J&K DGP who has political parties ruffled is among Valley’s most powerful post-Article 370 abrogation

Jammu & Kashmir DGP Rashmi Ranjan Swain who has triggered a political row with his remarks accusing mainstream and regional political parties in the Valley of facilitating Pakistan’s “infiltration into civil society” is not new to the Union territory – or to controversy.

A 1991-batch IPS officer who originally belongs to Odisha, Swain has been on central deputation for most part of his professional service but has also served in J&K in a series of sensitive posts, including as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in both the capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu and in the J&K Vigilance Commission (now called the Anti-Corruption Bureau).

Since 2020, Swain has been in J&K, brought to the state from his Central deputation, a year after the abrogation of Article 370, as the Additional Director General of the J&K Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID). In the wake of the scrapping of J&K’s special status and its division into two Union territories, bringing it under direct Central control, the position Swain held as the intelligence chief came to be among the most powerful in the Valley.

As the ADG, CID, he reported directly to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and the Union Home Ministry. He was credited with tightening the noose around separatist and militant networks at a time when the game plan of the Narendra Modi government post-Article 370 rested on ensuring that violence did not sweep a resentful Valley. Swain was also credited with cracking down on “corrupt” police officers, which contributed too to the Centre’s projection of its measures as the start of a new era in Kashmir.

Correspondingly, Swain was accused of hardline measures against militant families and acquaintances, including weaponising issuance of passports