National Security Guard chief Nalin Prabhat will take over as director-general of Jammu and Kashmir police when incumbent Rashmi Ranjan Swain retires on September 30, the government has announced, virtually snubbing the controversial Swain just eight days after confirming him as DGP.
Prabhat has for now been appointed special director of Jammu and Kashmir police, which suggests that the remaining tenure of Swain, on whose watch Jammu has seen a surge in militant attacks, will largely be ceremonial with the DGP-designate calling the shots.
In a flurry of security-related decisions, the authorities have also set up 19 counter-insurgency units, each headed by a deputy superintendent of police, to combat militancy in Jammu.
On Independence Day, lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Balidan Stambh (Sacrifice Pillar) at Pratap Park in Srinagar. The Stambh will be the foremost “nationalist” symbol in the Valley, downscaling Pratap Park’s history as a protest zone for victims of alleged State violence.
Prabhat, a 55-year-old, 1992-batch police officer, has served extensively in the CRPF in Kashmir and later headed the specialised anti-Maoist police force, Greyhounds, of Andhra Pradesh, his former cadre state.
The Union home ministry has curtailed his tenure as director-general of the NSG — an elite counter-terror unit also called the Black Cats — and ordered his inter-cadre deputation from Andhra to Jammu and Kashmir with immediate effect.
Swain’s tenure as DGP will last a mere 56 days, although he officiated as the director-general-in-charge for over nine months since October 31, when Dilbag Singh retired.
On August 6, the home ministry issued an order appointing Swain as DGP till September 30. But its latest order, issued on August 14, has dashed any hopes he might have harboured of an extension.
Swain, who is from Odisha, is believed to have been calling the shots from behind the scenes in the security establishment since his appointment as Jammu and Kashmir CID chief in 2020, a few months after the scrapping of the special status.
His tenure witnessed a rise in militant violence despite his reputation as a tough taskmaster and a counter-insurgency expert.
In June, he promised to wipe out militancy in Jammu in two to three months but his claim was followed by more deadly militant attacks.
Last year, Iltija Mufti, the firebrand daughter of PDP leader and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, had accused the then Swain-helmed CID of persecuting Kashmiris “like the Gestapo of Nazi Germany”.
Swain’s appointment as director-general-in-charge was followed by a series of controversies. He recently described Valley politicians as Pakistani agents and accused them of cultivating militant leaders for political gain.
His statement drew sharp reactions from the Valley politicians and his own deputy, Vijay Kumar, who said the police were an apolitical and impartial force.
Large parts of Kashmir observed a voluntary shutdown on Independence Day in a throwback to the pre-2019 days. The government has been accused of using force in the last few years to ensure “normality” on Independence Day.
