Satyajit Mohanty assumes office as in-charge DGP of Odisha

Senior IPS officer Satyajit Mohanty on Thursday assumed office as in-charge Director General of Police of Odisha.

He will remain in the post till DGP-appointee Abhay takes charge, a Home Department notification said.

The Odisha government on Wednesday night removed B K Sharma as the DGP and appointed Abhay as the new police chief, the notification said.

Abhay, a 1986-batch IPS officer, is presently the director of the National Police Academy in Hyderabad.

Mohanty, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was Special DG (Prison) and is now posted as the Special DG (Intelligence) after a reshuffle of officers on Wednesday.

"I seek the cooperation of all for maintaining law and order in the state," Mohanty told reporters.

Sharma, a 1986-batch officer, was removed from the post of DGP on the charge of large pendency of applications for issuance of fire safety recommendations and certificates in the Directorate of Fire Services.

His removal came barely minutes after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik constituted a three-member committee, headed by the chief secretary, to probe allegations against Sharma, who was also in-charge of Fire Service and Home Guard.

The committee will inquire into the matter relating to non-compliance of government instructions by the Directorate of Fire Service and circumstances under which applications for the fire safety recommendations and certificates have been kept pending for long period, a Home Department order said.

The state government has appointed Sharma as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Home Department.

DG (Intelligence) Sunil Ray, a 1987-batch officer, is now the DG of Fire Service and Home Guard.