Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Vivek Sahay will be the new Director General of Police in West Bengal, succeeding acting DGP Rajeev Kumar, whose removal was ordered by the Election Commission of India earlier on Monday.
The Election Commission named Sahay, a 1988 batch officer, and currently the Director General and Commandant General of the Home Guards. He was removed as Director, Security, after a breach of security at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in 2022.
When Rajeev Kumar, a 1989 batch officer, was appointed as the acting DGP last year, he superseded Sahay.
Insiders from the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that the EC had sought the names of three senior IPS officers as replacements for Rajeev Kumar, and the names, including of Sahay, were sent.
The other two names were Sanjoy Mukherjee (1989 batch) and Dr Rajesh Kumar (1990 batch).
However, the Commission chose Sahay as the seniormost among the three.
Besides removing Rajeev Kumar from his post, the Commission has also said that he cannot be involved in any election process for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. He was removed within three months of being named the acting DGP.
Rajeev Kumar's name figured in controversy several times in the past. He came under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam.
He was replaced as Commissioner of Kolkata Police twice by the Election Commission before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections. However, after the elections, he was reinstated to the post by the state government.
Sources said that during the recent visit of the top officials of the Commission to West Bengal, almost all the opposition parties complained against Rajeev Kumar and accused him of not acting transparently.
Opposition parties welcomed the removal of the acting DGP.
"Considering Rajeev Kumar's past record, his removal from the chair was inevitable. Even Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was aware of that. But still, she appointed him probably keeping something in mind," BJP Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya claimed.
"I have just one question for Rajiv Kumar, otherwise considered an efficient police officer. What prompted him to stoop to such a level that his image was tarnished again and again? But he did not seem to have learnt any lesson from it," said CPI-M Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty.
(With inputs from IANS)
