Governor CV Ananda Bose has apparently desired that the security of the residential area and his office at the three-storey Raj Bhavan in Calcutta be handed over to the CRPF from Calcutta Police following a suspicion of snooping on him by a few police personnel.

Sources in the home department said Bose had raised reservations about three Calcutta police personnel deployed in his office and around his residential area at the Raj Bhavan, claiming they were keeping tabs on his moves.

“The governor has desired that the CRPF should be handed the entire Raj Bhavan’s security and the Calcutta police be restricted to the ground floor, gates and the adjoining areas,” said a senior official in the home department.

“It is being said that the governor has also written to the Union home ministry voicing his concerns about direct surveillance. We at Nabanna have no clue about the letter to the Union home ministry.”

Bose, who enjoys Z-plus security accorded by the Union home ministry, has also sought jammers and de-bugging of the area, the official said.

The three-storied Raj Bhavan spread over 27 acres used to be under the complete security cover of the Calcutta police for ages with separate teams from the Reserve Force (RF) and the Special Branch (SB) providing protection at different tiers, senior officers of the state police said.

However, when Jagdeep Dhankhar was the governor in November 2019, CRPF personnel had for the first time walked in to join the Calcutta police in providing security to the Raj Bhavan and its principal occupant.

“A security consultative committee was set up with representatives from both Calcutta police and the CRPF to specify exact roles and areas for both the teams,” said a senior officer of the Calcutta police.

“That’s how it has remained till date with a senior officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of Calcutta police being in charge headed by a deputy commissioner of police, who is responsible for the overall security.”

Bose’s move to restrict Calcutta police to specified zones within the Raj Bhavan comes at a time when the state
and the governor have been at odds with the former appointing interim vice-chancellors of his choice at seven universities.

On Wednesday, the Raj Bhavan announced “Governor’s Durga Bharat Samman” in several categories and said the awards would be presented on the occasion of Durga Puja. Several puja organisers said the move was a counter-narrative to the Bengal government’s earlier decision of awarding puja committees Rs 70,000 each this year.

The governor’s latest move drew a sharp reaction from the Trinamul Congress.

“The governor should stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan if he is so concerned about the security. As a former bureaucrat, isn’t he aware that a central force has to report to Calcutta police if an FIR needs to be filed?” wondered Firhad Hakim, the urban development and municipal affairs minister.