Kolkata: Less than two weeks before the assembly election in Salt Lake-New Town-Rajarhat, the EC removed Bidhannagar Police commissioner, Murlidhar Sharma, from office. The ECI appointed IPS Tripurari Atharva as the new CP. Atharva was previously serving as the director of the Economic Offences Wing.
The ECI had earlier directed Murlidhar to report to Tamil Nadu as an observer, along with several other senior officers. However, it reversed its order within 24 hours.
Sharma was brought to Salt Lake as the commissioner following the Dec 2025 Salt Lake Stadium fiasco involving football star Lionel Messi. He previously served as the Barrackpore police commissioner.
Incidentally, this development comes days after former Trinamool councillor Nirmal Dutta was arrested in Salt Lake last Wednesday for allegedly issuing veiled threats to voters, according to police. He was produced before the Bidhannagar sub-divisional court, which rejected his bail plea and remanded him in judicial custody till April 24. This takes total number of transfers and suspensions in Bengal to over 500, the largest ever during an assembly poll in the state.