1989 batch IPS officer Rajeev Kumar has been appointed as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of West Bengal. He was serving as the Principal Secretary, Department of Information Technology & Electronics.
Mr. Kumar will replace Manoj Malaviya, a 1986-batch police officer, who retired on Dec 27, 2023.
Mr. Kumar is considered to be one of the most trusted police officers of West Bengal CM, Ms. Mamata Banerjee. Ms. Banerjee even sat on strike in Kolkata in 2019, when a team of CBI officers arrived at Mr. Kumar’s residence to quiz him in connection with the Saradha scam. The CBI had alleged in the apex court that Kumar tampered with electronic evidence of the Saradha chit-fund scam.
The case involved an estimated Rs. 2,460 crore that was raised from around 1.8 million depositors from West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh. It came to light in 2012 when depositors started filing police complaints.
Mr. Kumar has worked in many key positions like Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Joint Commissioner (Special Task Force) and Director General (CID). He was Commissioner of Kolkata Police from May 2016 to February 2019. He was transferred as the ADG CID ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
Under his leadership, the STF of Kolkata Police was much talked about for its operations against Maoists. He also played an important role in capturing Chhatradhar Mahato, an important figure of the Lalgarh movement.
Mr. Kumar, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, holds an engineering degree from IIT Roorkee.
While serving as the STF chief in 2009, he faced allegations from TMC’s then national general secretary, Mukul Roy. Roy accused him of engaging in phone surveillance on behalf of the Left Front government, targeting the then railway minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee.
There was an atmosphere of general elections in the country at that time. During this time, Trinamool Congress accused the STF chief of Kolkata Police of monitoring the phone of the then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. Allegations of collusion with the Left government were also made.
