Kalighat police station OC changed again, fourth time since Bengal poll schedule announced
Telegraph | 4 May 2026
The OC of Kalighat police station has been changed again.
Chameli Mukherjee, OC of Ultadanga Women Police Station was appointed to the post on Saturday, replacing Gautam Das. Within 24 hours, that directive was revoked and this time, Balai Bag was appointed as the OC of Kalighat.
Balai was the additional OC of the Polerhat police station in the Bhangar division of the Kolkata Police. The order was passed by Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nanda.
The OC of Kalighat police station has been changed four times in the last 36 days. Since the announcement of the Bengal elections, the Election Commission (EC) has made several reshuffles in Kolkata and the state police.
The decision to replace Das was taken after he posted a photograph with an automatic rifle with the caption ‘ready for new assignment’ on Facebook while wearing the Kolkata Police uniform.
In the wake of Das posting the photo, Trinamool’s state vice-president Jayprakash Majumdar filed a complaint to the EC and urged the poll body to remove him.
Das had previously served in the Kolkata Police Special Branch.
The EC had first changed the OC of Kalighat Police Station on March 29. Utpal Ghosh of the Intelligence Division of the Kolkata Police was brought in as the OC of the Kalighat police station. Within a month, just before the polling in the second phase of the Assembly elections in the state, Ghosh was transferred, and was replaced by Gautam Das.
Kalighat police station is under the Bhabanipur assembly constituency, where chief minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting against BJP Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly Suvendu Adhikari.
According to sources in the EC, Das was replaced as the poll body does not want any controversy in such a high-profile constituency.
The counting of votes for assembly elections of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will be done on 4 May, Monday.