The Election Commission of India, on Tuesday, announced the appointment of Sanjay Mukherjee as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of West Bengal, according to state officials.
Mukherjee, a seasoned IPS officer from the 1989 batch, steps into this role following the replacement of Vivek Sahay. His father, Late Arun Prasad Mukherjee, also served as DGP West Bengal, director CBI, and post retirement, adviser to Union home minister Indrajit Gupta and governor of Mizoram.
The reshuffle came swiftly after Vivek Sahay, a 1988-batch IPS officer who was serving as the Director General (Home Guards), assumed the DGP position on Monday afternoon. Sahay’s appointment followed the removal of Rajeev Kumar, who had been appointed by the state government in December last year by the Election Commission.
Earlier, the Election Commission had requested the state chief secretary to furnish a list of three eligible officers for consideration. The names submitted were Sahay, Mukherjee, and Rajesh Kumar. Ultimately, Sahay was selected by the EC, and his appointment was promptly announced on Monday afternoon. It took immediate effect as per an official order issued by the Chief Secretary, B P Gopalika.
Sahay’s tenure as the Chief of Security for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the 2021 assembly polls was marked by controversy. He was suspended by the ECI after an incident during a campaign in Nandigram, East Midnapore, where Banerjee sustained a leg injury, alleging it to be a “planned attack.” However, Sahay was reinstated following the elections.
A senior state government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested that Sahay’s impending retirement in May, coinciding with the upcoming seven-phase polls, might have prompted the EC’s decision for his replacement.
Rajeev Kumar, who previously served as the Commissioner of Kolkata Police from February 2016 to February 2019, has had his share of encounters with the EC. He was removed from his post in April 2016 due to the assembly elections but was reinstated by the government in May 2016. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Bengal Police ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
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