Bengal govt removes Sumit Kumar as DIG after Sandeshkhali violence

Kolkata: In a major reshuffle in its IPS cadre, the West Bengal government removed senior officer Sumit Kumar from the post of DIG (Barasat Range) and made him DIG (Security), an official said.

Kumar was replaced by DIG (Malda Range) Bhaskar Mukherjee, he added.

Kumar's removal came after recent incidents of violence in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district although senior officials in the state government described it as a "routine shuffle".

The state government named ADG & IGP, Traffic & Road Safety, Supratim Sarkar as the new ADG & IGP, South Bengal while ADG & IGP (Western Zone) Tripurari Atharv was named the new ADG of state STF.

Ashok Kumar Prasad ADG Bengal STF replaced Atharv.

Joint CP Headquarters of Kolkata Police, Santosh Pandey, was made Additional CP III of the force while Joint CP of Kolkata Police STF, V Solomon Nesakumar, was named the Additional CP-IV of the city police, an order said.

Kolkata Police Joint CP (Establishment) Meeraj Khalid was made Joint CP (Headquarters) while Syed Waquar Raza was named as the Joint CP (Crime).

Abhishek Gupta and Harikrishna Pai were named as the DCs of the North Division and the Port Division respectively.

Rahul De would be the new DC Kolkata Police STF unit, it added.