In a major reshuffle, the Bihar Government on Tuesday transferred 18 IPS officers, including the Superintendents of Police (SPs) of Siwan and Bhojpur — whose role had come under scrutiny in separate cases involving the students’ protest in July and the encounter of 28-year-old Bharat Bhushan Tiwari.Siwan SP Puran Kumar Jha has been shifted following the controversy over the use of an AK-47 by a constable during the students’ protest against the NEET (UG) paper leak in the district on July 25. He has been placed on the waiting list for a new posting. Bharat Soni, who was serving as the SP of Nalanda, has been appointed as the new Siwan SP.Constable Abhishek Kumar, who fired the AK-47 into the air during the protest, was earlier suspended and departmental proceedings were initiated against him.The Bihar Police has told the Supreme Court that the constable fired four rounds after he got trapped in a “crowd of protesters”. In an affidavit in the apex court, the Bihar Police said in a stone-pelting incident in Siwan, 20 police personnel — an SP, two sub-divisional police officers, two inspectors, two sub-inspectors and 13 constables — were injured.Jha, who was the Siwan SP, had stated that no one was injured in the AK-47 incident. “A district intelligence unit officer had visited JP Chowk. The investigation revealed that a murder had taken place on that day, and a team was passing through the area to conduct an investigation and take necessary action…Constable Abhishek has been suspended with immediate effect,” he had said on July 25.Bhojpur SP Raj has been transferred to Rohtas. Awadesh Dikshit, who was serving as the SP at the Bihar Police Headquarters, has been appointed as the new Bhojpur SP. The transfer follows the death of 28-year-old Bharat Bhushan Tiwari in a police encounter on June 17. Tiwari had livestreamed parts of the confrontation on Facebook.While the police said Tiwari was armed with a pistol, the livestreamed video and eyewitness accounts said he had surrendered. This was followed by a judicial inquiry and a police investigation.