The West Bengal government has conducted a reshuffle in the police administration before the upcoming state Assembly elections. Several senior officers have been transferred to key positions, as per a notification issued by the state government. Among the changes, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Joint Commissioner of Police (CP) at the Howrah Police Commissionerate have been moved.
In this latest round of reshuffling, the Additional Director General (ADG) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) for the Western Zone have also been reassigned. Additionally, DIGs overseeing the Murshidabad, Raiganj, and Jalpaiguri ranges have seen transfers. A total of 13 officers have been shifted to different posts.
K. Sabari Raj Kumar, the former Joint CP of the Howrah Police Commissionerate, has been appointed as the new DIG of CID. Gaurav Lal, who previously held the position of DIG at CID, has been reassigned as the Joint CP at the Howrah Police Commissionerate. Ashok Kumar Prasad, the former ADG and IGP for the Western Zone, has been moved to the ADG position at the Cyber Cell.
Vishal Garg, who was serving as ADG at the Cyber Cell, has now taken over as the ADG and IGP for the Western Zone. The reshuffle also includes transfers such as Murshidabad Range DIG Syed Waquar Raja moving to DIG at Jalpaiguri Range, Raiganj Range DIG Sudheer Kumar Neelakantam being posted as DIG at Murshidabad Range, and Jalpaiguri Range DIG Nimbalkar Santosh Uttamrao being transferred to DIG at Raiganj Range.
The state government has labeled these transfers as routine reshufflings carried out in line with established norms. However, the transfer of the CID DIG has sparked speculation in political circles, especially following the CID’s involvement in investigating the recent murder case of a 27-year-old promoter in Howrah’s Peelkhana area. This reshuffle occurs amidst questions raised over the state government’s handling of the aforementioned case.
Moreover, the final voters’ list in West Bengal, prepared during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), has been released. The list reveals that 61,78,245 voters have been deleted, with the number expected to rise further as the identity documents of around 60 lakh voters are currently under judicial adjudication by officers appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as per the Supreme Court’s directives.
