Outgoing Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police S P Vaid tweets:"I'm thankful to God that he gave me the opportunity to serve my people and my country. I'm grateful to @JmuKmrPolice, security agencies, and people of J&K for their support and their faith in me. My best wishes to the new DGP."


The Jammu and Kashmir police chief was unceremoniously removed late Thursday and shunted as the Transport Commissioner and Director General of Prison Dilbagh Singh was directed to look after the force until a regular appointment was made. The official order to this effect was issued late Thursday by Principal Secretary, Home, R K Goyal. Vaid, a 1986-batch IPS officer, was appointed as the Director General of Police in December, 2016. He is due to retire in October next year. Singh, who has been made the in-charge Director General of Police, is a 1987-batch officer. He was made the head of the prison department in March after the infamous of escape of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Naved Jhatt while the latter was on a routine health check-up at a city hospital in February. Singh, during his tenure as Director General of Prisons, streamlined many things, including the removal of hardened terrorists from Kashmir jails. He will have a regular appointment only after his name is cleared by the UPSC.


Former J-K CM @OmarAbdullah reacted, "Changing the DG is the prerogative of the administration but why a DG as a temporary arrangement? The current DG wont know if hes going to stay & others who would like his job will be trying to replace him. None of this is goo."d