The Bengal government on Saturday removed from their posts the two top police officers of Howrah, a district that has been racked with law-and-order problems over the past three days.
The Howrah police commissioner and the Howrah (rural) superintendent of police have been transferred.
The state home department issued an order transferring C. Sudhakar from the post of commissioner of Howrah police. He will now be a joint commissioner in Calcutta police.
Saumya Roy, the superintendent of Howrah rural, who was earlier at the centre of a controversy over the death of young leader Anis Khan, has been transferred to Calcutta as deputy commissioner of police, south west division.
Praveen Kumar Tripathi, an IPS officer of the 2004-batch who was serving as the additional police commissioner in Calcutta, will take over as the new commissioner of the Howrah police commissionerate.
Swati Bhangalia will replace Roy as the police superintendent of Howrah rural.
Senior officers officially said the transfers were “routine”. Insiders in the home department said the decision was taken at a meeting in Nabanna on Saturday afternoon to discuss law and order as reports of violence continued to trickle in from parts of Howrah, North and South 24-Parganas and Murshidabad.
State chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi presided over the meeting in the presence of the home secretary and other senior officers of the state police.
Earlier in the day, chief minister Mamata Banerjee sent out a strong message saying attempts to create unrest will not be tolerated.
In Howrah’s Panchla, fresh violence erupted on Saturday with warring groups setting many shops in a local market on fire and attacking cops. Several vehicles were damaged and the police fired tear gas shells to bring the situation under control.
“A team comprising senior officers with prior experience of working in Howrah has been set up to oversee the law-and-order situation in the district. The police in all the districts have been told to take firm steps while handling all law-and-order situations,” said a senior official of the home department.
“Internet services have been put on hold across some pockets of Murshidabad till 6am of June 14.”
Later in the evening, Manoj Malaviya, director general of police, spoke to senior officers across the state and instructed the police to act firmly against those allegedly trying to spread fake news and create unrest.