Chennai: The state government on Wednesday appointed Chennai city police commissioner T. K. Rajendran as the director general of police (intelligence) with full additional charge of law & order. Rajendran replaces Ashok Kumar, who opted to take voluntary retirement and was relieved of his responsibilities late on Tuesday night.
DGP S.George, heading the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, has been reappointed as the new Chennai city police commissioner in place of Rajendran. This is the third time George is becoming the Chennai CoP. Both the officers took charge on Wednesday afternoon. In a press release, CoP George said priority will be given to maintaining law and order, traffic management and visible policing beside addressing public grievances.
A native of Tiruvannamalai, T K Rajendran (born 1957) is from the 1984 batch of IPS officers and holds an MA degree. Before Rajendran became CoP in Chennai he was ADGP law and order. “I thank the chief minister and the government for giving me the opportunity to serve the people,” he told reporters after taking charge on Wednesday afternoon. Maintenance of law and order will be given top priority, he added.
George, a 1984 IPS batch officer and who holds M.Tech and MBA degrees was heading the prison department before he was appointed TNUSRB chief. He was Chennai CoP twice before.
The first time he was appointed as city chief in September 2012 and served till the election commission shifted him in April 2014. He was brought back as CoP in May 2014 after the Lok Sabha elections and continued till Rajendran took over in October 2015.
George had brought considerable improvement in visible policing in Chennai during his earlier stints.
The sudden change of guard in sensitive posts in the police department started after DGP Ashok Kumar’s exit on Tuesday, just two months before his retirement. He had sought VRS citing personal commitments. His equation with the political bosses had reportedly started deteriorating after the assembly elections. He was appointed as DGP in November 2014 for a period of two years though he was scheduled to retire in June 2015.
