The chief minister expressed her strong displeasure about the poor performance of the district police and pulled up senior officers.
Kolkata: In the wake of the violence that occured during her first Cabinet meeting in Darjeeling, chief minister Mamata Banerjee removed IPS officer Amit P. Javalgi from the post of superintendent of police (Darjeeling) on Friday night and sent him on leave. Two inspectors-in-charge (IC) of two police stations — Kalimpong and Kurseong — have also been shunted. Sources indicated that more heads may roll.
The move comes after the dsitrict police totally failed to tackle the violence despite having prior information about the chief minister’s Cabinet meeting and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)’s agitation. According to sources, Mr Javalgi, IPS officer of the 2006 batch of the West Bengal cadre, has been made officer on compulsory waiting.
Akhilesh Chaturvedi, an IPS officer of 2005 batch, who was the deputy commissioner of police (central) at the Kolkata police, has replaced him. He took charge on Saturday. During her last visit to the hills, the chief minister expressed her strong displeasure about the poor performance of the district police and pulled up senior officers.
At the IC-level, Bhanu Rai of Kalimpong police station has been transferred to Murshidabad. Tirtha Sarathi Nath of Dinhata police station in Coochbehar has replaced him. Dipankar Som of Kurseong police station has been transferred to Siliguri police station. Parijat Sarkar of Siliguri police station has replaced him. Sources revealed that the chief minister scrutinised the role of the police at a meeting attended by three senior IPS officers — Siddh Nath Gupta, Jawed Shamim and Ajay Nand.
Intelligence failure of the police also came under the scanner as the police was in the dark that GJM chief Bimal Gurung virtually opened a control room in Bhanu Bhavan, close to the Darjeeling Raj Bhavan where the chief minister was holding the Cabinet meeting, and was mobilising the party workers.
