2012 batch IPS officer Rakesh Balwal has been prematurely repatriated to his home cadre and rushed to violence hit Manipur. He was posted in Srinagar as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and is known for cracking the Pulwama attack case.
Mr. Balwal will now serve in Manipur to assist in the violence-stricken state.
He is an IPS officer of Manipur cadre and was transferred to AGMUT cadre for three years in 2021. The decision was made after the policy for the inter-cadre transfer of officers was relaxed.
He was earlier on deputation to National Investigation Agency (NIA), after which, he was transferred to the AGMUT cadre in 2021 and assigned to the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) police. During his stint in the NIA, the central agency had also probed the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
But, given the current scenario in Manipur where amid fresh violence over the alleged killing of two teenagers, he got cadre transfer before his tenure completion. It is worth mentioning here that Manipur is grappling with a surge in violence again, following the kidnap and murder of two students.
In a notification issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Rakesh Balwal, who had been serving as the Srinagar Senior Superintendent of Police since December 2021, is being transferred to the Manipur cadre. The approval has been granted by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, almost a month after the proposal by the MHA.
The premature repatriation of Mr. Balwal to his home cadre comes as the MHA seeks to boost the presence of top investigating officers in Manipur. He joins a list of nearly 40 IPS officers who have been sent to the strife-torn state since violence erupted in May.
A high-level team of the CBI, comprising 10 officials, including a joint director, and headed by Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, was also rushed to the state earlier this week.
In June, the MHA changed the cadre of Rajiv Singh, who was posted as Inspector General at the headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), from Tripura to Manipur, and sent him to the state as Director General of Police.
