Andhra Pradesh DGP Gautam Sawang Shunted Out Weeks After ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ Protest

The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday shunted out Director General of Police D. Gautam Sawang and appointed Kasireddy V. R. N. Reddy as the new police chief.

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday shunted out Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang and appointed Kasireddy VRN Reddy as the new police chief. Sawang has been directed to report to the General Administration Department for his next posting. KVRN Reddy, Director General of Police (Intelligence) has been given full additional charge as DGP till further orders.

Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma has issued a Government Order (GO) to this effect.

Belonging to the 1992 batch of the Indian Police Service (IPS), KVRN Reddy has been serving as the Intelligence chief of the state since August 2020. He had earlier worked in various posts including Deputy Commissioner of Police in Hyderabad, Vijayawada Railway SP and also as Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner. He also headed the narcotics control cell.

Sawang’s transfer has come as a surprise as he is due to retire in July 2023. The development has raised a few eyebrows in bureaucratic circles.

This comes nearly two weeks after government employees held a huge protest in Vijayawada despite police denying permission and imposing restrictions in the city. Thousands of employees from across the state managed to reach the city for ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ on February 3. This was seen as a big failure of the police.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had reportedly taken serious note of the incident. The next day he had called the DGP and sought an explanation from him. After assuming office of the chief minister in May 2019, Jagan Mohan Reddy had picked Gautam Sawang as the police chief.

Sawang, a 1986-batch IPS officer, succeeded RP Thakur.

Before Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, Sawang worked in various positions including Superintendent of Police (SP) and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) of Maoist-hit Warangal district.

In 2015, he became the Commissioner of Police in Vijayawada and three years later, he was appointed as Andhra Pradesh’s DG, Vigilance and Enforcement. During 2009-12, he served as a Commissioner for UN Police in Liberia.