A day after the Election Commission of India issued orders transferring incumbent Director General of Police K V Rajendranath Reddy, Andhra Pradesh on Monday got a new DGP – Harish Kumar Gupta, a 1992-batch IPS officer.
In a communication to chief secretary K S Jawahar Reddy, ECI principal secretary Avinash Kumar directed that Gupta take charge and submit the compliance report immediately. Later in the evening, Gupta took over as the new DGP.
Earlier, on Sunday evening, the ECI issued orders transferring Rajendranath Reddy.
The commission directed that Reddy hand over the charge to his immediate subordinate officer. It said Reddy should not be given any duty related to elections to the state assembly and Lok Sabha, till the completion of the election process.
On the directions of the ECI, the chief secretary sent a panel of three names of senior IPS officers to the ECI for consideration for the appointment as the new DGP – Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, Madireddy Pratap, and Harish Kumar Gupta, along with their service records and vigilance reports. The EC chose Gupta, after verifying his records.
The ECI also shifted another senior IPS officer R S Ammi Reddy, deputy inspector general of police, Anantapur range.
The ECI asked him to get relieved from the post, after handing over the charge to his immediate subordinate officer. The ECI is yet to appoint a new officer in his place.
The Election Commission also transferred two deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) in Anantapur range – Veera Raghava Reddy of Anantapur (urban) and Mahaboob Basha of Rayachoti, following complaints from the opposition parties.
In their place, the EC ordered appointment of T V V Pratap Kumar for Anantapur (urban) and Ramachandra Rao for Rayachoti as the new DSPs.
On April 23, the EC transferred two high-profile IPS officers – State intelligence chief P S R Anjaneyulu and Vijayawada commissioner of police Kanti Rana Tata, based on the report submitted by chief electoral officer that they had failed uphold model code of conduct.
In their place, the EC appointed Kumar Vishwajeet as the new intelligence chief and P H D Rama Krishna as the Vijayawada police commissioner.
According to reports, the EC may also transfer chief secretary Jawahar Reddy in a day or two, as there were a lot of complaints against him from the NDA partners.
“It is only a matter of hours that Jawahar Reddy is shown the door,” sources said.