Vijayawada: Sixteen IPS officers in Andhra Pradesh have been out of work for several months, some of them since June when Telugu Desam Party supremo (TDP) N. Chandrababu Naidu took over as chief minister from YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy. Of these, four are under suspension and the rest are awaiting postings.
Barring around 14 officers on deputation with central agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Bureau of Investigation, these 16 officers account for roughly 15 percent of the total IPS officers available with the state, an analysis of the Andhra Pradesh IPS civil list by ThePrint shows.
The situation persists despite concerns publicly expressed by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally and Naidu’s deputy, Pawan Kalyan, over law-and-order management in Andhra Pradesh, especially crimes against women.
Three senior IPS officers ThePrint spoke to said that with so many officers out of commission, pressure on the rest had increased. “And, naturally, not using all the hands will reflect on deliverables,” an additional director general of police told ThePrint.
One example of an officer with extra responsibility is Dwaraka Tirumala Rao from the 1989 batch, the seniormost IPS in the state.
Made the head of the AP Police Force and Director General of Police (Coordination) in June, after Naidu was sworn in, Dwaraka is continuing as Commissioner, Public Transport Department, and ex-officio Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), a post he has been in since June 2021.
Naidu took over as chief minister after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) together trounced Jagan’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in a landslide victory in the May assembly polls.
TDP-BJP-JSP leaders have accused many of these 16 officers of siding with YSRCP ministers and legislators over the past five years, often targeting the then-opposition party members regardless of facts or rules.
On several occasions in the past, TDP leaders accused the previous YSRCP government of “unleashing a reign of terror and targeting opposition leaders by misusing the police machinery”.
“A few of them crossed all the lines, unabashedly betraying their allegiances to political bosses. And some could be non-performers, or showing integrity issues, necessitating a probe,” a former IPS, who served as DGP during Naidu’s earlier tenure, told ThePrint.
“The government seems to be taking time in reassigning work but it is good, keeping them frazzled, teaching them a lesson and warning them as to what might happen if they do not mend their ways,” he added.
ThePrint reached Andhra Pradesh DGP Dwaraka Tirumala Rao through calls and WhatsApp messages about the delay in appointments and whether any inquiry was underway against these IPS officers. This report will be updated as and when a response is received.
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Suspended officers
Among those suspended by the Naidu government is N. Sanjay, a 1996 batch officer.
The additional director general rank officer was the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief when Chandrababu Naidu was arrested by the agency in September 2023 in an alleged Rs 371-crore skill development project scam under the Naidu government in 2014-19.
Naidu was jailed for over 50 days in connection with the case before he was granted bail.
In the charged political atmosphere at that time, Sanjay even held a news conference to counter accusations of political vendetta by TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh.
However, four days after the NDA’s spectacular victory on 4 June, Sanjay was shunted out to report to the DGP’s office. He was later suspended with effect from 3 December following vigilance and enforcement probes into his tenures as director general of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Response & Fire Services and ADG of the state CID.
The vigilance department found Sanjay committed irregularities in the award of contracts and misused funds in the procurement of gadgets and services from private agencies.
Sanjay allegedly made payments in a hurried manner, leading to misappropriation of funds through abuse of office and breach of public trust, according to a government order that named him as the primary accused and placed him under suspension pending an inquiry.
In an unprecedented move in September, the Naidu government suspended three IPS officers, including one of DGP rank, who were perceived as being close to the YSRCP, in one go. The three officers were also waiting postings at the time.
The officers who were suspended were P. Sitharama Anjaneyulu, former director general of police, intelligence; Kanthi Rana Tata, former commissioner of police of Vijayawada; and Vishal Gunni, former deputy commissioner of police, Vijayawada.
They were suspended over alleged misconduct and dereliction of duty in a case related to harassment and arrest of model-actor Kadambari Jethwani in an allegedly false land deal.
The actor was allegedly pressured to withdraw or settle her rape charges against a Mumbai-based industrialist, whose firm is executing a steel plant project in Kadapa and who is reportedly close to former chief minister Jagan Reddy.
