KOLKATA: Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rajeev Kumar was reinstated as the West Bengal director general of police by the Mamata Banerjee administration on Monday.
Kumar was appointed to head West Bengal’s information technology department after the Election Commission of India (ECI) removed him as the state’s police chief in March ahead of the Lok Sabha elections this year.
“The Governor is please to order that Rajeev Kumar, presently posted as additional chief secretary, department of Information Technology and Electronics will hold the charge of DG and IG of West Bengal Police in addition to his existing duties with effect from the date of assuming his charge until further orders,” said the notification of the state home department.
A 1989 batch IPS officer, Kumar was named the state’s top police officer in December 2023. Previously, he was Kolkata Police commissioner from February 2016 to February 2019 except for a brief period in April 2016 when he was removed from the post by ECI due to his proximity to the chief minister ahead of assembly elections. The government reinstated him in May 2016 after the assembly elections. Before 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the state government transferred Kumar to the criminal investigation department (CID) of the Bengal Police as additional director general.
In 2019, the CBI raided Kumar’s house in connection with the Sarada chit fund case following which TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee staged a sit-in in central Kolkata.
