New Delhi, June 2 (IANS): M.V. Rao an IPS of 1987 batch is Jharkhand DGP and has served in central forces as well, speaking to IANS in an interview the DG police said that he is dealing the state with human touch and there is no news of police excess even in the lockdown which has been peaceful.
In the candid interview Rao said that "Naxals have reduced themselves to bunch of criminals in the state and are only interested in extortion from the mining companies and others".
"Naxals pretend to be fighting for people but indulge in criminal activity," said Rao.
The Jharkhand DG said that "we expected extremist to work for the welfare of the people "and help the villagers during the lockdown but nothing of that sort has happened and it was the police force which helped the people and distributed 25 lakh meals" and each police station was doubled up as a community kitchen.
MV Rao said that Naxals have lost their way and are now "irrelevant in the state" and have lost "connect with the people".
When asked about a attack in Chaibasa on police, he said that the extremist have lost their ground and are frustrated so resort to such activities and target civilians and sometime use them as shield.
He claimed that people have no sympathy with extremist as poor are suffering a lot because development project gets slowed down in these areas and naxals don't allow villagers to come into the forest and earn their living, there are generation of people who could not go to school because of Naxals.
The DG police who served in the CRPF has a family of police officers, with daughter and son-in-law also IPS officer.
Hailing from Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, Rao who has studied engineering, said that the police is a challenging job citing example of miscreants who tried to flare up communal problem in the state but was timely curbed by police.
Rao said "there was no communal bout in the state "but rogue elements" who tried to use poor vegetable sellers as pawn but we have made it clear that rogue elements will be dealt with strong hands.
In Ranchi's Hindpiri area that had one of the first covid cases, there was initial trouble reported. "But this is virus it doesn't go by relegion," the DGP said "we discouraged people who tried to stigmatized the area and timely action was taken".
MV Rao also claimed that "caucus and syndicate" of illegal mining in the state has been dismantled since he took over and "we are ensuring that government revenues are not lost". He said that the police will "break the chain" of the illegal mining activities in the state.
The DGP asserted that central forces are working in sync with the state police and there is no lack of cordination and there is no complaint received from anybody against the CRPF.
The State saw a spate of transfers wherein many Superintendent level officers were reshuffled, the DGP said that its a routine affair -- policing has changed in the state since he took over and ground reality is different from the previous period.