Viresh Kumar Bhawara, a 1987-batch IPS officer, has been appointed new Punjab police chief, the third DGP to take over the reins of the beleaguered force in as many months.
Bhawara’s appointment order was issued on Saturday afternoon shortly before the Model Code of Conduct was to come into effect with the Election Commission’s announcement of poll schedule in five states, including Punjab.
News18 had first reported that incumbent Siddharth Chattopadhyay may not make the cut after UPSC cleared a panel of three senior-most officers. The UPSC criteria of seniority, merit and six-month tenure meant three officials made the cut — Prabod Kumar (1988 batch), and 1987 batchmates VK Bhawara and Dinkar Gupta.
Bhawara takes over at a time when Punjab Police are facing stringent criticism for their handling of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ferozepur. The PM’s convoy was stranded on a flyover on the Moha-Ferozepur highway for 15-20 minutes on Wednesday after protesting farmers blocked the route. Separate investigations into the “seriously lapse” have been initiated by the state government and the Union government.
Officiating DG Siddharth Chattopadhyay is one of the 13 officials who have been show-caused by the Ministry of Home Affairs under All India Service (Discipline) rules. The top officers in Punjab Police have been asked to explain why action should not be taken against them for their failure to remove protestors from the PM’s route and sanitise the road as prescribed in the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
Bhawara will have to assure the Centre and the Supreme Court of a professional probe into the case in which FIR has been registered against unnamed people.
The probe into Ludhiana blast, investigation into the recent sacrilege-lynching cases and maintaining law and order in the border state in the run-up to elections are other challenges before Bhawara.
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