Kolkata: 2009 batch IPS officer Nagendra Tripathi, currently posted in West Bengal, has been asked to report to the Union Home Ministry for a new role. Tripathi has been appointed as the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
A letter confirming the move was sent by Sanjeev Kumar, Under Secretary of the Union Home Ministry, to Manoj Pant, Chief Secretary of West Bengal, on Wednesday.
The state government has approved the transfer and agreed to send Tripathi for his new posting. This comes after a request from Delhi to deploy the officer to the CISF, which is tasked with providing security to industrial units and critical infrastructure across the country.
However, media reports say that home department also revealed that Delhi has sought the deputation of two additional IPS officers from West Bengal, but the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has yet to make a decision regarding these officers. According to a senior official in the state administration, the Chief Minister has given her approval to release Tripathi but is hesitant to send more officers on deputation to Delhi.
The development follows Tripathi’s prominent role as a special police observer for the Nandigram Assembly constituency during the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, where he oversaw security arrangements as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee contested against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.
The move to transfer Tripathi comes amid growing scrutiny of the role of IPS officers on deputation, with some sources suggesting that the Chief Minister’s office is generally reluctant to release officers for central government postings.
As of now, the future of the two additional officers requested by Delhi remains uncertain, and the Chief Minister is expected to make a final call in the coming days.
