In a major shuffle of senior IPS officers across the State, the Home Department late on Tuesday night issued orders posting Additional Director-General of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, a 1994-batch IPS officer, as the new Commissioner of Police, Chennai. He replaces ADGP A.K. Viswanathan transferred and posted as ADGP, Operations, Chennai.
Mr. Aggarwal earlier served as the ADGP (Operations) and played a crucial role in handling the issue of migrant labourers during the initial days of COVID-19 in the State. Tasked with the responsibility of identifying thousands of labourers belonging to other States who were settled in districts across Tamil Nadu, he formed small police teams to enumerate the labourers district wise and organized their food and shelter in coordination with the respective employers and district administrations. At least 4 lakh migrant workers were later sent to their respective States in Shramik Special trains.
He was first deputed to Tirunelveli to supervise the enforcement of prohibitory orders and manage the role of police in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in southern districts in April and then nominated as nodal officer for North Zone of Chennai City to assist the Chennai Police in combating Coronavirus.
Besides serving as Additional Commissioner of Police (South), Chennai, and Commissioner of Police in Madurai and Tirunelveli, Mr. Aggarwal headed the Special Investigation Division of the Crime Branch CID formed to investigate the series of communal murders in which leaders of Hindu organisations were targeted and murdered a few years ago. All the cases were detected, accused arrested and chargesheeted.
He was given the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Excellence in Public Service on August 15, 2018. He is also the recipient of the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and Chief Minister’s Medal for Outstanding Devotion to Duty.
Mr. Aggarwal served as Deputy Inspector-General of Police in the Central Bureau of Investigation, Chandigarh, for about seven years.
The outgoing Police Commissioner Mr. Viswanathan has completed three years as Chennai Police Chief, the longest tenure of an officer in the post in recent years. It was during his innings that thousands of surveillance cameras were installed in the city which served as deterrence to anti-social elements and helped in detecting several crimes, regulation of traffic etc. In 2017, he received the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
In other changes, Sunil Kumar, Director-General of Police, Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, Chennai, was posted as DGP, Human Rights Commissioner, Chennai, S. Davidson Devasirvatham, Commissioner of Police, Madurai, was posted as ADGP, Technical Services, Chennai, M. Ravi, ADGP (Crime against Women & Children), Chennai, was posted as ADGP, Special Task Force, Erode, H.M. Jayaram, Inspector-General of Police, Headquarters, Chennai Police, was posted as IGP, Central Zone, Tiruchi, in the place of A. Amalraj posted as Additional Commissioner of Police, Headquarters, Chennai Police, M.T. Ganesamoorthy, IGP, General, Chennai was posted as IGP Economic Offences Wing, Chennai.
R. Dhinakaran, Additional Commissioner of Police (North), Chennai, was posted as Additional Commissioner of Police (South), Chennai, in the place of Prem Anand Sinha posted as Commissioner of Police, Madurai. A. Arun, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Chennai, was posted as Additional Commissioner of Police (North), Chennai, Sanjay Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Tirupur, was posted as IGP Technical Services, Chennai, J. Loganathan, DIG, Thanjavur, was promoted as IGP and posted as Commissioner of Police, Tiruchi in the place of V. Varadharaju, retired on Tuesday.
Kapil Kumar C. Saratkar, DIG, Joint Commissioner of Police (North) was promoted as IGP and posted to head the Special Investigation Division in Crime Branch CID, Chennai, N. Kannan, DIG (Internal Security) was promoted as IGP and posted as Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Chennai, Santosh Kumar, DIG, Viluppuram was promoted and posted as IGP, Administration, Chennai, P.C. Thenmozhi DIG, Kancheepuram, was promoted as IGP and posted as Additional Commissioner of Police (Central Crime Branch), Chennai, G. Karthikeyan, DIG, Coimbatore, was promoted as IGP and posted as Commissioner of Police, Tirupur.
Joshi Nirmal Kumar, DIG, Dindigul, was promoted and posted as IGP, Establishment, Chennai, K. Bhavaneeswari, DIG, Coastal Security Group, was promoted and posted as IGP, General, Chennai, V. Balakrishnan, DIG, Tiruchi, was posted as JCP (North), Chennai, B. Vijayakumari, JCP (West), Chennai, was posted as DIG, Coastal Security Group, Chennai, A.G. Babu, JCP (Headquarters), Chennai, was posted as JCP (South), Chennai, C. Mageshwari, JCP (South), Chennai, was posted as JCP (Headquarters), Chennai, K. Ejilearassane, JCP (Traffic-South) was posted as DIG, Viluppuram, P.K. Senthikumari was DIG, Armed Police, was posted as DIG, Headquarters, Chennai, S. Annie Vijaya, DIG, Madurai, was posted as DIG, Tiruchi, K.S. Narenthiran Nayar, DIG, Administration, Chennai, was posted as DIG, Coimbatore, Rupesh Kumar Meena, DIG, Ramanathapuram, was posted as DIG, Thanjavur.
Abhishek Dixit, Superintendent of Police on inter-cadre deputation, was promoted as DIG, S. Mallikha, SP, CBCID-II, Chennai, was promoted and posted IGP, CBCID, Chennai, B. Shamoondeswari, SP, Kancheepuram, was promoted and posted DIG, Kancheepuram, S. Lakshmi, SP, Commercial Crimes Investigation Wing, Chennai, was promoted as DIG and posted as JCP (Traffic-South), Chennai, S. Rajeswari, SP Idol Wing CID, Chennai, was promoted and posted as DIG Armed Police, Chennai, M. Pandian SP, USRB, was promoted and posted as DIG, Railways, Chennai, S. Rajendran, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Flower Bazaar, Chennai, was promoted and posted as DIG, Madurai, M.S. Muthusamy, DCP, Anna Nagar, Chennai, was promoted and posted as DIG, Dindigul, N.M. Mylvahanan, DCP, Traffic-South, Chennai, was promoted and posted as DIG, Ramanathapuram and S. Radhakrishnan, DCP, Security, Chennai, was posted as SP, Viluppuram.
