West Bengal elections: ‘RG Kar case-linked OC’ on EC transfer list, order rolled back in 2 hours

KOLKATA: The Election Commission's Sunday transfer order was changed within two hours after it ended up appointing ex-Tala police station OC Abhijit Mondal as the OC of Parnashree police station and another officer from the detective department was asked to head both Park Street and Maniktala police stations.The orders were part of the larger transfer order of 142 OCs and ICs in the state — 31 of them in Kolkata — that created a lot of confusion in the administrative circles before the EC sent out clarifications by late night. Mondal was arrested earlier in the RG Kar case by the CBI. The fresh orders by the police commissioner on Sunday late night following the EC directive – that asked the new appointees to assume office by 5 pm on Tuesday – effectively saw 29 transfers instead of the proposed 31.However, it was inspector Abhijit Mondal — the former Tala OC who is presently out on bail after being arrested by the central agency in the RG Kar case – who attracted maximum attention after the EC's initial transfer order mentioned that Mondal — currently posted in the North division — would take charge of Parnasree PS under Southwest police district. His name was sixth on the transfer list published on Sunday night, causing an uproar within the administration and even the commission given he is still being investigated by the CBI. According to commission sources, the CEO quickly informed other officials via WhatsApp late at night that Mondal's name was inadvertently included on the list, and he would not take charge of the station. The current officer in charge of Parnasree police station, Satyaprakash Upadhyay, was asked to continue with his current post. Confusion also arose as Nirupam Nath was announced as the OC for both Maniktala and Park Street police stations before the commission asked him to take charge of Maniktala PS, with the present OC of Park Street, Hirak Dalapati — himself transferred by the state govt barely weeks ago — asked to continue. In addition, OCs were changed in several key police stations of the city, including Kalighat, Bhowanipore and Alipore in south Kolkata; Hare Street, Bowbazar, and Muchipara in central Kolkata and Amherst Street in north Kolkata. The OCs of trouble-prone Bhangar and Polerhat were changed, too. As many as nine new OCs have been drafted from the detective department. In the CP's order, the former OCs have been transferred to the detective department, KP STF and the traffic wing. The new OC of Bhowanipore police station is STF Inspector Soumitra Basu. Utpal Kumar Ghosh is the new OC of Kalighat police station. Subhadeep Chakraborty is the new OC of Amherst Street police station. Priyankar Chakraborty has been appointed as the OC of Alipore police station. Somnath Biswas is now the OC of Ekbalpur police station. Fayaz Ahmed became the OC of Haridevpur police station. Prosenjit Dhar is the new OC of Rajabagan police station. Dilip Sarkar is the OC of Garden Reach police station.Manoj Kumar Biswas is the OC of Narkeldanga police station. Tapas Mondal is the OC of Entally police station. Sushanta Mondal from the detective department is the OC of Jorasanko police station.