In a major reshuffle, Additional Director General of West Bengal Police (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma on Tuesday took charge as the new Kolkata Police Commissioner.
He has replaced Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rajeev Kumar, a statement issued by the state’s Home and Hills Affairs Department said.
Kumar, who served as the city police chief since May 2016, was shifted to the post of Additional Director General of the State CID Department.
The outgoing city police chief Rajeev Kumar has been at the centre of a controversy over the CBI questioning him in the Saradha chit fund scam case.
Kumar’s interrogation in connection with the case was held in Shillong after the Supreme Court directed him to join the CBI probe at a “neutral place”.
The CBI had sought directions to Kumar to cooperate with the investigation and surrender all the evidence related to the chit fund case, stating that the top cop was a “potential accused”.
The agency has claimed that the Kolkata police chief had destroyed the evidence in the chit fund scam when he headed the SIT. It further said the copies of call records handed over by SIT to CBI were doctored.
An intense drama was witnessed on February 3, when a team of 40-odd CBI officers reached Kumar’s residence, and a team of Kolkata Police officers rushed there to inquire if they had the documents required to question the CP.
Some CBI men were then bundled into police jeeps and taken to the police station.
After the CBI-police face-off, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee began a sit-in in front of the Metro Cinema to protest “insults” faced at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. She accused both the BJP leaders of organising a “coup” on West Bengal.
(With agency inputs)