The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday appointed new Commissioners of Police for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. As many a nine IPS officers were transferred and key vacancies filled.
Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, the 1989 batch IPS officer will now be the Commissioner of Police for Vijayawada City. The post had been vacant after Gautam Sawang, IPS took over as Director General of Vigilance and Enforcement Department on July 7.
Tirumala Rao has served in the CID for four years and has dealt with cases such as the AgriGold and money circulation scams. He had played a crucial role in attaching properties of AgriGold group and arrested 18 of the 26 accused named in the chargesheet. He had been serving as the Additional Director General of Police (DGP), Crime Investigation Department.
For Visakhapatnam, Mahesh Chandra Laddha a 1998-batch IPS officer has been posted as the Commissioner of Police, replacing T Yoganand. Laddha was earlier appointed as in-charge of the special investigation team (SIT). He had played a key role in investigating the M-Hotel Liquor tragedy in 2015.
The other notable transfer was of Joint City Police Commissioner (JCP-II) of Visakhapatnam city, T Ravi Kumar Murthy, who was transferred and posted as Eluru range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the existing vacancy.
The reshuffle in July comes shortly after the Andhra Pradesh government appointed a new Director General of Police, Head of Police Force (DGP, HoPF).
In June, Ram Pravesh Thakur, an IPS officer of 1986 batch was appointed DGP by the Chief Secretary on behalf of the Andhra government. Prior to that, Thakur was serving as the Director General of state ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau). RP Thakur took over charge from DGP Dr M Malakondaiah, who retired in June.