Chennai: Senior IPS officer S. Davidson Devasirvatham has been brought back as Inspector General (IG) - Intelligence, replacing KN Sathiyamurthy who is on leave due to a family exigency.
The orders for the same were issued by the Principal Home Secretary Apurva Verma at a time when the war over the Chief Minister's chair has been gaining momentum between the caretaker CM, O. Panneerselvam and AIADMK party general secretary, VK Sasikala.
The orders came hours after Panneerselvam made his maiden visit to the State Secretariat a week after he staged his Marina revolt against Sasikala. Sources revealed that Sathiyamurthy was close to Sasi's camp, and was known to have kept her in loop by briefing her after Pannnerselvam was sworn-in as CM on Jaya's death.
The political imbroglio had forced Panneerselvam to send out Sathiyamurthy who he was convinced would continue to leak info to Sasi and to choose Davidson whose reputation for being apolitical is unassailable.
Panneerselvam who is calling the shots in the government machinery, sent out a clear signal to the senior bureaucrats to stay apolitical while discharging their duties. Sathiyamurthy was earlier shunted out of the post ahead of the State Assembly election 2016 by the Election Commission of India on hearing complaints about the officer acting in favour of the ruling party. He was subsequently brought back to the seat soon after Jaya romped to power again.
Davidson has earlier served in many roles, including IG (Admin), and was known for his effective role in quelling the caste clashes when he was posted in Cuddalore as SP.
While he was of SP rank, Davidson served in the UN Peace Keeping Mission in Kosovo while on deputation with the Centre. Presently serving as IG (Welfare), he was first appointed to the post of IG (Intelligence) replacing P. Kannappan who retired from service on July 31, 2015. Earlier in December 2015, the then AIADMK government had replaced the 1995 batch IPS officer with Sathiyamurthy. The development gains prominence when the Supreme Court had indicated that it would deliver its Judgment on Sasikala in the DA case on Tuesday.
