Harpreet Sidhu back as STF chief in major reshuffle in Punjab

Senior IPS officer Harpreet Singh Sidhu was Thursday given back the charge of anti-drug Special Task Force (STF) chief, a year after he was removed from the post following reports of a tussle between him and the then DGP, an official spokesperson said.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Sidhu, who was holding the post of special principal secretary to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, replaced STF head Gurpreet Kaur Deo, who has been given the charge of ADGP (Crime), he said.

The Punjab government also transferred 27 IPS officers in a major reshuffle here.

Sidhu was last year removed as STF chief, following reports of tussle between him and then Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora, which became a cause of embarrassment for the Amarinder Singh-led government.

After coming to power in 2017, the chief minister had set up the STF to combat drug menace in Punjab. He had especially brought Sidhu, who was at that time on central deputation in the Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh, to head the STF.

Earlier in the day, Deo was relieved from the additional charge of the Litigation Wing. But later in the evening, she was also divested of the charge of STF chief and was posted as ADGP Crime, the spokesperson said.

The state government also shifted eight senior superintendents of police (SSPs). Vivek Sheel Soni has been posted SSP Ferozepur, while Kuldeep Singh has been given the charge of SSP Mohali.

Indian Police Service (IPS) officers Deepak Hilory, Gaurav Garg and Dhruv Dahiya have been posted as SSPs of Pathankot, Hoshiarpur and Tarn Taran, respectively, he said.

Provincial Police Service (PPS) officers Sandeep Goel, Bhupinder Singh and Narinder Bhargav have been posted as SSPs of Ludhiana (Rural), Fazilka and Mansa, respectively.

Senior IPS officer ADGP Gaurav Yadav has been given additional charge of the Litigation Wing.

Senior IPS officer Ishwar Singh has been posted as ADGP (Law and Order), while Jitendra Kumar Jain will also hold additional charge of the Director State Crime Records Bureau Punjab.

ADGP Shashi Prabha Dwivedi has been given additional charge of the Women Affairs, while ADGP R N Dhoke will look after the additional charge of the ADGP Security and the Community Affairs and NRI, Punjab, the spokesperson said.

B Chandra Sekhar has been posted as inspector-general (IG) Crime (Bureau of Investigation), while Pramod Ban has been posted as IG Information Technology and Telecommunications.

G Nageswara Rao has been given the charge of IG STF, while Balkar Singh has been posted as IG Special Investigations.

L K Yadav has been given the charge of IG-cum-Director Vigilance Bureau and Mohnish Chawla has been posted as IG-cum-Director Economic Offence Wing (EOW).

Shive Kumar Verma has been posted as IG Crime and Jaskaran Singh has been given additional charge of IG Disaster Management, Punjab.

IPS officer Gurpreet Singh Toor has been posted as DIG STF, the spokesperson said.