Didi turns street fighter for cop she once refused to trust

Kolkata, February 5 

During her days in Opposition, Mamata Banerjee had accused IPS officer Rajeev Kumar of tapping the phones of political rivals of the ruling Left Front. A decade down the line, she is staging a dharna to protest the CBI’s bid to question him.

Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, known for his impeccable investigating and electronic surveillance skills, was once a blue-eyed boy of former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

Banerjee had then accused Kumar of snooping on telephonic conversations of Opposition leaders, an allegation rejected by the then Left Front government. An IPS officer of the 1989 batch, 53-year-old Kumar has held important positions, including those of Joint Commissioner (Special Task Force) and Director General (CID). 

In 2011, when Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress came to power ending the 34-year Left Front rule, she wanted Kumar to be shunted to some insignificant position. She was, however, dissuaded by senior officers from taking such a course. Over the next eight years a lot of water has flown down the Howrah bridge.

When the Saradha chit fund scam was busted in 2013, initial cases against the group were lodged under the jurisdiction of Bidhannagar police commissionerate headed by Kumar. 

It was during his stint as SIT chief that he grew closer to the ruling dispensation.

His proximity to the establishment also brought with it criticism, as opposition parties accused the SIT of trying to destroy evidences against ruling TMC leaders and stalling the probe. He took over as 21st police commissioner of Kolkata on February 2016, the year the state had its last assembly polls.

A month later, two officers of Kolkata police, disguised as cow smugglers, tried to bribe BJP national secetary Rahul Sinha to help them in their trade. The incident happened just a fortnight after Narada news released sting videos showing Trinamool Congress leaders purportedly accepting money from a fictitious company.

In April that year, the Election Commission decided to replace Kumar with Somen Mitra. Once back in power, Mamata Banerjee reinistated Kumar. Last September, a series of audio clips of purported telephone conversations between Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP general secretary in charge of West Bengal, and Mukul Roy, a former confidante of Banerjee and now a frontline leader of the saffron party, started doing the rounds in social media. — PTI 

Accused him of spying

In 2011, when the TMC came to power ending the 34-year Left Front rule, Mamata Banerjee wanted Rajeev Kumar to be shunted to some insignificant position. She had then accused Kumar of snooping on telephonic conversations of Opposition leaders