The government on Wednesday announced that Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar will be the new director general of the Central Reserve Police Force, two days after 25 security personnel had been killed in a Maoist encounter in Sukma, Chhattisgarh. After the attack, the government had been criticised for the post being vacant.

Bhatnagar is from the 1983 batch of the Indian Police Service.

The soldiers killed in Monday’s attack belonged to CRPF’s 74th Battalion and were helping the local administration in road construction work when they were attacked. Some reports had said they were attacked during lunch time, and were thus caught off guard. The attack could have also been because of an “operational lapse”, the CRPF has found.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday dedicated its sweeping victory in the the Delhi civic polls to the security personnel who were killed. They have also decided against celebrating their win because of Monday’s attack.

Delh BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said,”But for the Sukma incident, we would be on the streets celebrating this massive victory. We dedicate this win in the feet of Sukma martyrs.” Meanwhile, party chief Amit Shah said the BJP would punish the perpetrators responsible for the attack. “The BJP party would ensure to take strong action in the Sukma encounter case. Guilty would be punished,” Shah said in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The Union Home Minister has sought a report about the incident, reported ANI. On Tuesday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked the Director General of the CRPF and security adviser to the ministry to stay put in Chhattisgarh and come up with a strategy to handle the Maoist problem in the region.

Singh had said that he had called a meeting of the governments of states affected by Maoist violence on May 8, ANI reported. Describing the Sukma attack as a “cowardly act”, he said the Centre and states would work together against left-wing extremism. “It is an act of desperation. Such groups are anti-development,” Singh had said.