Vineet Goyal, a 1994-batch IPS officer, has been named the new police commissioner of Kolkata, in place of Soumen Mitra, a 1988-batch officer, who retires from the force on December 31.
Presently posted as the additional director general of police (special task force) of Bengal police, Goyal is likely to take charge at the city police headquarters in Lalbazar on Friday afternoon.
A passout from IIT Kharagpur, Goyal has earlier served in the Kolkata police in the posts of deputy commissioner (eastern suburban division), deputy commissioner (special task force), deputy commissioner (headquarters), joint commissioner (traffic) and additional commissioner.
A government order issued on Thursday evening declared Goyal the 44th Kolkata police commissioner.
Additional director-general of police (CID) Gyanwant Singh has been given the additional charge of the post of ADG STF that Goyal held.
The 51-year-old officer known for his ‘tech-savvy’ projects had introduced ‘e-challans’ in the Kolkata police jurisdiction that have replaced paper traffic challans. E-challans are the text messages that Kolkatans receive on their registered phone numbers for violating a traffic signal.
Goyal has served in several important posts in the Bengal police like superintendent of Purulia, deputy inspector-general of police (Midnapore range), inspector general of police (CID), commissioner of Asansol police commissionerate and director of the security directorate — in-charge of the chief minister’s security.
He is a recipient of the President’s gallantry medal, which he received during his stint as DIG (Midnapore range) for leading the operation for capture and execution of national Maoist leader Kishenji in 2011.
An IPS officer who has worked with Goyal recalled his days as SP Purulia when Maoist insurgency was at its peak in Bengal.
“The best thing about him is that he leads from the front. I remember him leading an operation in Gurpana (in Purulia) where we seized 11 guns and over five landlines during an encounter with the Maoists. One Maoist was injured who was later captured by Goyal,” said one of Goyal’s colleagues.
A sports enthusiast, Goyal was an avid lawn tennis player. Now, he has shifted to marathon running.
The government order issued on Thursday also announced the transfers of a few other officers to the Kolkata police. Praveen Tripathi has been posted as additional commissioner in the city police while Harikrishna Pai, earlier posted as SP Kalimpong, has been posted as DC STF in Kolkata.