EC picks Sanjay Mukherjee as new Bengal DGP, replaces Vivek Sahay who got top post after Rajeev Kumar’s removal

With this, Vivek Sahay will have served as West Bengal DGP for the shortest tenure (24 hours). He was given the charge until the poll panel decided on the next appointment after the removal of Rajeev Kumar.

Written by Atri Mitra

Kolkata | Updated: March 21, 2024 07:51 AM IST

2 min read

The ECI on Monday removed controversial West Bengal police chief Rajeev Kumar just 48 hours after the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls. (File Photo)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the West Bengal Government to appoint Sanjay Mukherjee as the new state Director General of Police (DGP). The 1989-batch IPS officer’s name was picked from a list of three sent by the state government.

With this, Vivek Sahay – who was given the charge of DGP as the seniormost officer – will have served the post for the shortest tenure (24 hours) in the state. The ECI on Monday removed controversial West Bengal police chief Rajeev Kumar just 48 hours after the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls. Earlier, he was removed from the post of Kolkata police commissioner ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections.

In its letter to the state chief secretary, the ECI wrote, “…the Commission has approved the name of Shri Sanjay Mukherjee, IPS (1989)…for the post of Director General and Inspector General of Police, West Bengal… Kindly ensure immediate compliance and confirm the same latest by 5 pm today.”

As per the order announcing the removal of Rajeev Kumar, his charge was to be “given to the next senior officer in the Police Headquarters till posting of new Director General & Inspector General of Police, West Bengal” and a list of three names were to be sent to the ECI for the DGP posting.

Accordingly, the state government gave the charge to seniormost IPS officer Vivek Sahay and sent a list of three names to the ECI for appointment. Besides Sahay and Sanjay Mukherjee, this included the name of senior officer Rajesh Kumar.

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

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DGP Rajeev Kumar West Bengal