A police inspector who suffered a gunshot injury on his left arm in Howrah’s Shibpur close to midnight on February 19 was suspended on Tuesday.
An order issued by the state police said inspector Jayanata Pal has been suspended “pending enquiry into his conduct in a departmental proceeding as his continuance in service is prejudicial to public interest”.
Senior officers in the state police said during Pal’s suspension the inspector would draw half of his basic pay and other admissible allowances proportionately as subsistence allowance.
“Jayanta Pal has been suspended. He will remain attached with the unit headquarters in Hooghly till a fresh transfer order is issued,” a senior officer in the state police said.
Pal was relieved of his responsibilities as the inspector in charge of Chanditala police station in Hooghly after he was found lying beside a car with the gunshot injury in Howrah, which was not his district of posting.
He was posted with the district enforcement branch in the Hooghly rural police district.
A preliminary investigation by the Howrah police commissionerate revealed three others, including a woman, were in the car Pal had driven from Chanditala.
Cops said primarily, it appeared that a bullet was fired following a tiff among those in the car. The woman had blood stains on her body.
Pal, who was admitted to a private facility in Howrah, later told the police he was hurt following an accidental firing.
The Hooghly rural police began a separate investigation to determine whether
Pal had followed the mandatory steps before leaving his posting district to visit
another.
A three-member team was asked to submit a report. Sources said the report was recently submitted, after which Pal was suspended.
Investigators said they were matching what Pal told them about accidental firing with circumstantial evidence, CCTV footage and accounts of eyewitnesses.