Mamata Banerjee reinstates Rajeev Kumar removed by EC as Kolkata Police commissioner

Within two days of her landslide victory in the West Bengal assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reinstated Rajeev Kumar as the Kolkata Police commissioner on Saturday.

In an order issued by the Bengal state secretariat Nabanna, Kumar was made the chief of Kolkata Police and the current Kolkata Police commissioner, Soumen Mitra, was transferred as ADG Training, West Bengal Police.

This decision of the state government comes after the poll panel had removed Kumar as the Kolkata Police Commissioner and replaced him with Soumen Mitra over allegations of bias. Besides Kumar, the Election Commission of India had transferred a total of 68 officers, from Superintendent of Police to Officers in Charge of Police Station.

All opposition parties, BJP, Congress and the Left, had levelled allegations of bias towards the ruling party, Trinamool Congress. Kumar had made headlines for his role as the top cop, probing the multi-crore-rupee Saradha scam. 

However, Banerjee while addressing several election campaign rallies had indirectly taken a dig at the Election Commission and said that she would reinstate ‘good’ officers. She had even gone to the extent of saying that the mindset of the officers cannot be changed.

This is not the first time that the Chief Minister has reinstated officers. After 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee had reinstated seven of officers who were removed by the poll panel.

Sources in the secretariat reveal some more transfers are likely in the next week as Banerjee will reinstate a few more IPS and IAS officers.