In a sudden move aimed to send a message of change, the BJP government on Monday appointed S R Mardi, a 1986-batch IPS as New Director General of police in Himachal Pradesh. Incumbent DGP Somesh Goyal, who is a 1984-batch IPS officer and was holding additional charge of the Prisons and Correctional services, will retain his charge of Prisons. The decision comes at a time when state Vidhan Sabha was slated to begin its first session at Dharamshala on Tuesday. After the Kotkhai rape and murder case, which later also led to wide spread protests against the police, the BJP –then in Opposition - had been critical of the police's role in handing of the case. The arrest of the entire SIT headed by IGP Zahur Zaidi, which included seven other police officers by the CBI, later in August 2017 relating to custodial death case of a suspect, who died in the police custody, the political parties had stepped-up charged against the police. The SIT was set-up for investigations in rape and murder case. After, return to the power, the BJP government had taken a decision to send a message in the public that the police had failed and tried to shield the real culprits. Goyal being head of the police force was not a direct target of the BJP but many of its leaders were pressing for the change to send the right message. Confirming the change a senior government official said “the change was very much needed to tone-up the police as lot of administrative changes have already been done and now there were more changes in the police needed." Infact, earlier in Febrary 2017, the Virbhadra Singh government had also taken a decision to replace the DGP Sanjay Kumar, a 1985-batch officer with Mardi. The move got dropped as Sanjay Kumar wanted to proceed to central deputation. However after he moved on to the central deputation in July 2017 as DG NDRF, Somesh Goyal was appointed as DGP . Mardi had been posted as Director General of Home Guards and Fire services. He earlier had held the posts of Additional DGP (CID) and worked at different positions in the state Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau beside being SP (Shimla) . It's infact a long wait for Mardi to get to the top police post. There are likely to be fresh changes in the force during next few days. The government has already appointed Vineet Chaudhary, a 1982-batch IAS officer as Chief secretary and had ordered major reshuffle in the administrative services.
