DIG killed in Orissa, Naveen orders inquiry

RAYAGADA: In the first such killing of a senior official by suspected Naxalites, deputy inspector general of police Jaswinder Singh was on Monday shot dead by unidentified persons at a village in Maoist-infested Rayagada district of south Orissa. Singh, DIG (south western range), was on his way from Sunabeda to Padmapur in Rayagada district when the incident occurred in Guma village, official sources said.

Singh was stopped at two places on the way by groups of people who asked for contribution for Kali puja festivities but he delined following which he was shot twice from behind.

Seriously injured in the head, he was rushed to the government hospital here where he was pronounced dead, the sources said.

It was not immediately known whether it was the handiwork of naxalites but Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in Bhubaneswar that a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

“We will be in a position to say after the investigation report is received”, he said. Director general of police Amarananda Patnaik said that the involvement of naxalites in the killing could not be ruled out.

Home Secretary Tarunkanti Mishra had earlier said that this was the first time that an IPS officer had been killed in the state.

Mishra told reporters at Bhubaneswar that the identity of the assailants was being verified.

Amidst conflicting reports that the PSO of the senior official had also been injured in the attack, Mishra said that the driver and PSO had escaped unhurt. The incident occurred at around noon.

An high-alert had been sounded in south Orissa while the neighbouring states of Chhatisgarh and Andhra Pradesh had been informed about the incident, he said.

Several senior police officers had rushed to Rayagada following the incident. A 1990 batch IPS officer, Singh was born in Hoshiarpur in Punjab in October 1962 and had taken up his present assignment at Sunabeda barely two months ago. Singh had been Superintendent of Police of several districts including naxalite-affected Deogarh, Gajapati and Bargarh and was also aide-de-camp to the Governor for some time.

He was DIG of police (modernisation) for some time before going out of the state on an assignment. He had been posted at Sunabeda on his return to the state. The Chief Minister announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of the police official while promising a job to a member of the family, sources said.