Election Commission removes Kolkata top cop in blow to Mamata Banerjee

In a major setback to the Mamata Banerjee government, the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday finally removed Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar because of his alleged partisan behaviour. To add insult to injury, the EC did not even seek the state government’s suggestion for Mr Kumar’s successor and appointed Soumen Mitra as the new city police chief.

The office of chief electoral officer (CEO) in West Bengal received the order of Mr Kumar’s removal in the evening. CEO (West Bengal) Sunil Gupta forwarded it to state chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee. “As per the EC’s instruction, Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar was removed from his post. Soumen Mitra has been appointed in his place,” said additional CEO Dibyendu Sarkar.

According to the EC, Mr Kumar was removed in the interest of free and fair polls. Thus Mr Kumar, who was handpicked for the police commissioner’s post by Ms Banerjee in January this year, had to depart in ignominy in less than three months of his appointment.

The Opposition parties had complained that Mr Kumar was doing the ruling Trinamul Congress’ bidding. The botched sting operation by two special branch personnel of the Kolkata police to bribe BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha at the state BJP headquarters to facilitate cattle smuggling on March 28 proved the last nail in his coffin. Even BJP president Amit Shah had demanded Mr Kumar’s sacking.

There were reports of Mr Kumar’s removal on March 30. However, the collapse of the under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover on March 31 and the ICC World Twenty20 Final match on April 3 delayed his exit by nearly a fortnight. Elated by Mr Kumar’s removal, Mr Sinha said, “I welcome Mr Kumar’s sacking. Free and fair election would not have been possible if Mr Kumar had continued as city police chief.”

Mr Kumar’s sacking is one of the most prominent removals in the state during the Assembly elections after Bharati Ghosh who was accused of being partial to the ruling party. On March 19, the EC removed the IPS officer from her post of the OSD (left-wing extremism) two days after it removed 37 officers, including four SPs and a district magistrate.