Biswabrata Goswami
KOLKATA, 9 MARCH: The Election Commission of India on Tuesday transferred West Bengal DGP Virendra and appointed P. Nirajnayan as the new DGP. Mr Nirajnayan is an IPS officer of 1987 batch and has served in the CBI. In its order, the ECI said Mr Virendra should not be given any post which directly or indirectly relates to the conduct of polls.
West Bengal is headed towards an eight-phased Assembly election starting 27 March.
In a letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the Election Commission said IPS officer P Nirajnayan should be posted as Director General (DGP) and IGP of West Bengal in place of Virendra “with immediate effect”.
In addition, the EC said the decision was taken after reviewing the situation ahead of the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.
“Kindly inform the commission about the compliance latest by 10 am tomorrow (Wednesday),” the order went on to add.
An IPS officer of the 1985 batch, Virendra took over as DG & IGP of West Bengal Police on May 31, 2018.
The transfer of the senior most police officer assumes significance as it comes days after the ECI has transferred ADGP (Law and Order) Jawed Shamim and appointed Jagmohan in the post. Mr Shamim was appointed DGP, Fire Services.
Trinamul Congress MP Sougata Roy expressed reservations over the ECI decision saying the Commission is doing what the BJP wants it to do.
The BJP leaders, on the other hand, have welcomed the development. “We have always said the law and order situation in the state has collapsed and because of this reason, more than 130 of our party workers were killed. At every incident, either police were mute spectators to the crimes or did nothing against the perpetrators,” said Samik Bhattacharya, a BJP spokesperson.