Protocol row: Centre seeks Darj DM, Siliguri CP on deputation
Times of India | 14 March 2026
Siliguri/Kolkata: The Centre on Friday asked Bengal chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty to send Darjeeling district magistrate Manish Mishra and Siliguri police commissioner C Sudhakar on central deputation to Delhi by Monday for a breach in President Droupadi Murmu's protocol.
The Bengal govt immediately shifted Mishra to the post of home department special secretary and replaced him with Sunil Agarwala, currently the North Bengal Development Department special secretary. No such step was taken for Sudhakar till the filing of this report.
The Centre's letter arrived even as the state provided a detailed explanation to the Union home ministry regarding the alleged protocol breach. The Bengal govt said the President's detailed itinerary, including the list of officials who would receive her, was cleared by both the Centre and the President's office. The DM, the CP and Siliguri mayor Gautam Deb had received Murmu in Siliguri on March 7. Deb refrained from commenting on the issue on Friday. "It would be better for me not to comment prematurely. However, the real reason behind this incident is as clear as day to the public. The state leadership will say what needs to be said on the matter," he said.
Siliguri MLA Shankar Ghosh, the assembly chief whip, strongly criticised the episode involving President Murmu, saying: "An insult to the President is an insult to the nation. The home ministry needed to investigate this issue, and it did so."
A 2015-batch IAS officer, Mishra took charge as the Darjeeling DM on Oct 27, 2025, replacing Preeti Goyal, a 2013-batch IAS officer who was transferred and posted as DM of Malda. Prior to his appointment in Darjeeling, Mishra served as the additional district magistrate (ADM) of North 24 Parganas. Murmu visited Siliguri to attend the 9th convention of the International Adivasi and Santal Council. The conference was initially scheduled to be held at Santoshini School ground in Bidhannagar, Phansidewa block, a tribal-dominated area near Siliguri. However, citing security concerns, the venue was later shifted to Gossainpur, Bagdogra. Murmu publicly expressed displeasure over the change of location. After the programme, she travelled to Bidhannagar and again voiced strong dissatisfaction over the venue shift.
The Union home ministry sought a detailed report from the state govt within 24 hours. Although the report was submitted, the Centre reportedly found it unsatisfactory. This is not the first time the Centre and Bengal have been involved in such a standoff. In Dec 2020, ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, there was a breach in then BJP national president JP Nadda's security arrangements when his convoy, heading towards Diamond Harbour, was pelted with stones.
Three IPS officers — South Bengal inspector-general Rajeev Mishra, Presidency Range deputy inspector-general Praveen Kumar Tripathi and South 24 Parganas superintendent Bholanath Pandey — who were in charge of overseeing Nadda's security were marked for "central deputation". They were to be posted in Central Armed Police Forces and Bureau of Police Research & Development for 3 to 5 years. The state resisted the move at that time.