LUCKNOW, Sept. 1 -- As many as 18 senior police officers, including 10 IPS and eight PPS officers, retired from the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday, triggering the prospect of a series of postings and administrative changes in the department. The retiring IPS officers are Mutha Ashok Jain, Ravi Joseph Lokku, Dr Akhilesh Kumar Nigam, Shahab Rashid Khan, Alok Priyadarshi, Sunita Singh, Kamlesh Kumar Dixit, Arvind Mishra, Hari Govind and Ram Nayan Singh. Among the senior-most officers retiring on August 31 are Mutha Ashok Jain, who was serving as DG, Fire Services, and Ravi Joseph Lokku, who was posted as ADG, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). Dr Akhilesh Kumar Nigam was serving as IG, CID, while Shahab Rashid Khan was posted as DIG, UP-112. Alok Priyadarshi was serving as DIG in Ghaziabad Police Commissionerate, and Sunita Singh as DIG, PAC Headquarters. The other retiring IPS officers include Kamlesh Kumar Dixit, serving as SP in Lucknow Police Commissionerate; Arvind Mishra, SP in the Economic Offences Wing (EOW); Hari Govind, SP at the Training Directorate; and Ram Nayan Singh, SP of the 49th Battalion of PAC. Eight officers of the Provincial Police Service (PPS) also retired on Monday. They include Balramachari Dubey and Ashok Kumar Verma, both serving as Additional SPs. Among the retiring DSPs are Layak Singh, posted with the Anti-Terrorist Squad; Anju Singh, posted with the 44th PAC Battalion; Asma Majid, posted with PR & PB; and Dhirendra Pratap Singh, posted at the CBCID headquarters. Pramod Kumar Shukla, serving as DSP in Fatehpur, and Anil Kumar Rai, serving as DSP in Pratapgarh, are also among the officers who retired. The retirement of 18 officers is likely to leave several key posts vacant. The vacancies are likely to trigger a series of transfers, postings and additional-charge arrangements in coming days as the department works on replacing the retiring officers and reallocating responsibilities....