New Kolkata CP appointed, 2 health officials removed

Senior Indian Police Service officer Manoj Kumar Verma was appointed the new Kolkata Police commissioner, replacing Vineet Goyal, on Tuesday, a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with agitating junior doctors and agreed to their demands in a bid to resolve the more than a month-long impasse over the RG Kar hospital incident.

Director of Health Services (DHS) Debashis Halder, Director of Medical Education (DME) Kaustav Nayak and Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police's North Division Abhishek Gupta were also removed as promised by Banerjee during the meeting.

Swapan Soren was appointed the interim DHS while no appointment was announced for the position of the DME.

Banerjee, following marathon discussions with the doctors on Monday night, announced the decision to remove Goyal, who was under fire over handling of the rape and murder of a woman doctor at the RG Kar hospital.

Goyal, a 1994 batch IPS officer, was made the ADG and IGP of West Bengal Police's Special Task Force (STF), an official notification said.

A 1998 batch officer, 56-year-old Verma was the ADG and IGP (Law & Order) before the appointment as Kolkata Police commissioner.

According to officials, none of the transfers were considered a promotion or demotion.

Goyal, an alumnus of both IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur, took charge as the city's top cop in December 2021, replacing Soumen Mitra.

Earlier, he has been in several significant positions in Kolkata Police, including the DCP for the Eastern Suburban Division (ESD), Special Branch (SB), as well as the Headquarters.

His successor, Verma has served as the Barrackpore Police Commissioner and was also the SP of the Counter Insurgency Force.

He played a significant role in the state government's fight against the Maoists in Junglemahal and also in the killing of Koteswara Rao, commonly known as 'Kishenji'.

He was also the additional director at the Directorate of Security apart from holding significant positions such as IGP of Darjeeling and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Paschim Medinipur.

The state Home and Hill Affairs Department posted DCP (North) Gupta as the Circle Officer of the 2nd Battalion of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR).

Gupta, like his boss Goyal, was also under fire in the RG Kar rape-murder case for allegedly offering money to the parents of the deceased doctor soon after her body was found on August 9.

The parents had alleged that Gupta had taken the money, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and offered it to them.

Dipak Sarkar, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) in Siliguri Police Commissionerate, replaced Gupta.

The state also named Jawed Shamim as the ADG and IGP (Law & Order), while Gyanwant Singh was made the ADG and IGP of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Tripurari Atharv, who was ADG and IGP of the state STF, was named the new Director of the Directorate of Economic Offences.

Meanwhile, one of the agitating junior doctors said they had seen the government order and would announce the future course of their movement following a meeting among themselves.

"Our general body will meet, and then we will take a decision on whether to continue our work," he said.

The junior doctors have been protesting for the last 39 days over the rape and murder of their colleague, affecting healthcare services at state-run hospitals.