IPS officers find favour to keep South & Margao free of crime

With the posting of Sahil Sarangal as the SDPO, Margao, the post of South District Superintendent of Police and the SDPO, Margao, are now both headed by IPS officers.

Sources in the know say this is perhaps for the first time in recent history that the post of South District Police Chief and the SDPO, Margao, are being presided over by IPS officers.

The decision has come as a big surprise in the corridors of the Goa police department with the government zeroing in on an IPS officer over local officers, who were recently promoted to the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Police officers from South Goa were trying to figure out whether the government’s decision is part of any plan to depute an IPS officer to head the Margao police division post-Krishna Walke murder case.

Names of probable candidates were doing the rounds in the police department to fill up the post of SDPO, Margao, which was left vacant for the last three months.

That the government waited for the Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) to recommend the promotion of police inspectors to the post of DySPs had further fuelled speculations that one of the candidates recommended for promotion by the GPSC will be posed at SDPO, Margao.

However, in a complete surprise, the government posted the IPS officer to assume charge of SDPO, which is of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, while posting the newly-promoted DySPs to various posts in the Goa police department.

The post of SDPO, Margao was lying vacant after then SDPO, DySP Serafino Dias, was promoted as Superintendent of Police in June. Since then, SDPO Quepem, DySP Kiran Podwal, was holding additional charge of Margao SDPO. He handed over the charge of the office to the new SDPO to Sahil Sarangal, IPS on Friday.