The Haryana government posted 1995-batch IPS officer Sandeep Khirwar as commissioner of police, Gurgaon, on Tuesday replacing Navdeep Singh Virk who has been transferred as the inspector general of police (IGP), Rohtak range.
Khirwar, 43, was posted as IGP, security, with additional charge of IGP, railway and commandos at Haryana police headquarters in Panchkula .
He graduated in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi in 1994. Khirwar has also worked for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and as district police head of several Haryana districts, including Hisar, Panchkula and Ambala.
“Gurgaon is an important city of the country, though priorities would be same as in any other city. Reducing crime and chalking out a plan for proper traffic management would be on top of the list,” Khirwar, the sixth police commissioner of Gurgaon, said.
The new appointment comes a fortnight after heavy rainfall submerged Gurgaon and mile-long traffic jams lasted for more than 12 hours, leaving thousands of commuters stranded.
The Haryana government transferred six IPS officials on Tuesday.
A 1994-batch IPS officer, Virk joined as commissioner of police, Gurgaon, on November 23, 2014.
During his tenure, Virk was at the centre of many controversies. In October 2015, the then joint commissioner of police (JCP) Bharti Arora had levelled allegations of harassment, mental torture and interference in investigation against him in a high profile rape case. The state government, however, soon transferred Arora out of Gurgaon and posted her as deputy inspector general of police (welfare and training) at Panchkula.
In February this year, matters got worse for Virk when he was in news over the encounter of killing of gangster Sandeep Gadoli in Mumbai. The Mumbai and Gurgaon police contested each other’s claims over the authenticity of the encounter that killed Gadoli at a hotel in Andheri East of Mumbai on February 7. The Gurgaon police officials maintained that they killed him in retaliatory fire while the Mumbai police, based on the SIT investigations, alleged that the encounter was staged. Eventually, the SIT of Mumbai police arrested five police personnel of Gurgaon police and two other accused.
The commissioner was also indulged in a cold war with Gurgaon deputy commissioner TL Satyaprakash over various issues.
The spate in robberies and other crimes of late also tainted Virk’s reputation. Add to it the mess after the downpour and rumours started spreading that Virk was on the way out.
