The State Government on Tuesday transferred Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence) Abhay and posted him as Director of Government Press.
Sunil Roy, the 1986 batch IPS officer who was heading the Human Rights Protection (HRPC) Cell, will replace Abhay as the new Chief of Intelligence.
Additional Director-General of Police, Crime Branch, Bijay Sharma has been given the additional charge of HRPC. The change at the IPS level came within hours of the intelligence failure that saw protestors obstruct the passage of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik near the State Secretariat on Tuesday morning. In fact, a slew of recent Maoist violence was the reason why the State Government is believed to have made the reshuffle. The Red rebels have gone on the rampage in southern and western districts where development works have been held to ransom.
Construction of roads and bridges have been constantly disrupted by the ultras. With the General Elections drawing close, the State Government was apparently in no mood to take any chance. In the State Capital itself, several instances of intelligence failure have been reported in the last one year and a half. Agitators and protestors have managed to breach the prohibitory zones, such as Naveen Nivas, on several occasions. Only a few days ago, a woman had managed to sneak into the area and tried to immolate herself before the CM’s residence.