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The police officer is accused of ordering two policemen from the detective wing of the Kolkata Police to approach BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha with a bribe. Kumar, however, denied the allegation
Kolkata police commissioner Rajiv Kumar has been removed from his post on Wednesday evening by the Election Commission of India. He has been accused of playing a partisan role in the run up to the assembly election in Bengal.
Kumar is accused of ordering two policemen from the detective wing of the Kolkata Police to approach BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha with a bribe. Kumar, however, denied the allegation.
All the opposition political parties in Bengal—the Left, the Congress and the BJP—moved the EC against Kumar, accusing him of not just being part of bribery, but also of taking the side of the Trinamool Congress from time to time.
On Tuesday, BJP president Amit Shah lambasted Kumar. The next day, a Congress team led by Manish Tiwari visited the EC's office and sought his removal.
Kumar was removed from the post after the Election Commission found merit in the allegation.
There are several contenders for the commissioner's post following the EC decision. Additional Director General, CID, Soumen Mitra is the senior most, though he is not a favourite of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The commission has asked the chief secretary to send a few names for consideration.
Kumar, who led the Saradha scam probe conducted by West Bengal police as commissioner of Bidhan Nagar Police in 2014, was then also accused of damaging evidence.
In fact, BJP president Shah referred to this on Tuesday, when he held a press conference in Kolkata and said, “Saradha scam is fumbling because state government damaged many proofs.”
