Humayun Kabir had been promoted to the rank of inspector general in December (archive)
Calcutta:
A senior Bengal police officer resigned today a few days after he ordered the arrest of three BJP workers over the slogans “Goli Maro … (shoot traitors)” raised on a tour last week.
Humayun Kabir, a ranking inspector general and police commissioner from Chandannagar, near Calcutta, stopped citing “personal reasons”. In a separate media interaction, he said: “There are reasons for my resignation that I will share after a few days. Let me first release myself from the service.”
The sudden resignation sparked speculation about Kabir entering politics. He was due to retire on April 30 and could have requested or offered an extension, but decided to resign as of January 31.
The BJP had accused Kabir of trying to keep Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress happy because he wanted the party to present his wife in the upcoming Bengal elections.
However, some sources claim that Kabir, once the Chief Minister’s blue-eyed boy, had fallen out of favor with her for “getting close to the BJP.” He also reportedly made some politically controversial comments at a public event in December where he complained about the backward state of the minority community in Bengal.
In March last year, there were communal riots in Telinipara and the area adjacent to Chandannagar.
Kabir declined to comment on questions about his possible political plans.
On January 21, three BJP supporters who shouted the infamous slogan “Goli Maro” at a rally were arrested in the dead of night for allegedly attempting to incite violence.
A local BJP leader in Chandannagar, Suresh Shaw and two others were picked up by the police hours after they shouted the slogan while participating in a roadshow of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and Hooghly MP’s Chatterjee medallion.
Suvendu Chatterjee, once Mamata Banerjee’s closest aide, resigned from her party last month and joined the BJP, prompting an exodus from Trinamool Congress.
Trinamool congress deputy Saugata Roy said the arrests were “a completely police matter and the party had nothing to do with it.”
The arrests raised questions because Trinamool Congress supporters, who had shouted a modified version of the same slogan on the streets of Calcutta a day earlier, had not been arrested.
The state government had raised the issue with the Electoral Commission. The powerful electoral body had also received a complaint from the BJP for partisan conduct.
The West Bengal police have named Kabir’s replacement. Gaurav Sharma, Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner, has been appointed Chandannagar Police Chief.
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