THREE DAYS after three policemen were killed in a militant attack here, the J&K administration on Thursday transferred the Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar. SSP Sandeep Choudhary was replaced by Rakesh Balwal, a Manipur-cadre IPS officer, who led the NIA probe into the 2019 Lethpora car bombing that killed 40 CRPF personnel. Choudhary has been posted as SSP Cyber Crime Investigation Centre for Excellence. His tenure of nine months as Srinagar SSP is the shortest any police chief of the city in more than a decade. Along with Choudhary, two more senior police officers of Srinagar were transferred – SP South Srinagar Sajad Ahmad Shah and SP Hazratbal Irshad Ahmad Rather. They are among the 27 police officers across the Union Territory who were reshuffled by the administration on Thursday. The transfers were effected following a a string of militant attacks in Srinagar city over the past four months, including Monday's strike in the highly fortified Zewan area of the city in which three policemen were killed and 11 injured. Over the past few months, militants have carried out a series of attacks in Srinagar city. In October, they carried out targeted killings of civilians, including three members of the minority community and two migrant workers.
