R Krishna Das
Raipur, January 3
A section in the Indian Police Service (IPS) cadre in Chhattisgarh used to quip; Abhishek Pallava should now buy land and build a house in Dantewada—-infamous across the globe for deadly Maoist violence.
For, the 2013-batch IPS officer has now served the district in a routine stint. Of his total service in the elite IPS, more than half the tenure he has spent fighting the Left guerrillas in the terrains tucked away unobtrusively in the Bastar region. The doctor-turned-IPS officer has spent over five years in the country’s worst insurgency-hit district.
Pallava from Begusarai in Bihar had been a practicing doctor and had done his MD from AIIMS in 2009. In early 2017, he was sent to Dantewada as Additional Superintendent of Police. Soon after his posting, Pallava hogged the headlines for treating the wounded Maoist after a seven-hour long encounter with his team.
Interestingly, he was promoted as Superintendent of Police in the same district, a rare practice in the fraternity. In July 2018, Pallava changed the chamber in the same premises; became district police chief from deputy.
The reshuffle in the police department happened on a number of occasions, but Pallava did not find a place even though there was buzz in the bureaucracy. Finally, Pallava has been removed from the red zone after serving for over five years. During his tenure, Pallava created a niche for himself in the anti-Naxal operations; among the firsts to be seen in the scene of crime after any incident.
In a minor reshuffle executed today, Chhattisgarh government transferred Pallava as the Superintendent of Police in Janjgir-Champa district. In all, nine IPS officers were affected in the reshuffle.
The state government is likely to change the Inspector General of Police in a few ranges very soon.
