Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has written to Union home minister Amit Shah suggesting stringent action against chief secretary B.P. Gopalika and two senior IPS officers — city police commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal and Indira Mukherjee, deputy commissioner of police, central division.

In two letters to Shah, dated June 6 and June 20, Bose has accused the officers of flouting provisions governing All India Services (AIS) officers.

The communications with Shah, a source in the ministry said, was “unprecedented” as they contained detailed notes, along with examples, on how the officers had allegedly flouted AIS conduct rules by behaving as “willing accomplices in the misdeeds of the ruling dispensation, in violation of the laws of the land”.

“Governors do send reports to the Centre.... But I haven’t seen anything like this in 20-plus years in service. It is unprecedented,” said the source, who is aware of the developments in the North Block following Bose’s letter to Shah dated June 20.

In the June 6 letter, Bose wrote: “The course of conduct adopted by a senior member of the Indian Administrative Service, who is presently working as the Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, and two officers of the Indian Police Service working as the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, and the Deputy Commissioner, Central Division, Kolkata, clearly reveals how these officers have been brazenly violating the provisions of the Constitution and the Conduct Rules in particular. In case no action is taken against these erring officers, it could send a wrong signal down the line resulting in further deterioration of the Services and consequentially harm the interests of the Nation.”

The governor accused Gopalika of “aiding and abetting corruption” besides flouting AIS rules. Bose mentioned the fiasco over jobs and recruitment of vice-chancellors and alleged lawlessness in the state.

The June 20 letter contains allegations against Goyal and Mukherjee, who have been associated with a probe into sexual misdemeanour allegations against the governor.

Bose’s letters have come to the fore at a time there is speculation over the possibility of his removal from Bengal.

A variety of factors have been cited — such as reservations about Bose among a section of state BJP leaders and the general trend of a reshuffle at Raj Bhavan after the swearing-in of a new regime in Delhi.

“The bureaucratic follow-up action to his letters has begun... So, it is immaterial whether he stays on or not,” a source said.

Bose became the governor of Bengal on November 22, 2022, and has had a chequered tenure. He began on a warm note with chief minister Mamata Banerjee — who presided over a function where the governor was initiated to Bengali alphabets — before the relationship reached a nadir because of his alleged “hyper activism” at the behest of the saffron camp.

Over the last 16 months, he has had several run-ins with the Trinamool Congress, which not only accused him of being a stooge of the Centre but also went all out against him after the allegations of sexual harassment by a Raj Bhavan staff (in May 2024) and by a dancer (in January 2023) surfaced.

Although Bose listed several alleged misdeeds of the two top cops in the June 20 letter, the contents of the communication to Shah made it clear that the governor was trying to absolve himself of the sexual allegations, which he had earlier referred to as a “sinister plot”.

Bose has accused the two officers of maligning him with false cases.

In his communication, Bose referred to the Goyal and Mukherjee as “delinquent” and accused them of “flouting the Constitution and the law of the land” and of “objectionable conduct against the constitutional head of the state”. He sought “exemplary action” against them to “set the house in order”.

“The ministry is taking the letters with due seriousness... It will seek an explanation from the state government on the basis of what the governor has written,” the source added.

The note accompanying the June 20 letter raises several macro issues about the perceived state of affairs in Bengal — like how the police are engaged in “subserving political masters”, how governance is shorn of “democratic proprieties” and the alleged repression of any opposition to the ruling dispensation. It also underscores the rules that the officers are supposed to follow.

In the note against Goyal, Bose mentioned how the police had detained some victims of post-poll violence while they were on their way to Raj Bhavan for a pre-scheduled meeting with him. “This is a blatant infringement on the rights of people to voice their concerns and seek redressal,” he wrote.

The other part of the note — titled “highlighting and promoting concocted cases against Raj Bhavan establishment” — is more detailed wherein Bose has accused Goyal of foisting a criminal complaint against him by a temporary Raj Bhavan employee on May 2, 2024, a few hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to arrive there.

Bose went on to add that the city police commissioner constituted a special investigation team “with indecent haste”, despite knowing that “Article 361 of the Constitution of India bars the institution/continuance of any criminal proceedings against the constitutional head of the state”.

“...Goyal, through his mala fide, illegal and unconstitutional acts has not only maligned the office of the governor but also functioned in a manner which is completely unbecoming of a public servant,” he wrote.

The allegations against Mukherjee, who is heading the SIT that is probing the charges against Bose, are similar in nature other than the specific allegation of the IPS officer talking to the media about the claims with “added colour and flavour”.

In the June 6 letter, Bose said he was “constrained to point out that in West Bengal, section of both the Police and the Administration are engaged vigorously in subserving political masters in complete disregard of their lawful obligations”.

“The Police acting as a private force and the administration is functioning in political captivity. Governance is shorn of all democratic proprieties and authoritarianism is evidenced in the repression of any opposition to the ruling dispensation,” he wrote.

“Certain officers of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service posted in the State of West Bengal have shown no regard for the Constitution and are perenially flouting it with impunity. They have turned out to be silent executing the mala fide decisions taken by the ruling party,” Bose added.

The sexual harassment case — no charges could be drawn up against Bose because of the constitutional immunity the governor enjoys — reached the legal corridors with three Raj Bhavan employees — an officer on special duty, a woman staffer in the pantry and a peon of Raj Bhavan — moving Calcutta High Court to seek anticipatory bail and pleading for quashing an FIR against them for “wrongful restraint” of the junior employee who had brought charges of physical harassment against the governor.

Hearing the case, Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court on May 25 stayed till June 17 the police investigation against the three Raj Bhavan staffers and directed the police to place a report on their investigation on June 10, the day the court reopened after a 15-day summer break. However, the case is yet to come up for hearing.

Defamation case

The defamation case filed by Bose against Mamata is likely to be heard on Wednesday before the court of Justice Krishna Rao. The governor, in his petition, has alleged that the chief minister and a few ruling party leaders had levelled false accusations of molestation against him with the intention to tarnish his image.

Advocate Dhiraj Trivedi on Tuesday moved a plea before Justice Rao seeking an early hearing of the defamation case. “The chief minister and his fellow leaders have been regularly maligning the image of the governor. This should be stopped immediately. So hear the case urgently,” the lawyer said.

The judge assured the lawyer that he would try to hear the case on Wednesday.