KOLKATA: The Bengal government on Wednesday appointed B P Gopalika, who has five months of service left, as the chief secretary and Rajeev Kumar as the DGP. Gopalika will replace H K Dwivedi, who will retire on December 31; Kumar is to fill in the vacancy created by Manoj Malaviya’s retirement on Wednesday.
Malaviya has been retained as a “state police adviser” for three years.
The state government is expected to keenly follow reactions to Kumar’s appointment. For 90 days preceding an election (in this case the 2024 Lok Sabha polls), the state administration will be under the Election Commission (EC). The EC had twice removed Kumar – first as Kolkata Police commissioner in 2016, and then as ADG (CID) in 2019, ahead of elections.
The DGP, if appointed for a full two-year term, has to get a green light from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which recommends three names, from which the state chooses one. In this case, the UPSC’s nod is awaited. The state notification on Wednesday mentions Kumar will “hold the charge of” DGP.
Kumar helped root out Maoists
Sources said the most senior officer in the Bengal IPS cadre now is Zulfiquar Hasan, DG of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). But Hasan’s return to his parent cadre is unlikely, as it needs a nod from the Centre. The other officers also in the running for the DGP post, in terms of seniority, are Sanjoy Mukherjee, who heads the state forensics, and Rajesh Kumar, the WBPCB member secretary.
Kumar’s appointment caps a tumultuous period in the state after he was asked to head the state SIT to probe the Saradha Ponzi scam in 2013. In the ensuing years, the CBI implicated Kumar – then the Kolkata Police commissioner – in the Ponzi probe, leading to an unprecedented stand-off between the Centre and the state. It required the intervention of the SC to cool tempers, culminating in Kumar’s questioning by the CBI in Shillong. But the events prompted him to stay off active policing: he has been principal secretary, IT department since December 2019.
Kumar, as CID special Super, had earned the trust of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in the 2001 Khadim abduction probe, and again in the 2002 American Center attack. During the Mamata tenure, he played a key role in rooting out the Maoists and eliminating several modules of organised crime.
Kumar’s appointment had political reverberations. Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, in a post on X, said, “He is an efficient officer. I was strongly opposed to him before. I recently met him at CM’s home after a long time and exchanged courtesies. Rajeev, I wish you the best, but on hearsay please do not spoil the life of innocents like me. God never forgives it.”
Malaviya has been retained as a “state police adviser” for three years.
The state government is expected to keenly follow reactions to Kumar’s appointment. For 90 days preceding an election (in this case the 2024 Lok Sabha polls), the state administration will be under the Election Commission (EC). The EC had twice removed Kumar – first as Kolkata Police commissioner in 2016, and then as ADG (CID) in 2019, ahead of elections.
The DGP, if appointed for a full two-year term, has to get a green light from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which recommends three names, from which the state chooses one. In this case, the UPSC’s nod is awaited. The state notification on Wednesday mentions Kumar will “hold the charge of” DGP.
Kumar helped root out Maoists
Sources said the most senior officer in the Bengal IPS cadre now is Zulfiquar Hasan, DG of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). But Hasan’s return to his parent cadre is unlikely, as it needs a nod from the Centre. The other officers also in the running for the DGP post, in terms of seniority, are Sanjoy Mukherjee, who heads the state forensics, and Rajesh Kumar, the WBPCB member secretary.
Kumar’s appointment caps a tumultuous period in the state after he was asked to head the state SIT to probe the Saradha Ponzi scam in 2013. In the ensuing years, the CBI implicated Kumar – then the Kolkata Police commissioner – in the Ponzi probe, leading to an unprecedented stand-off between the Centre and the state. It required the intervention of the SC to cool tempers, culminating in Kumar’s questioning by the CBI in Shillong. But the events prompted him to stay off active policing: he has been principal secretary, IT department since December 2019.
Kumar, as CID special Super, had earned the trust of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in the 2001 Khadim abduction probe, and again in the 2002 American Center attack. During the Mamata tenure, he played a key role in rooting out the Maoists and eliminating several modules of organised crime.
Kumar’s appointment had political reverberations. Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, in a post on X, said, “He is an efficient officer. I was strongly opposed to him before. I recently met him at CM’s home after a long time and exchanged courtesies. Rajeev, I wish you the best, but on hearsay please do not spoil the life of innocents like me. God never forgives it.”