The Election Commission on Tuesday transferred 19 police officers across Bengal in another sweeping move since the announcement of the Assembly elections on Sunday.
Four police commissioners — from Asansol-Durgapur, Howrah, Barrackpore and Chandernagore — the additional directors-general of police overseeing north and south Bengal, a dozen district superintendents and a deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police were transferred.
The orders were communicated in two successive letters sent to the chief secretary of Bengal on Tuesday afternoon. “Further, the officers transferred shall not be posted in any election-related posts till the completion of elections,” the letters stated.
The orders came about 12 hours after chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Monday night, urging the commission to desist “from adopting such unilateral measures in the future”.
The rapid spate of transfers has left some senior bureaucrats rattled. “This is rare. Typically, a panel of officers is sent to the state government for recommendations for the posts under consideration. But as with Monday’s transfers of the state’s top brass, the EC did not send a list for Tuesday’s transfers,” a senior home department official said.
Rajesh Kumar Singh has been posted as the additional director-general of police, south Bengal, while K. Jayaraman, Singh’s batchmate since 1997, will oversee north Bengal as the new ADG.
Among the police commissionerates, Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi has been assigned as Howrah City Police commissioner, Pranav Kumar heads Asansol-Durgapur, Amit Kumar Singh takes over Barrackpore, and Sunil Kumar Yadav is now commissioner of Chandernagore.
The district superintendents transferred include Barasat, Coochbehar, Birbhum, Islampur, Hooghly Rural, Diamond Harbour, Murshidabad, Basirhat, Malda, East Midnapore, Jangipur and West Midnapore.
The deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police’s central division, Indira Mukherjee, was the only transfer in the city. She has been replaced by Yeilwad Shrikant Jagannathrao.
Mukherjee, an IPS officer of the 2013 batch, had been in charge when the attack on state minister Shashi Panja’s house occurred at Girish Park on March 14.
Priyabrata Roy, police superintendent of Barasat, took charge barely a month ago after being shifted from the post of deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police’s south division. Insiders said Roy may have been targeted due to his presence during ED raids at I-PAC chief Pratik Jain’s Loudon Street residence in January.
“The SP of Murshidabad was replaced, and Dhritiman Sarkar was brought in after violence erupted in Beldanga in January. In less than two months, he was shifted out by the EC,” a senior officer said.
The EC’s letters emphasised that the directions had to be implemented with “immediate effect”, with a compliance report on joining due by 11am Wednesday.
In addition to transfers, the EC asked the chief secretary to provide details of all transfer orders issued after February 28 and a list of all re-employed officers and staff in the state.
The state’s leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, has objected to the re-employment of officers by the state government. A section of Trinamool leaders alleged the EC’s request for re-employment details was prompted by Suvendu’s allegations.