Home Ministry deputes top cop who cracked Pulwama case, managed Kashmir law and order to Manipur

The Home Ministry has sent back a top police officer, Rakesh Balwal, to his original job in Manipur. He had been working with the NIA and was part of the team that solved the Pulwama terror attack case. He also did a good job handling law and order in Kashmir as Srinagar SSP. A government notification says that the Cabinet’s appointment committee has agreed to this move. Rakesh Balwal joined the IPS in 2012. His last job in Manipur was as SP of Churachandpur district in 2017 before he went to work with the NIA. He spent three and a half years with the NIA, where he helped investigate the Pulwama attack in 2019. After that, he was sent to work in Srinagar in 2021. A security source says that because of his excellent work in solving the Pulwama attack and handling law and order in Kashmir, especially during riots in Srinagar downtown, he will play an important role in bringing back normalcy in Manipur. This includes helping the state Special Investigation Team (SIT) speed up its work on over 6,500 cases. Rakesh Balwal is from Udhampur in Jammu. He will get a new job in Manipur soon, according to the source. This is the third important appointment the Home Ministry has made in Manipur recently. On June 1, Rajiv Singh, a senior IPS officer, was made the state’s DGP. This happened during the ongoing troubles in the state, and he replaced P. Doungel, who was given a different job. In May, when the violence started, the Centre sent a retired IPS officer, Kuldiep Singh, to Imphal as a security advisor to the state government. Last month, the Manipur government chose Colonel (retired) Nectar Sanjebam, a highly decorated officer from 21 Para (Special Forces), as the state’s senior SSP (combat). This new position was created just for him. Colonel Sanjebam, who is a graduate of the National Defence Academy, retired early last year after 20 years of service. Most of his career was spent fighting insurgency in Manipur.