Bidhannagar police commissioner Supratim Sarkar was on Thursday removed from the post and made the additional director-general, traffic and road safety.
Gaurav Sharma, now the commissioner of Siliguri City Police, will replace Sarkar. Many feel Sarkar’s “sudden transfer” was triggered by the alleged lack of caution and seriousness by the Bidhannagar police in handling the kidnapping and murder of two 16-year-old boys, whose bodies were found lying unclaimed in a morgue 15 days after they had been reported missing from Baguiati in northeast Kolkata.
Sarkar could not be reached for comment.
Sarkar’s new office will be at Araksha Bhavan in Salt Lake’s DJ Block, not far from his present office, which is adjoining the Salt Lake stadium.
In the new post, Sarkar will focus on traffic management and policies related to road safety across police districts barring Kolkata.
The transfer order came a week after the bodies of cousins Atanu Dey and Abhishek Naskar, reported missing on August 22, were found in a morgue in the Basirhat police district, around 60km from Baguiati.
The families of the boys had alleged that the Bidhannagar police did not take the case seriously despite being told that they were getting ransom calls from the suspected kidnappers.
The investigation was transferred to the state CID after the gruesome murders and the swirl of allegations about the role of the police drew the attention of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The officer-in-charge of Baguiati police station and the investigating officer of the case were suspended, but questions were raised on whether the probe was monitored properly.
An officer of the Bidhannagar police had said after the recovery of the bodies that they had been under the impression that the boys were alive and hence, were taking “all precautions” to ensure their safe return.
The police later came to know that the boys had been strangled inside a car the same night they had been kidnapped.
The Bidhannagar police took a fortnight to trace one of the alleged kidnappers, whose statements apparently led the sleuths to the bodies.
Sarkar visited the bereaved families after he was apparently ticked off by the chief minister during an administrative meeting.
Thursday evening’s order also mentioned that Akhilesh Chaturvedi, joint commissioner, establishment, Kolkata police, will replace Sharma as the commissioner of Siliguri police. Joyeeta Bose, deputy commissioner, north, Kolkata police, will take over as superintendent of police, Bongaon.
