New Delhi, October 2
Seemingly, it was trouble over the past three months in Kashmir, which today culminated in the removal of Director-General of CRPF Vikram Srivastava.

Today's development was a sudden move as Srivastava had joined as CRPF Director-General in February this year and normally DG-level officials are not removed after short tenures unless there are serious lapses.

The Home Ministry chose to bring in K Vijay Kumar, who had famously led the operations to eliminate forest brigand Veerappan and had a stint as IG operations in Kashmir while on deputation with the BSF.

Probably it is an indication that the government will be looking to tighten its anti-Maoist policy as Vijay Kumar has the prowess to conduct operations. Sources said in case of Srivastava, the message to the government was that the CRPF was at the receiving end in anti-Maoist warfare. In Kashmir, the jawans of the force presented a sorry picture — wearing cricket pads and fending off stones from youth. The CRPF is deployed in the cities alongside the J&K police.

He had also come under attack after the Dantewada massacre in which 75 CRPF men lost their lives in a Maoist attack on April six in Chhattisgarh.

Vijay Kumar, a Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer, had achieved fame when he headed the Special Task Force (STF) for a long time and strategised operations that culminated in the elimination of the dreaded sandalwood smuggler Veerapan in October, 2004.

Vijay Kumar headed the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad from 2008. Earlier, he had also had a stint in BSF as an Inspector-General in Kashmir for two years. Winner of President's Police Medal for gallantry, the 1975-batch officer will head a force of nearly three lakh personnel.

In deciding on Vijay Kumar's appointment, the government may have superceded two senior IPS officers Vijay Raman (1975 batch) and N K Tripathi (1974 batch).