Security was abruptly heightened at Uttarkanya here on Friday after a heavily-bearded police officer refused to leave the security hold area, even as other police officers asked him to clear the area immediately.

All the drama unfolded there as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee prepared to leave for Kolkata after wrapping up her five-day tour. The police officer, who is said to have reached Uttarkanya straight from his ‘Namaaz’ (evening prayers) and who had an “unusual and suspicious behaviour,” was finally dragged out of the high security areas.

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A senior officer, who was responsible for keeping strict vigil on the main entrance to the branch secretariat, connecting Asian Highway-II, asked him to leave the place immediately as he casually entered the security hold area (SNS photo). Officer Dipankar Goswami finally warned him and said he would be detained if he failed to follow the instructions.

The bearded officer, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), was later said to have arrived from Birbhum for the chief minister’s security, and other police officers finally forced him to board an auto rickshaw nearby and leave the area.

“We have confirmed that he is a police officer, and that he came from Birbhum. We asked him to leave the area because he was not supposed to carry out his duty here,” a senior police officer said on the spot. “Even a policeman is not above suspicion in the security hold area here,” he added.

Notably, videographers associated with the special security unit (SSU) for the CM were taking footage of the incident at every point where people had assembled, throughout the route from Uttarkanya to Bagdogra Airport.

“The ASI arrived in front of Uttarkanya in a Jalpaiguribound state bus. He got down and immediately resumed duty with other officers there,” witnesses said. “However, we immediately noticed him for his unusual and suspicious behavior, though he was in uniform. The officer is said to have kept his beard out of his religious beliefs,” another police officer said on the spot.

During interrogation, the ASI in question said: “I left the place for prayers after informing a senior officer. I came here just after prayers ended at a mosque nearby.”

As the drama unfolded, some police personnel gathered in front of Uttarkanya even claimed that the ASI had was ‘mentally not well,’ while they also wondered of a policeman can keep a beard.

Asked to comment on the matter, the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma said: “A policeman can keep beard after taking permission from authorities.” “I will look into the matter,” he added.