Officers awaiting postings
While four officers have been suspended, the others are still awaiting postings.
P.V. Sunil Kumar, a 1993 batch officer who was the CID chief before Sanjay, has been waiting for a post since 21 June. Under him, the state CID probed the alleged insider trading of land at Amaravati. Naidu and the municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) minister in his previous government, P. Narayana, were named as accused in the case. The CID, under Kumar, had served notices to the two leaders in March 2021, asking them to appear for questioning at the CID office in Vijayawada.
Naidu was liable for arrest under Section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for failure to attend/comply with the terms, said the notice.
Sunil is also accused in the case of custodial torture of then YSRCP rebel MP Raghu Rama Krishna Raju.
Dr Kolli Raghuram Reddy of the 2006 batch, seen as the “eyes and ears of Jagan,” has also been awaiting a posting since 8 June. In central service during Naidu’s term, Kolli functioned in intelligence as SP and deputy inspector general (DIG) under Jagan.
The other IPS officers waiting for postings include Pala Raju; K.K.N. Anburajan, who served as SP in Kadapa, Jagan’s home district; Rishanth Reddy, who was SP in Chittoor, the home turf of YSRCP heavyweight Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy; Babujee Attada, who was an SP in intelligence; and P. Joshua, who was SP, Chittoor.
Some of these IPS officers like Anjaneyulu, Tata, Pala Raju, Anburajan and Joshua were relieved from their posts in April on the orders of the Election Commission of India (ECI) acting on poll-related complaints. The Naidu government chose to keep them in waiting thereafter.
However, one on-wait IPS said there was no probe or specific serious allegation against him or most of the others, “as per his knowledge”.
“We were following the government instructions and operated by the book. How can we be accused of being biased?” said the officer.
In a memo issued by Dwaraka Rao in August, the waiting IPS officers were instructed to report to the DGP’s office at Mangalagiri regularly at 10 am, and sign in the attendance register in the morning and after office hours without fail. They were also asked to be readily available to attend to any urgent work assigned to them.
These officers’ services were utilised during the Vijayawada floods in September.
The Naidu administration has apparently been stern with acts of omissions and commissions by IPS officers, especially while dealing with YSRCP leaders, under its rule too.
Harshavardhan Raju, a 2013 IPS officer, who was made Kadapa SP in July by Naidu, was relieved from the post and attached to the DGP’s office in November.
Raju faced the government’s wrath as the district police under his command had let off Varra Ravindra Reddy, a YSRCP man allegedly close to Jagan’s family, after merely serving him a CrPC Section 41 A notice.
Varra is accused of posting derogatory social media content on Naidu, Lokesh, Kalyan and APCC chief Y.S. Sharmila. Raju has been awaiting a posting since then.
Meanwhile, a few officers have been reassigned in recent months.
Chamatapalli Vijaya Rao, a 2010 batch officer who had been on the wait list since mid-July, was at the end of September posted as DIG Road Safety, seen as a loop line posting.
As Guntur SP in 2020, Rao was accused of acting severely against the Amaravati farmers agitating against Jagan’s 3-capital plan, in order to suppress protests. His tenure as SP Nellore in 2022 also came under the scanner, especially in connection with a case involving YSRCP senior minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy.
Satya Yesubabu–an officer from the 2011 batch who was an SP in intelligence during Jagan’s tenure and continued there until August–was also attached to the DGP’s office for the past few months.
“Some cases like of Yesubabu are part of the administrative reshuffle, sans any YSRCP-related animosity. While a few not-so-controversial officers are expected to be accommodated in some posts in the next few days, the wait will be longer in examples like Sunil Kumar,” one officer in the headquarters told ThePrint.
Meanwhile, in November, seven officers from AP Police Service–B. Umamaheswar, Rama Mohana Rao, N. Sridevi, Ashok Kumar and Rama Devi, K.G.V. Saritha and K. Chakravarthi–were promoted to IPS officers. These inclusions are yet to reflect on the IPS civil list.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)