In a major reshuffle of the top brass of the West Bengal police ahead of the Assembly elections starting this month, the Election Commission today removed director general of police (DGP) Virendra (photo) and brought in P Nirajnayan in his place.
Mr Nirajnayan, a 1987 batch IPS officer has been posted as DGP with immediate effect and the commission has asked for the compliance report by 10 a.m. tomorrow.
Mr Virendra would not be involved in any poll related work, the commission said in a directive to the state chief secretary.
The move comes in the wake of complaints lodged by Opposition parties asking the Election Commission to remove “biased” police officers from poll duty. Several parties had alleged that Mr Virendra was inclined towards the ruling Trinamul Congress.
The commission had recently removed Jawed Shamim from the post of ADG (Law and Order) of West Bengal and replaced him with Jagmohan.
The eight-phase assembly elections in the state will begin on 27 March and conclude on 29 April.