Imphal: Senior Indian Police Service officer Rajiv Singh was on Thursday appointed as the new DGP of Manipur, according to an official order.Singh replaces P Doungel, who will be Officer on Special Duty (Home), a new post created by the Manipur government.

Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department Special Secretary N Geoffrey said in an order that Rajiv Singh will be the new DGP of Manipur and Head of the Police Force immediately upon joining the state government.

Singh, an IPS officer of the 1993 batch, was serving as the Inspector General of the CRPF. To accommodate Doungel, the Manipur government created the post “OSD (Home) at apex scale of IPS”, the order stated.

“Further, the Governor of Manipur is also pleased to order that Rajiv Singh, IPS should take charge of the post of DGP, Manipur from P Doungel,

Soon after the violence broke out in the state on May 3, the central government appointed former chief of the CRPF Kuldiep Singh as a security adviser to the Manipur government.

Manipur, which has been hit by ethnic conflict for nearly a month, witnessed a sudden spurt in clashes and firing between militants and security forces on Sunday, after a relative lull for over a fortnight. The death toll from clashes since ethnic violence began on May 3 has gone up to 80, officials said.

Ethnic violence first broke out in Manipur after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

The violence was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.