Damayanti Sen, the joint commissioner of Kolkata police (crime) who had led the detective department (DD) in cracking the Park Street gangrape case puncturing chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s claims of fabrication, is all set to be removed from her post for proving the “autocratic” leader wrong. Ms Sen, the first female crime chief of the city police, had stood by the gangrape victim.
Official sources confirmed this newspaper that the decision of “punishing” Ms Sen was mulled soon after the sensational case witnessed a breakthrough on February 18 when three accused were arrested by the DD within four days of taking over the case. A mother of two had been gangraped in a moving car on the night of February 5.
But the decision to remove her was kept under wraps by the chief minister, Kolkata police commissioner Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda and two other senior government officials in view of a massive public outcry and to avoid further criticism of the chief minister and her government, an IPS officer at Lalbazar disclosed.
Ms Sen and joint commissioner of police (headquarters) Jawed Shamim, one batch senior to her, had even faced Ms Banerjee’s wrath on February 20 after being summoned at the Writers’ Buildings. In an uncanny twist, they were even made to hold a press meet to clarify that the case was not cracked by any individual rather the success was due to a “team effort”.
On Tuesday, the decision of Ms Sen’s removal was approved on the pretext of “routine transfer” at the meeting of the police establishment board which discussed the transfer of more than 50 IPS officers. Official sources indicated Ms Sen, an IPS cadre of 1996 batch, will be shunted to a lesser important post in the West Bengal police (WBP). She will be made deputy inspector-general of police (DIG) in charge of training at Swami Vivekananda State Police Academy in Barrackpore of North 24 Parganas. According to government rules, Ms Sen’s transfer order is now awaiting Ms Banerjee’s signature.
Ms Sen, however, remained tight-lipped over her removal. Pallab Kanti Ghosh, a promotee IPS officer who is joint commissioner of police (organisation), is likely to replace Ms Sen. Speculation is rife that Mr Shamim may also suffer a similar fate and is likely to be moved out of Lalbazar to the post of DIG (administration) in the WBP. However, a Trinamul Congress MLA hinted that Ms Banerjee may spare him to keep her popularity intact among the minorities.