12 IPS Officers Shifted Overnight; 5 Districts Get New Police Chiefs
In a sweeping administrative overhaul aimed at tightening grassroots policing and revitalizing field governance, the Madhya Pradesh government executed a major late-night reshuffle on Wednesday, transferring 12 senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers across key administrative and operational jurisdictions. Formalized through an official executive notification released by the state Home Department in Bhopal, the restructuring fundamentally changes the district policing hierarchy by replacing the Superintendents of Police (SPs) in five sensitive and strategic districts: Narmadapuram, Betul, Panna, Harda, and Alirajpur. The coordinated movement blends seasoned field commanders with specialized officers drawn from cyber crime and economic offenses units, reinforcing the state’s internal security machinery ahead of upcoming governance reviews and operational audits across urban commissionerates and rural sectors.
Ground-Level Police Command Overhaul: New SPs Deployed Across 5 Key Districts
The most significant operational dimension of the midnight transfer order is the comprehensive leadership reset executed across five district police headquarters. In Narmadapuram, Deepak Kumar Shukla, previously serving as the Commander of the 32nd Battalion of the Special Armed Force (SAF) in Ujjain, has been appointed as the new Superintendent of Police, taking over the reins from outgoing police chief Saikrishna S. Thota. In Betul, the state administration replaced incumbent SP Virendra Jain by appointing Amit Saxena, who was previously posted as Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) at the state Police Headquarters (PHQ) in Bhopal. The diamond-rich district of Panna witnessed a notable transition as Savyasachi Saraf, formerly the Superintendent of Cyber Police in Indore, was posted as the new district SP, replacing Nivedita Naidu to bring specialized cyber-forensic expertise to district-level policing. In Harda, Ankit Jaiswal, who was stationed as Superintendent of Police (Railway) in Bhopal, takes charge as the new district chief in place of outgoing SP Shashank. Rounding out the district reshuffle, Samar Verma, previously serving as Superintendent of Police in the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Ujjain, has been deployed as the new SP of tribal-dominated Alirajpur, replacing senior officer Raghuvansh Kumar Singh.
Strategic Realignments: Key Postings at PHQ, Bhopal Urban Police & SAF Battalions
Beyond the district-level transfers, the Home Department's order reassigned senior officers to critical administrative, urban policing, and armed battalion responsibilities. Outgoing Alirajpur SP Raghuvansh Kumar Singh has been elevated to the rank of Inspector General of Police (IGP) at the state Police Headquarters in Bhopal. Former Betul SP Virendra Jain transitions into urban commissionerate policing following his appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) within the Bhopal Urban Police setup, where he will oversee metropolitan security management. Outgoing Narmadapuram SP Saikrishna S. Thota has been posted as Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) at Police Headquarters in Bhopal, while former Panna SP Nivedita Naidu has been assigned as Commander of the 10th Battalion of the Special Armed Force stationed in Sagar. In the specialized armed police wing, Abhishek Anand has been shifted from Commander of the 1st Battalion SAF Indore to take command of the 15th Battalion SAF in Indore, while Shrutkirti Somvanshi has been assigned as Commander of the 2nd Battalion SAF in Gwalior, completing a comprehensive institutional realignment designed to balance administrative agility and field operational readiness across Madhya Pradesh.
