New Delhi: Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi known as for enhanced cooperation between state police and central businesses. Whether or not or not they get the memo stays to be seen. Because it stands now, police versus police battles have been erupting commonly throughout states, all with a political tinge. And in West Bengal, it’s turn out to be an all-out warfare of late, with the state police and central businesses submitting instances in opposition to one another nearly each different fortnight.
The most recent occasion of this was on 18 January, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lodged a First Data Report (FIR) in opposition to “unknown officers” of the Kolkata police over a “false” case of bribery, amongst different issues. This case has lengthy and sophisticated political antecedents within the office-of-profit allegations in opposition to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren final yr, however extra on it later.
One other current khaki versus khaki showdown in West Bengal noticed the state police’s Crime Investigation Division (CID) slap a case of homicide and extortion in opposition to seven CBI officers on 14 December.
This was in reference to the controversial 12 December custodial loss of life of Lalan Sheikh, a major accused within the bombing homicide of Trinamool Congress chief Bhadu Sheikh final March, and the arson deaths of a number of others in Birbhum throughout mob violence shortly thereafter.
On its half, the CBI instructed the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom that two of the accused officers named within the FIR had arrested Trinamool’s Birbhum president Anubrata Mondal in an alleged cattle smuggling rip-off. “An try is being made to combine the instances and reap advantages,” the CBI had stated.
In between these two instances, the Gujarat police, assisted by Delhi cops, arrested Trinamool spokesperson Saket Gokhale from the Bengal authorities’s visitor home, New Banga Bhawan, within the nationwide capital on 29 December.
The explanation for this arrest was that Gokhale had allegedly misused funds collected through crowdfunding. The Gujarat police had additionally arrested him twice earlier final month for allegedly “disseminating pretend information” about the price of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s journey to Morbi after the October 2022 bridge collapse.
Gokhale’s newest arrest remains to be producing controversy. Final week, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the Gujarat police returned to the visitor home on 14 January and “illegally” seized six onerous disks containing CCTV footage.
“Who all keep in New Banga Bhawan? I keep there generally, the state’s governor stays there, the chief justice and different vital authorities functionaries keep there. What do they wish to see? They wish to see who all are coming there to satisfy these vital folks. And that’s the reason they took all of the CCTV onerous disks. That is in opposition to democracy and bulldozer politics. They may get a closure quickly,” she stated at a public assembly in Murshidabad.
A senior officer of the Kolkata Police instructed ThePrint {that a} workforce from Bengal had been despatched to Delhi to look into the seizure of disks, however no criticism has been registered on this regard “as of now”.
These are simply the newest examples. During the last 5 years, there have been at the least 17 instances and counter-cases filed between the state police in Bengal and central businesses.
Serving and retired law enforcement officials ThePrint spoke to stated that this sort of infighting was “politically motivated” and a “menace” and that cops have been typically decreased to pawns.
“Companies are beneath the management of the ruling events on the Centre, whereas state police organisations are on the mercy of the regional social gathering in energy within the state. There are clashes between them they usually use the IPS cadre probably the most to their benefit. The senior officers can not do something about it as they should adjust to the order of the federal government,” stated retired IPS officer P Okay Hormis Tharakan, an ex-director common of police (DGP) who retired because the R&AW chief.
Additionally learn: ‘Fabrication of courtroom order’: ED information FIR in opposition to Kolkata Police, Centre-Bengal battle escalates
‘All politically motivated’
A number of senior law enforcement officials described the newest slew of instances and counter-cases in West Bengal as “political”, bringing into query the non-partisanship of central businesses in addition to state police forces.
Within the newest 18 January case, the CBI accused “unknown officers of the Kolkata police” and businessman Amit Kumar Agarwal of prison conspiracy and for “scandalising” the judiciary and Enforcement Directorate officers, amongst others.
For a quick background: Agarwal had lodged a bribery criticism final July at Kolkata’s Hare police station in opposition to one Shiv Shankar Sharma and his affiliate Rajeev Kumar, a Ranchi-based lawyer. Agarwal had alleged that Sharma had sought a bribe to drop a public curiosity litigation (PIL) he had filed within the Jharkhand Excessive Courtroom.
This was no atypical PIL. Sharma was the petitioner in two PILs that had sought a CBI and ED investigation in opposition to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren for allegedly laundering cash and giving himself a mining lease — a problem over which the state BJP had demanded his disqualification as MLA. The petition had additionally accused businessman Agarwal of serving to Soren launder cash.
Whereas the Jharkhand HC had held that Sharma’s petition was admissible, the SC in November dismissed the PILs in opposition to Soren, noting they contained solely “half-baked” allegations, and have been made by “an individual who… has come to courtroom with unclean fingers”.
