In a major reshuffle in Tamil Nadu, IPS officer A Arun has been appointed the Chennai Commissioner of Police, replacing Director General of Police (DGP) Sandeep Rai Rathore who has been downgraded to DGP, Training. Additional DGP Davidson Devasirvatham has been transferred and posted as the ADGP of law and order. The move comes days after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’s Tamil Nadu chief K Armstrong was brutally murdered by a gang in Chennai’s Perambur.

In a government order passed on July 8, the government has announced that A Arun, who was the ADGP of law and order, has been posted as the Chennai Commissioner. Arun is a 1998 batch IPS officer and served in several law and order posts, including that of Superintendent of Police for Karur, Kanniyakumari, and Tiruppur and as the Commissioner of Avadi City Police and Trichy.

Sandeep, a 1992 batch IPS officer, was appointed as the Chennai Commissioner of Police in June 2023. He also served as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Coimbatore City during the 1998 serial bomb blasts, the Deputy Commissioner - Traffic (North Chennai), and the first Commissioner of Police of Avadi Commissionerate among other posts. He will now hold the additional charge of the post of ADGP/Director of Tamil Nadu Police Academy.

The Tamil Nadu BSP chief was murdered around 7.30 pm on July 5 by bike-borne miscreants in front of his house in Perambur.