IGP Crime. The new DIG for the Jammu-Samba-Kathua Range is Shiv Kumar.

As per the order, M Suleman Choudhary, DIG Personnel (PHQ), has been posted as Incharge IGP traffic, and Vivek Gupta, DIG, North Kashmir range, has been posted as Incharge IGP Railways J&K.

Additionally, the government moved Ajeet Singh, the Director of the Police's State Investigation Agency (SIA), to the position of DIG Traffic Kashmir. The order highlighted that Vinod Kumar has been assigned as incharge DIG Armed Jammu, while as Maqsood-ul-Zaman has been posted as incharge DIG North Kashmir.

Rashmi Wazir has been posted as DIG security, J&K, and Rajeshwar Singh has been posted as incharge DIG SIA. Mubassir Latifi Ameer has been posted as incharge DIR(Pers) PHQ

J&K Police Reshuffle: Administration Replaces Police Chiefs In Several Districts

The J-K administration also issued an order that replaced the police chiefs in several districts, including those from Jammu, which has seen a spike in terror attacks in recent months. There are new police chiefs in charge of the districts of Jammu, Ramban, Kathua, Reasi, Udhampur, Doda, and Poonch.

In line with the order, Gurinderpal Singh has been posted as SSP Baramulla, Joginder Singh as the new SSP Jammu, Mumtaz Ahmed as SSP Poonch, Mohammad Aslam as SSP Doda, Deepika as SSP Kathua, Gaurav Sikawar as SSP Reasi, and Nagpure Amod Ashok as SSP Udhampur.

Shopian and Ganderbal are two of the Kashmir Valley districts that also received new police chiefs. Wasim Qadri has been assigned as the new SSP of Ganderbal, while Ananyat Ali Choudhary has been posted as the SSP of Shopian.

The following have also been assigned positions: Al-Tahir Geelani as AIG (procurement) PHQ, Shaheen Wahid as SSP Telecom Jammu, Sandeep Bhat as Additional SP Udhampur, Baljeet Singh as Additional SP Nowshera, Tunushree as SP SIA Kashmir, Mohita Sharma as AIG (Prov) PHQ, Ashok Kumar Sharma as CO 1 Border Batallion Jammu, Yougal Kumar Manhas as SSP SIA Jammu, Sandeep Gupta as AIG (Tech) PHQ, Anuj Kumar as CO IR-11, and Tunushree as SP SIA Kashmir.