KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday effected a major reshuffle of the top brass of the state police, reinstating officers who were transferred after the Election Commission took over.
Banerjee reinstated DGP Virendra and ADG (law & order) Jawed Shamim in two key changes, the announcements made in her first press conference after being sworn in as CM for the third straight term.
The incumbents, DGP P Nirajnayan and ADG (law and order) Jag Mohan, were posted as DG (Fire Service) and director civil defence, respectively. Both Virendra and Shamim had been transferred by the poll panel. Virendra was posted as advisor West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, while Shamim was posted as DG (Fire).
The state home department also revoked the suspension of senior IPS officer Vivek Sahai, reinstating him as the director of security. The EC had acted against Sahai and immediately suspended him after the CM was injured in Nandigram during her campaign there on March 10.
The District Officer (DM) of East Medinapur District, Vibhu Goyal, too was removed.
“Our former DGP Virendra is now back. His retirement is in May. So he will be returning to his office for a few days. Jawed was ADG (law and order). He is being brought back. The present DG will be handling fire services and ADG (law and order) will handle civil defence,” Banerjee said at a press conference.
Among the other major reshuffles, Gyanwant Singh — acting as director of security after Sahai’s suspension — has been made additional director of security. He will have the additional charge as ADG (armed police).
Sanjay Singh will be the new ADG (Western zone). While Manoj Kumar Verma is back as CP Barrackpore, Ajay Kumar Thakur, the DIG Operations at CID, will be the new Asansol CP. Arnab Ghosh is the new CP of Chandannagar. The present CP of Chandannagar, Gaurav Sharma, has been made the new CP of Siliguri. It is the post in which he had served earlier.
Two IPS officers — Mitesh Jain, CP of Asansol-Durgapur Police and Mukesh (DIG) Barasat Range — have been sent on compulsory waiting. The districts got 14 new SPs. Many of these officers were on compulsory waiting, effected by the EC.
