Kolkata Police suspended Officer-in-Charge Gautam Das from Kalighat Police Station due to a social media controversy. Chameli Mukherjee has taken over his responsibilities. The controversy arose after Gautam shared a photo of himself holding a machine gun, which was deemed objectionable by Trinamool Congress.
Trinamool Congress raised concerns to the Election Commission regarding the photo showing Gautam with the gun at the police station. The party alleged that Gautam himself posted the photo on his social media accounts. State vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar informed top officials about this issue.
According to Jay Prakash, the photo was captioned ‘Ready for new responsibility’ and was shared with a Facebook ID, which has since been deleted. Trinamool criticized the photo, stating it was not only uncomfortable but also legally objectionable. They questioned the allocation of firearms to the Officer-in-Charge.
Gautam’s suspension was a result of the gun incident, as confirmed by Kolkata Police officials. The Election Commission made this change ahead of the second phase of voting. Previously, Utpal Ghosh was appointed as Officer-in-Charge before Gautam, who was then replaced by Gautam after a month. Gautam, who was in the Special Branch, has now been suspended.
