Chiranjeev Prasad appointed Aurangabad police commissioner

Chiranjeev Prasad, a 1996-batch IPS officer, was today appointed as Commissioner of Police of Aurangabad, a Maharashtra Home Department notification said.

The city was without a full-time police chief since March 15 this year when the then Police Commissioner Yashaswi Yadav was sent on compulsory leave in the wake of law and order problems over a garbage dumping issue.

Prasad was the Inspector General of Nanded Range before today's appointment.

Aurangabad Range Inspector General of Police, Millind Bharambe, a 1997 batch IPS officer, was holding charge in the absence of a full-time commissioner.

During this period, the city, among the important urban centres in central Maharashtra, was rocked by riots between two communities on May 11, allegedly over illegal water connections.

Two persons were killed and over fifty, including a dozen policemen, were injured.

Scores of shops and vehicles were torched by rioting mobs.

On March 15, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced in the state Legislative Assembly that Yadav would be sent on leave with immediate effect.

Yadav's suspension was demanded by legislators cutting across party lines due to the alleged mishandling of the violence that occurred there on May 7 over dumping of municipal garbage.

Scores of people, including eight police personnel, were injured in stone-pelting as locals opposed dumping of garbage at Padegaon-Mitmita village on the outskirts of Aurangabad on March 7.