Uttar Pradesh: Police chiefs of Meerut, Unnao among 36 IPS officers shifted

LUCKNOW/MEERUT: Police chiefs of Meerut, where a newlywed bride was shot on Friday, and Unnao, in news for alleged rape by a local BJP MLA, were shunted out on Sunday. While Meerut SSP Manjil Saini has been sent on child care leave, Unnao SP Pushpanjali Devi has been attached to DGP headquarters in Lucknow. In all, 36 IPS officers, including several district police chiefs, were transferred on Sunday.
Rajesh Pandey, the present SSP of Aligarh, will replace Saini in Meerut while Harish Kumar, SP, human rights, will take over as Unnao SP. Ajay Sahni, the SP of Azamgarh, was made the new Aligarh SSP. Ravi Shankar Chhavi, SSP, Sambhal, will move to Azamgarh in the same capacity.
During his tenure in Azamgarh, Sahni was hailed for having gunned down several criminals who were a brand of fear in the eastern UP. However, Azamgarh had slipped into communal turmoil recently after one community resorted to violent protests against inflammatory post on Facebook.
Former SSP ATS Umesh Kumar Srivastava was transferred as DIG (prisons) while, Jogender Kumar, SSP Bareilly, has been made the new ATS SSP. Kalanidhi Naithani, the present Pilibhit SP, will take over as Bareilly SSP.
Manoj Kumar, SP of Firozabad, was made the new SSP of Faizabad. He will replace SS Baghel, who will take over as DIG, security. Mohit Gupta, who was attached to the DGP headquarters, has been made SP of UP-100. Himanshu Kumar, another officer attached to the DGP office, was made SP (railway) in Jhansi.
Bareilly SSP Jogendra Kumar has been transferred and would take over as superintendent of police (SP), ATS, in Lucknow. Kumar, a 2007 batch IPS officer, had survived all the reshuffles in the state till now ever since the new government took over. He was transferred last year but was reinstated after local BJP leaders opposed joining of the new SSP.
Outgoing Pilibhit superintendent of police (SP) Kalanithi Naithani will take over as new SSP of Bareilly. Naithani is a 2010 batch IPS officer and has served as Pilibhit SP for a long time.
Among other news district police chiefs, Ram Lal Varma will take over as Kheri SP; Shivashmpi Chinappa will be the new SP of Shahjahanpur; Krishna Bahadur Singh has been made new SSP of Bulandshahr; Ashok Kumar is the new Shravasti police chief; Rahul Yadvendra will be the new SP of Firozabad; Sabharaj will go to Bahraich and Rajesh Kumar to Balrampur as SPs.
Similarly, Ajay Shankar Rai will be the new police chief of Mainpuri and Sankalp Sharma of Hapur. RM Bhardwaj is the new SP of Sambhal.
Further, G Muniraj, SSP Bulandshahr, was transferred two days after visit of UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Sources claimed that a rape survivor had met CM Yogi during his visit and had narrated her ordeal of police inaction at the behest of a local politician who allegedly had good terms with SSP Muniraj. CM Yogi had then ordered Meerut ADG Prashant Kumar to look into the case.