Kolkata top cop Soumen Mitra to receive CM’s medal for outstanding service

The state government on Monday announced that Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra, a 1988-batch IPS officer, would receive the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for Outstanding Service on Independence Day. Additional Director General (Correctional Services) Peeyush Pandey, Inspector General (North Bengal) Devendra Prakash Singh are the other senior officers on the list of awardees.

At present, Mitra is in his second stint as the city police chief. The Election Commission (EC) had appointed him to the post in 2016 during the state elections, replacing Rajeev Kumar. After the Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to power, it reinstated Kumar. Mitra was reportedly not in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s good books earlier for his closeness to her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The police officer was appointed to the post before the state polls this year, but this time around he retained it even after the TMC came back to power.

Meanwhile, seven IPS officers will be awarded in the category of commendable service. They are CID Inspector General Anand Kumar, Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner Syed Waquar Raza, Coochbehar Superintendent of Police (SP) Sumit Kumar, Sundarban SP Bhaskar Mukherjee, Purba Medinipur SP Amarnath K, Paschim Medinipur SP Dinesh Kumar, and Kolkata Police Special Task Force’s (STF) Deputy Commissioner Aparajita Rai.