Rosaiah removes Yadav as Andhra police chief (Lead)

Tightening his grip over administration, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah Wednesday removed controversial police officer S.S.P. Yadav as the director general of police and appointed Girish Kumar as the new state police chief, besides shifting other key officials.

The move came after Yadav made controversial remarks following the death of chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash Sep 2.

After YSR's death, Yadav had stated that the responsibility of the police ended when the chief minister boarded the chopper.

He also came under criticism for the police failure to track the missing chopper for 24 hours and also for the traffic chaos during the late leader's cremation, preventing the home minister and several top leaders from attending the last rites.

Yadav was earlier transferred on the orders of the Election Commission for praising YSR during the Lok Sabha election process in April, but was reinstated by YSR when he became chief minister for the second term in May.

Yadav, who was always surrounded by controversies, had recently abused mediapersons in Tirupati and said they would die an ignonimous death.

While R.R. Girish Kumar, who was director general of anti-corruption bureau, is the new state police chief, Yadav has been transferred as managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC).

After taking over as the new police chief, Girish Kumar said he would fight corruption, bring more transparency in the police department and improve the interface between police and media.

Rosaiah also appointed P. Gautam Kumar, Director General of Andhra Pradesh Special Police Battalions, as principal secretary to the home department.

He also shifted Additional Director General (Intelligence) K. Aravind Rao to the anti-corruption bureau.

APSRTC managing director Dinesh Reddy has been appointed the director general, vigilance and enforcement.

Rosaiah appointed former legislature secretary Tuljanand Singh as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the chief minister.

Though Rosaiah was sworn in chief minister Sep 3, he occupied the chair in the chief minister's office only two days ago.

Last updated on Oct 7^th, 2009 at 22:13 pm IST--IANS