Calcutta, March 7: On his last day in office as home secretary, Prasad Ranjan Ray said he does not regret the comments on Nandigram that kicked up a controversy.

Ray apparently became unpopular with the CPM after saying the first shots in the frequent gunfights there were mostly fired from CPM stronghold Khejuri. “I stick to what I had said. It was on the basis of what government officials told me. I have no outside sources,” he said today.

Ray has been transferred to the higher education department. Higher education secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti will replace him.

Asked why he was transferred only a few months before his September 30 retirement, Ray told reporters: “It is for you to interpret.”

He will join the state electricity regulatory commission as chairman after retirement. He also plans to write a book on his days as home secretary.