Kolkata: Manoj Kumar Verma, a 1998-batch IPS officer — known in the police rank and file as a troubleshooter — took charge as Kolkata Police commissioner from Vineet Goyal on Tuesday evening, about 16 hours after chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the top cop's removal, deferring to one of the demands of protesting junior doctors.
Early on Tuesday, following a meeting with a delegation of the junior doctors at her Kalighat residence that ended on a "positive note", Banerjee, in her address to the press, had announced Goyal's and DCP (North) Abhishek Gupta's removal.Banerjee had also stressed that Goyal would be transferred to a unit of his choice after the matter was discussed with him.
Goyal met Banerjee on Tuesday afternoon. The officer, who had become commissioner in Dec 2021, now becomes ADG of the Special Task Force (STF), a post he had held earlier.
Goyal's removal follows severe criticism over his handling of the RG Kar rape-murder case. He was accused by protesting junior doctors of evidence-tampering at the crime scene and of mismanaging the situation that allowed a mob to storm the hospital in the early hours of Aug 15.
Verma, Goyal's replacement, hails from Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur. His previous post — that of ADG (law & order) — will now be filled by Jawed Shamim, a 1995-batch IPS officer.
An engineering graduate, known as a "troubleshooter" in the force's rank and file, the 56-year-old Verma has always been Bengal govt's go-to man during both the Left and subsequent TMC regimes. Married to Sharda, a homemaker, the couple have two grown-up sons.
Verma was made SP of undivided Midnapore in 2009, when the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee govt faced the worst of Maoist insurgency. He played a significant role in curbing Maoist insurgency in Jangalmahal. After Trinamool's defeat of the Left in 2011, Verma was kept on "compulsory waiting" for almost two years.
Trinamool govt, faced with unrest in the Darjeeling Hills during the Gorkhaland movement of 2017, made him Darjeeling IG. During a clash with Bimal Gurung's forces at Sipchu in Darjeeling, Verma continued to manage law-and-order with a broken jaw, going on to receive the police medal for meritorious service on Independence Day that year.
Verma was also made Barrackpore police commissioner following repeated incidents of violence in Bhatpara and Kankinara after the declaration of results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and played a "significant role" in getting the situation under control. For this, he received the CM's police medal in 2019.
On Tuesday, Verma entered Lalbazar around 5.45pm and went straight to the CP's office, where Goyal was waiting for him. They had tea and exchanged bouquets for a photo-op before Goyal invited Verma to take the chair. While Goyal left around 6.15pm, Verma called an urgent meeting with senior police officers at the Lalbazar conference room to chart the path forward. He refused to made a media statement. The entire changeover was low-key. Unlike earlier such events, there was no social media post marking the change.
DC North Abhishek Gupta, whom the RG Kar rape-murder victim's father had accused of offering money, has been made commanding officer of Eastern Frontier Rifles' second battalion. He was replaced by Dipak Sarkar, who was previously DC (East) at the Siliguri Commissionerate.
Among other major police shuffles, Gyanwant Singh was made ADG, intelligence branch. Tripurari Atharv was made director, directorate of economic offences, a post Singh held. Atharv was ADG STF prior to this posting, which Goyasl now occupies.