Vijay Kumar to take charge of CRPF Wednesday
By IANSTuesday, October 5, 2010
NEW DELHI - Indian Police Service (IPS) officer K. Vijay Kumar, who headed the men who shot dead forest brigand Veerappan, will take over as the director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) here Wednesday.
Security experts view Kumar’s appointment as a move by the home ministry to streamline the anti-Maoist campaign in which the CRPF is playing a key role.
Kumar, 58, was the director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad, till his new appointment.
He replaces Vikram Srivastava, who faced criticism after the April 6 massacre of 75 CRPF personnel and a state police constable in Chhattisgarh at the hands of Maoists.
Kumar shot to fame while leading a Special Task Force against Veerappan and his associates. The bandit was gunned down in October 2004.
He was also part of the Special Protection Group team that provided security to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
While with the Border Security Force, he was posted as the inspector-general of police (Operations) in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s.
Kumar, who made jungle warfare training mandatory to IPS probationers during his tenure at the National Police Academy, is likely to introduce tactical training programmes for CRPF personnel, informed sources told IANS.
