Bhubaneswar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday approved appointment of two Odisha-cadre IPS officers as SPs of Berhampur and Khurda.
While Sarthak Sarangi received the commission’s green light for Berhampur SP post, Awinash Kumar will take charge as Khurda SP, replacing Saravana Vivek Kumar and Jugal Kishore Banoth, respectively.
On April 2, the ECI had ordered transfer of 6 IPS officers, including SPs of Berhampur, Khurda, Rourkela and Angul, Cuttack DCP and IGP (central range) to non-election related posts with immediate effect. Cuttack Collector Vineet Bharadwaj and Jagatsinghpur Collector Parul Patwari were also transferred.
Three days later, the commission approved the names of Brijesh Kumar Rai for the post of Rourkela SP, Prakash R as Cuttack DCP, and Umashankar Dash as Angul SP while Sanjay Kumar Kaushal replaced Ashish Singh as IG (Central).
Arindam Dakua and Anupam Saha were appointed collectors of Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur respectively.
The ECI’s order came a couple of days after BJP’s MP candidate from Berhampur, Pradeep Panigrahy, alleged that an IG-ranked IPS officer was threatening politicians in Ganjam district asking them not to leave the BJD.
