After EC removes Kolkata police chief, Soumen Mitra takes over his post

Kolkata: An IPS officer of the 1988 batch, Soumen Mitra on Wednesday took over as the new Police Commissioner of Kolkata after Rajeev Kumar was removed by the Election Commission from the post following complaints against him by major opposition political parties in poll-bound West Bengal. [caption id=“attachment_2727690” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Soumen Mitra. Twitter[/caption] Soon after assuming the chair of the city police chief at the Lalbazar Police Headquarters, Mitra said, “It’s a challenging time. My main job now is to get through the elections peacefully.” Mitra was earlier working as ADG, CID in the state police. Handing over the charge to Mitra, Rajeev Kumar, an IPS officer of the 1989 batch, rushed to his new office to take over as ADG, Anti-Corruption Branch in state police. Kumar was appointed as Kolkata Police Commissioner in January this year. With this change, Ram Phal Pawar (an IPS of the 1988 batch), who was holding the post of ADG, Anti-Corruption Branch in West Bengal, would now take over as ADG, CID in the state police. A notification from the Home department today said the transfers were made with immediate effect and until further orders. The BJP and Congress had recently moved the EC seeking removal of Kumar alleging that he was close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and accused him of “snooping” on opposition leaders, bureaucrats and journalists. The BJP had complained to the EC after an alleged failed sting operation against the party’s national secretary and former state president Rahul Sinha late last month. Two Kolkata Police personnel had allegedly tried to bribe Sinha in return for help to smuggle out cows to Bangladesh. Sinha had alleged that it was a conspiracy by the TMC government to trap BJP leaders in the sting operation before the Assembly polls and demanded a CBI probe.