Thiruvananthapuram: In a major reshuffle of top officials in the police force, the Kerala Government has appointed five new Additional Director Generals of Police (ADGPs), among other top officials. The postings are effective from January 1, 2023.

G Sparjan Kumar is the new Inspector General (IG), South Zone, and Neeraj Gupta, IG, North Zone. Dr A Srinivas will take over as Ernakulam Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG).

The new City Police Commissioners are C H Nagaraju (Thiruvananthapuram), K Sethuraman (Kochi) and Rajpal Meena (Kozhikode).

Meanwhile, Hemalatha has been posted as Superintendent of Police (SP) Rural at Kannur; K M Sabu Mathew as Crime Branch Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam, and K E Baiju as Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kozhikode.

As reported earlier, the Kerala Police is set to weed out criminal elements from its ranks. The government recently initiated action to dismiss 59 police officials from service who have been booked for serious offences.

The ‘criminals in uniform’ comprise about 1.56 per cent of the total police strength. The State Government recently admitted that 828 members of the Kerala Police force are facing charges in various criminal cases.

Of these, nearly 200 personnel, have been booked for physical harm and assault. Over a hundred are accused in domestic violence and dowry cases.