Uttar Pradesh again got an officiating director general of police after the government on Wednesday issued an order directing 1988 batch IPS officer Vijay Kumar to take additional charge of the state police chief from DGP RK Vishwakarma who retired on May 31.

Vijay Kumar currently holds the charge of DG Crime Branch (Criminal Investigation Department) and the Vigilance Establishment.

Kumar, a native of Jhansi, will hold the post till the government appoints a permanent DGP or till his retirement next year in January. He succeeds RK Vishwakarma, who had been the officiating DGP since March 31 this year. Vishwakarma, who retired on Wednesday, was also holding the post of chairman of Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board. He had taken over the charge from Dr Devendra Singh Chauhan, who remained the officiating DGP for nearly 11 months before his retirement. Chauhan was made the officiating DGP after the government removed 1987-batch IPS officer Mukul Goel from the post following allegations of “inaction” and “lack of interest towards work”. Goel is the senior most IPS officer in the state.

Anand Kumar, who is the DG of UP Police Cooperative Cell, is the next senior-most IPS officer after Vishwakarma. Instead of giving charge to senior-most IPS officers, the state government superseded both Mukul Goel and Anand Kumar to make Vijay Kumar the acting DGP. Sources said that the government may later on post Vijay Kumar as full-time DGP as he belongs to Dalit community and with the parliamentary election scheduled for next year, the Bharatiya Janata Party may play the caste card to win the polls.

Sources also confirmed that if Vijay Kumar was posted as full-time DGP then he would continue till the Lok Sabha elections as the government would give him extension.

Meanwhile, soon after taking charge of the DGP, Vijay Kumar claimed that due to the outstanding contribution of the sleuths of the Anti-Terrorists Squad and Special Task Force (STF) in the last six years, not a single terror case was reported from anywhere in Uttar Pradesh.

Kumar said that the arrest of absconding mafia Guddu Muslim, along with Shaista Parveen, and other top listed criminals would be his top priority besides ensuring that the citizens continued to feel safe in the state.