New Delhi: As protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) continue in Assam amid curfew and internet restriction, Inspector General, National Investigation Agency (NIA), G.P. Singh has been sent to Guwahati to “take charge” of the situation, ThePrint has learnt.
Singh, a 1991-batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been repatriated to his parent cadre by the Assam government, and will now be posted as ADG (Law & Order).
Speaking to ThePrint, Singh said he was looking forward to going to Assam to “bring peace and normalcy in the region”.
“The government has given me this responsibility to take charge of the situation and bring peace in the area and I will discharge my duties in the best possible way,” he said.
Soon after the orders came, he tweeted: “Back to ASSAM…!!! The Karamabhumi”.
Back to ASSAM…!!! The Karmabhumi.
— GP Singh (@gpsinghassam) December 12, 2019
Singh has worked with the NIA for six years, and in several parts of the Northeast, including Assam, for over 18 years.
According to a source in the NIA, Singh was asked to leave for his parent cadre after the law and order situation in Assam started to deteriorate.
“As the situation in Assam is tense, the government wanted to send an old hand to the state to take control of things and make sure they do not become worse. There should be no loss of life,” said an officer.
The Army has been deployed in Guwahati where it is carrying out flag marches. Assam Rifles personnel have been deployed in Tripura too.
After the police was unable to control the situation, Guwahati Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar was sacked from his position.
Internet services have been suspended in 10 districts of Assam —Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Kamrup (Metro) and Kamrup.
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Singh probed targetted killings in Punjab
While with the NIA, G.P. Singh worked on several militancy-related cases in Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeastern region and Punjab.
Singh supervised the case of NIA involving the Northeast, considering his expertise and also cases of militancy in Punjab, especially the seven incidents of targetted killings of RSS leaders between 2016 and 2017.
Singh also dealt with several cases of NIA in Kashmir including the terror funding case.
“He has worked on many crucial cases for the NIA. Most militancy-related cases that had a Pakistan connection too were probed by him. These include many cases in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast region,” an NIA officer said.
“He has also probed the case wherein Indian Air Force Base at Pathankot, Punjab was attacked by a group of heavily armed Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists,” he added.
While in the Northeast, he also served as the IG of North Assam, of Bodoland and of Guwahati, and was also involved in several operations against the banned outfit, United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
In 2018, he was given two years’ extension by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
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Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma is arguably the finest political mind in the north east. He could have visualised how this would play out, urged caution and sagacity.