BHOPAL: Days after a mob attack in Mauganj district claimed the lives of two people, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), the state government has transferred both the District Collector and the Superintendent of Police (SP).
Ajay Shrivastava, a 2013-batch IAS officer who was serving as Mauganj District Collector, has been transferred to the state secretariat as Deputy Secretary in the Public Assets Management Department. Sanjay Kumar Jain, a 2015-batch IAS officer and former Deputy Secretary in the same department, has been appointed as the new Mauganj Collector.
Similarly, Superintendent of Police Rasna Thakur has been replaced by Dilip Kumar Soni as the new SP of Mauganj. Rasna Thakur has been shifted to police headquarters in Bhopal as Assistant Inspector General of Police.
The transfers were formalized through a notification issued by Chief Secretary Anurag Jain late on Tuesday.
The administrative reshuffle follows the violent incident on March 15, when ASI Ramcharan Gautam was killed by a mob while attempting to rescue a captive, Sunny Dwivedi. The police later discovered Dwivedi's body locked in a room. Six other police personnel and a tehsildar were also injured in the attack. Order was restored after additional forces were deployed in the area.
According to Saket Pandey, In-charge Inspector General (IG) of the Rewa range, 26 suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the violence. "We have rounded up 26 accused so far and expect to arrest the main culprits soon. A detailed investigation from all angles is underway, " Pandey said.
The incident has sparked outrage, prompting protests by various social organizations, including the Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Samaj, in Rewa on Tuesday.
Mauganj, which was formerly part of the Rewa district, was declared a separate district in 2023.