With Dehradun SSP Pushpak Jyoti having been promoted as Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) on Thursday, police circles are agog with speculation over who would take his charge with things now slowly settling down.
Jyoti was appointed as Dehradun SSP 15 days ago and since then he has taken a slew of measures to improve law and order by putting down crimes with a heavy hand in the state capital as elsewhere in the district. Finding things appreciably looking up, a visibly relieved State Government seems to be in no hurry to relieve Jyoti of the post of SSP and replace him with a new face. Sources said DIG Jyoti may continue as Dehradun SSP for the time being.
If police officers are to be believed, there are instances galore in Uttarakhand as elsewhere in the country of the same person simultaneously discharging duties as DIG and SSP for a year or so under special circumstances. In Uttarakhand, there are precedents. Then Dehradun SSP Ram Singh Meena and then Haridwar SSP Ashok Kumar who were promoted as DIG, continued as DIG/SSP for around a year. Things were so as the fledgling State was encountering a crunch of IPS officers then.
Moreover, the State Government had appointed Jyoti as SSP Dehradun despite knowing the fact that it was a matter of fortnight before he was to become DIG. He was entrusted with the post under special circumstances-in the immediate aftermath of the notorious gangster having escaped, reducing police escorting arrangement to ridicule.
This aside, crime- graph kept on spiraling in Dehradun with criminals going on with their errands with impunity. After assuming charge with the State Government reposing full confidence in him to stem the rot, Jyoti seems to have risen to the occasion. Several measures have been taken at his behest that have succeeded in stopping the trend of the reputation of the law enforcing agency nose-diving.
To instill fear in the criminals, police have booked around 60 hardened criminals under the stringent Goonda Act while 75 persons involved in crimes have been booked under 110 (g) CrPC in the district in a span of just 10 days. SSP had directed the circle officers to ensure that police are active and vigilant at their assigned posts. Things would be monitored closely and the erring ones would be dealt with stringently, he warned.
However, Dehradun being a coveted place for the IPS officers, speculations are doing the rounds as to who would succeed Jyoti as the next SSP of Dehradun. Several names are in the air. Some are Vimmi Sachdeva, Kewal Khurana, Neeru Garg, Sadanand Date, Rajiv Swaroop, Arun Mohan Joshi, and Janmejay Khanduri. Besides, there are also the acting SSPs working now in various districts. Their eyes are also trained on the post.
Asked to comment on how things would figure out, DIG/SSP Jyoti said that the instance of his holding two posts at the same time has precedents at the national as well as the state levels. “Now it is up to the State Government to decide. On my part, I have taken some initiatives to better things. I would continue doing so,” he added.