Former Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar, who was removed from his post by the Election Commission and reinstated as additional director-general of police, CID, has been asked to go to Tamil Nadu as an election observer.

Sarkar is the only officer of the rank of additional director-general of police from
the Bengal cadre to be assigned as an observer in another state.

The directive was issued on Wednesday.

Sources close to Sarkar said he has moved for an exemption from the posting.

Sarkar’s tenure as Kolkata Police Commissioner was brief. Appointed on January 30, he was removed in less than two months, on March 16, a day after the Election Commission announced election dates in Bengal. Following his removal, the state government reinstated him as CID chief.

Under Sarkar’s leadership, the state CID on Friday arrested the alleged mastermind behind the attack on judicial officers in Malda on Wednesday. The accused was intercepted by CID officers on his way to the Bagdogra airport before he could flee.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee emphasised that the arrests in connection with the Malda case were made by CID, “not the local police”, which is now under the Election Commission’s command.

“Who arrested them? The CID caught them red-handed. The CID does not fall under the Election Commission. Only the CID reports to me now. The same CID has caught the real culprits. They were brought from Mumbai by the BJP. They (the BJP) are bringing people from Gujarat. But our CID has nabbed the culprits,” Mamata said at a public meeting on Friday.

Earlier, the Election Commission had ordered 15 officers from Bengal to go to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Nagaland as election observers.

However, the poll panel later flip-flopped and issued an order stopping five officers from proceeding. The five were the police commissioners of Bidhannagar and Siliguri, along with three other officers in key posts.

Of the remaining 10 officers, two applied for exemptions — one citing medical reasons and the other due to his father’s illness in another state. The Election Commission has yet to consider these applications.

Sarkar’s exemption application is also pending, sources said.

Since the announcement of the Bengal elections on March 15, the Election Commission has removed 31 IPS officers from top posts, including Sarkar.

A section of the state government pointed out that the Election Commission’s postings contradicted its earlier stance that these officers were unfit for election duties. The poll panel had previously removed them from their posts and asked the Bengal government to assign them to non-election work.

“It is ironic that the officers whom the Election Commission was transferring to non-election posts are again being sent to other states for election-related duties. This shows extreme lack of trust in the respective officers,” said a senior bureaucrat in the state home department.