Kolkata, April 4 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday directed the suspension of four officers of Kolkata Police, including a deputy commissioner ranking officer, in relation to the tension near the convoy of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Assembly LoP Suvendu Adhikari on April 1.
The convoy was approaching the Alipore Survey Building in South Kolkata, where Adhikari was supposed to file his nomination for the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency.
The four police officers whose suspensions have been directed by the ECI are Deputy Commissioner-II (South) Siddhartha Dutta, officer-in-charge of Alipore Police Station Priyankar Chakraborty, Additional officer-in-charge Chandi Charan Banerjee, and Sergeant of Alipore Saurabh Chatterjee.
The ECI’s secretary, Sujeet Kumar Mishra, on Saturday sent a communiqué to West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala, requesting the suspension of the four police officers and the initiation of departmental disciplinary proceedings against them.
“The direction of the Commission is to be implemented with immediate effect, and a compliance report in this regard is to be sent by 11.00 a.m. on 05.04.2026. Further, you are requested to furnish a proposal to fill up the resultant vacant post to the Commission urgently,” the communique read.
Earlier on Friday, the Kolkata Police had issued show-cause notices to both Siddhartha Dutta and Deputy Commissioner-II (Reserve Force) Manas Roy in this connection.
At a recent virtual meeting with the top bureaucrats and police officers of West Bengal earlier this week, the newly-appointed Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand faced the ire of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in the matter.
Nand was also questioned by the CEC on why the police were not active in advance to prevent the tension.
On the basis of three separate police complaints filed at two police stations in South Kolkata, the police registered two separate First Information Reports (FIRs) in the matter.
–IANS
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