Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti

Calcutta, Sept. 30: Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti was today relieved from the post of director-general (DG) of the state armed police.

The former Calcutta police commissioner will, however, continue to hold the less high-profile post of DG, traffic. Since July, Chakrabarti had been holding dual charge of the armed police and traffic departments.

Although home department officials claimed that today’s move was a “routine matter”, sources in the government said chief minister Mamata Banerjee was “unhappy” with Chakrabarti’s handling of the recent protests and hunger strike by jawans of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) in West Midnapore, Birbhum and Burdwan.

Chakrabarti, who is believed to be close to the previous Left Front government, had personally visited the IRB camp in West Midnapore’s Shilda to persuade the jawans to lift their hunger strike, the first time any wing of the state armed police had resorted to such a mode of protest.

The sources said the chief minister was “especially upset” with Chakrabarti for “assuring” the striking jawans that “no action” would be taken against them despite the fact that such conduct was not expected of a disciplined force.

The IRB jawans had organised a two-day fast from September 19 to protest prolonged postings in Maoist-affected areas, lack of leaves and poor condition of barracks. The jawans called off the fast after Chakrabarti assured them that he would take up their cause with state police chief Naparajit Mukherjee.

“The strike and the subsequent handling of it left the government red-faced,” a senior police officer said. “It is unbecoming of a DG, armed police, to assure jawans that no action will be taken against them even when they have defied orders from superior officers,” he said.

Another officer, however, said it was “inevitable” that any officer seen as being close to the Left regime would eventually be removed from a key post.

Before coming to power, Mamata had been openly critical of Chakrabarti, then city police commissioner, and his brother Ashok Mohan, the then chief secretary. Ashok Mohan retired before the change of guard at Writers’.

After Chakrabarti was removed from the police commissioner’s post on the instruction of the Election Commission in the run-up to the Assembly polls, he was made DG, armed police, by the Left government.

“From the day Chakrabarti was given dual charge of DG, traffic, it was clear that the Trinamul-led government would look for an excuse to remove him from the more high-profile job of DG, armed police,” a senior official said.

In 1993, when Mamata was thrown out of Writers’ after she had taken a physically challenged rape victim there and sat in a dharna in front of then chief minister Jyoti Basu’s chamber, Chakrabarti was a deputy commissioner of Calcutta police.