The CBI’s criticism got here on the again of an enquiry ordered by the Jharkhand HC. Nevertheless, the FIR, which ThePrint has seen, doesn’t explicitly point out any energetic wrongdoing on the a part of the Kolkata police.
The senior officer of Kolkata police quoted earlier claimed that the criticism in opposition to the cops didn’t maintain any water.
“If one reads the current FIR in opposition to us by the CBI, no allegation in opposition to Kolkata police will probably be discovered. The case is in opposition to a Kolkata-based businessman. He lodged an FIR with one among our police stations. The police station acted on it and arrested an advocate from Ranchi.”
He added: “The CBI is making an attempt to implicate Kolkata police for being complicit within the crime of trapping the advocate… However there is no such thing as a prima facie proof. This appears like a retaliatory case in opposition to us after the state CID booked CBI officers in a unique case,” he added.
Right here he was referring to the Lalan Sheikh custodial loss of life case over which the Bengal CID filed an FIR in opposition to CBI officers.
Sarcastically, no direct accusation of wrongdoing in opposition to the CBI was detailed on this occasion both. Subsequently, the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom in December barred the CID from taking any coercive motion in opposition to the CBI officers within the case.
Speaking to The Print, a senior CBI officer of inspector common (IG) rank stated that such situations weren’t new.
“The Kolkata police and Howrah district police of West Bengal filed at the least 5 instances in opposition to our joint administrators once they have been in command of the chit fund probe, and coal and cattle smuggling probe,” he stated. “The instances are nonetheless on.”
He claimed that such instances have been pushed solely by politics and the officers have been properly conscious of this. “Each the forces know that the instances may have no closure, as a result of there’s nothing to analyze. They may simply hold summoning one another to flex muscle. These are all politically motivated instances.”
Troubling pattern
Lately, there have been many situations of police businesses going through off in opposition to one another — a outstanding instance being the FIR for “abduction” filed by Delhi police in opposition to Punjab police for arresting BJP chief Tajinder Bagga final Might. Nevertheless, a disproportionate variety of such controversies have had a West Bengal connection.
The continued sequence of such instances and counter instances began in 2017, when Rajeev Kumar, ex-commissioner of Kolkata Police, was first known as by the CBI for questioning in reference to the Saradha chit fund rip-off.
The Kolkata police and Howrah district police then lodged completely different instances in opposition to Pankaj Srivastav, then joint director of CBI, who was in command of the investigation.
Since then, at the least 10 units of summons or notices went to senior IPS officers of the West Bengal police in several instances, together with the “coal smuggling” case and the so-called cattle smuggling racket.
The Kolkata police have additionally despatched notices to ED officers, together with a few of joint director rank, in reference to defamation instances lodged by Trinamool nationwide common secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
‘Failure of residence ministry’
The politically charged confrontations between the police forces is damaging the all-India civil companies, typically described because the metal body of the nation, stated Prithviraj Chavan, who was minister within the division of personnel and coaching (DoPT) and minister of state within the Prime Minister’s Workplace (PMO) in the course of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) dispensation.
Talking to ThePrint, Chavan stated he held the Ministry of Dwelling Affairs (MHA) liable for the state of affairs.
“This rivalry between state police organisations and central police businesses singularly alerts the failure of the very best authority, and that’s the MHA,” he stated.
“There may be an annual convention of DGs, the place the Prime Minister and the Union residence minister are current. These sorts of conferences have been designed to keep away from confrontation and enhance coordination. However beneath the present dispensation, simply the alternative occurs,” he added.
“The central authorities has so many police businesses and round eight to 10 paramilitary forces. We regularly see how the officers are taken over by jealousy and vindictiveness.”
Chavan additional stated that the present pattern of giving a number of extensions to IPS and IAS officers, and giving them post-retirement plum postings as a reward for his or her loyalty had taken a toll on the system.
“The extensions and redeployments of officers encourage them to align themselves with political authorities and transcend the decision of responsibility. Everybody needs to be on the appropriate aspect of the federal government, the Centre or within the states,” stated Chavan.
Retired IPS officer P Okay Hormis Tharakan, quoted earlier, stated there was a dire want for police reforms.
“The Nationwide Police Fee (appointed in 1977) urged taking the police out of political management. The report was by no means carried out. It urged that state police chiefs and the heads of central businesses must be chosen by an impartial committee, which can have the PM and the CM (in case of state authorities), the Opposition chief, and the illustration of the judiciary,” he stated.
“Till and except the police turn out to be freed from political management, these sorts of issues will hold occurring and it’ll get even murkier. This impacts the morale of the senior officers and the pressure as a complete,” he added.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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