This story is from April 20, 2021

Nandigram monitor now Birbhum’s police chief

Ahead of the remaining three phases of polling in Bengal, the Election Commission on Monday transferred a few top police officers.
Nandigram monitor now Birbhum’s police chief
Nagendra Nath Tripathi at Boyal booth in Nandigram on April 1, during the second phase of elections in Bengal
KOLKATA: Ahead of the remaining three phases of polling in Bengal, the Election Commission on Monday transferred a few top police officers.
Nagendra Nath Tripathi, a 2009-batch IPS officer who was tasked to supervise the April 1 polls in Nandigram, has been asked to take over as Birbhum police chief. In the same order, the EC replaced Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner Sukesh Jain and East Burdwan SP Bhaskar Mukherji.
Trinamool Congress reacted sharply to the IPS transfers.
The party’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said the poll panel was “extremely compromised” and tweeted: “EC transfers 4 officers. 48 hours before the poll and almost 45 days after the Model (Modi) Code of Conduct has come into effect.” Derek further wrote: “NN Tripathi, same person who was made in-charge of Nandigram, now shifted to Birbhum. Was the state government consulted? Of course not!”
The EC-mandated police transfers in poll-bound Bengal had acquired a political overtone with chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool questioning the role of Cooch Behar SP, who was sent there just ahead of polling, in the Sitalkuchi CISF firing that left four dead on April 10.
While Tripathi has been asked to immediately head for Birbhum, Mitesh Jain will take over as Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner. A 2011-batch IPS officer, Ajeet Kumar Singh will be the new SP of East Burdwan while 2018-batch IPS officer Nagaraj Devarakonda has been asked to take over as Bolpur SDPO in place of Abhishek Roy.
Jain was the CID’s cyber crime DIG; Ajeet the counter-insurgency force superintendent; and Nagaraj an assistant police commissioner in Howrah, where polling is over. The officers replaced, the EC said, should not be given any election-related posts till May 2.
Tripathi’s transfer to Birbhum comes after his public conversation with CM Mamata Banerjee in Boyal on polling day. He was seen repeatedly pleading with the CM to move out of the booth and had promised to protect the dignity of his uniform by acting neutrally.
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