Intel head shifted while at DGPs' meet in Delhi

CHENNAI: The transfer of the state intelligence chief, additional director general of police Anoop Jaiswal, within nine months of his assuming office, has once again brought to the fore the issue of frequent transfers of police officials in Tamil Nadu.
Jaiswal's transfer has come close on the heels of union home minister P Chidambaram likening frequent transfers of police officials to "a football" being kicked around.Chidambaram was speaking at the conference of directors general of police in Delhi on Monday, where he exhorted state police chiefs to assert themselves. The national police commission had stipulated a minimum tenure of two years for senior police officials, which Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment in 2006 said should be implemented by all states.
As intelligence chief of Tamil Nadu since December 2008, Jaiswal has barely had time to settle into his job. The chief of intelligence is overall in-charge of internal security and the pointman on security. Jaiswal's exit is said to be the fallout of differences within the department. As a result, the state intelligence wing is now without a head for the third time since the DMK government came to power in 2006.
"Terrorists have struck at will in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Chennai being an equally vulnerable target, it is risky to shuffle intelligence chiefs frequently. In adjoining Andhra Pradesh, Aravind Rao, the intelligence ADGP, has served more than five years. His predecessor Shiv Shankar remained in office for 10 years. In Karnataka, Kishore Chandra headed state intelligence for the entire 30-month tenure when Kumaraswamy was chief minister. Even in Tamil Nadu, during the previous DMK regimes, intelligence chiefs like Ramanujam and Sripal had long tenures," pointed out another official.
A 1980-batch IPS official, Jaiswal is a non-controversial official. He had one of the longest tenures (14 years) in the Intelligence Bureau, where he joined as superintendent of police and continued even after he was promoted as inspector general. He has served in far-flung areas such as Assam, Kashmir and even Delhi where he worked as chief of IB's counter terrorism wing. He was known to have a rapport with national security advisor M K Narayanan.
Ironically, Jaiswal was informed about his transfer while he was involved in deliberations at the DGPs' conference in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon. "It ended up humiliating him at a national forum, where he was representing the state police. Otherwise one could have waited till he returned to the state to transfer him," observed a senior police official.