It came as a surprise to the people in general and the Odisha police fraternity in particular once again when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, adopting his old practice of dislodging incumbent DGPs all of a sudden, appointed his apparently favourite Kanwar Brajesh Singh as the new DGP of the State on Saturday night.
The sudden removal of incumbent Sanjeev Marik less than two months before his retirement added to the surprise move.
On Sunday, Singh took charge at the State Police Headquarters in Cuttack.
What is more surprising is that the 1985-batch IPS officer, Singh, has surpassed four seniors in getting the appointment. The senior officers are Binay Behera and Sl Mukherjee of 1982 batch and Gurbachan Singh and RP Singh of 1984 batch. Singh would retire from service in 2019.
Meanwhile, Marik has been sent on his long leave.
Observers had believed that the August 17 taunt by the Orissa High Court that Singh was “more loyal than the king” would make the image-conscious Naveen Patnaik think twice before rewarding him with the topmost police post.
So far as the new DGP KB Singh is concerned, loyalty appears to have paid off.
The High Court stricture against Singh, the then Vigilance Director, had come in the backdrop of the Vigilance FIR against former DGP Prakash Mishra.
The HC, while dismissing the FIR against Mishra, had made the observations against Singh and said, “The action or rather the willful inaction of the Vigilance Director in not ensuring free, fair and proper enquiry into the matter and allowing the report of a sham enquiry to be accepted and giving his consent for seeking approval of the State Government for registration of criminal case against the petitioner (Mishra) clearly shows that he (Vigilance Director) was more concerned in exhibiting his loyalty to the ruling political establishment, akin to the old British adage of more loyal than the king.”
So far as Marik is concerned, the Chief Minister was unhappy with him following the October 17 mass transfer of 47 DSPs and three ASPs.
As per sources, the State Home Department was suspicious about the transfers and the Chief Minister himself had a meeting with Marik on October 31 to seek a clarification. The transfer orders were halted following the meeting, causing much embarrassment to Marik, who is to retire on December 31.
Notably, Marik’s predecessors Prakash Mishra and Manmohan Praharaj also had similar fate following a fallout with the Naveen Patnaik Government.
While Praharaj was shunted out following the alleged midnight coup attempt against Naveen Patnaik by BJD Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra in 2012, Mishra was shunted out for seizing money-laden vehicles of BJD leaders during the 2014 Assembly polls.
From DGP, Mishra was shifted as CMD of the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) and corruption charges were levelled against him which were later cleared by the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Marik, who once was suspended for a year for alleged links with criminals from Bihar, was made the DGP after Mishra. He, of course, had been cleared of the charges before the appointment.
Among other changes, 1990-batch officer YB Khurania has now been appointed as the Vigilance Director while 1982-batch officer Binay Behera has been appointed as DG-Home Guard and Fire Services. Senior IPS officer SM Narvane has been posted as Biju Patnaik Police Academy Director.