The Election Commission of India (ECI) has instructed the suspension of four Kolkata Police officers, including a deputy commissioner, following an incident near the convoys of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Assembly LoP Suvendu Adhikari on April 1. The convoy was heading to the Alipore Survey Building in South Kolkata, where Adhikari was set to file his nomination for the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency. The officers facing suspension are Deputy Commissioner-II (South) Siddhartha Dutta, Alipore Police Station officer-in-charge Priyankar Chakraborty, Additional officer-in-charge Chandi Charan Banerjee, and Alipore Sergeant Saurabh Chatterjee.
The ECI’s secretary, Sujeet Kumar Mishra, has sent a communication to West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala, requesting the immediate suspension of the four officers and the initiation of departmental disciplinary actions against them. The Commission has mandated that the directive be carried out promptly, with a compliance report due by 11:00 a.m. on April 5, 2026. Additionally, a proposal to fill the resulting vacant positions is to be urgently submitted to the Commission.
Earlier, Kolkata Police had issued show-cause notices to Siddhartha Dutta and Deputy Commissioner-II (Reserve Force) Manas Roy. At a recent virtual meeting with top bureaucrats and police officers in West Bengal, Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand faced criticism from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the incident. Nand was questioned by the CEC regarding the lack of proactive police measures to prevent the tension.
Based on three separate police complaints lodged at two South Kolkata police stations, two distinct First Information Reports (FIRs) have been filed by the police in connection with the incident.
