Bengal Replaces Kolkata Police Commissioner, 2 Health Officials On Doctors' Demand

Fulfilling some of its key promises made to the protesting doctors during their meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday, the West Bengal government has transferred Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal as well as the state's Director of Medical Education and Director of Health Services.

Mr Goyal has been replaced by Manoj Kumar Verma, a 1998-batch officer, who held the post of Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) to which he was appointed in January this year. Mr Verma had taken over from Jawed Shamim, who was seen as one of the frontrunners for the Kolkata Police Commissioner's post. Mr Shamim will now be replacing Mr Verma.

Vineet Goyal, who is a 1994-batch officer and had been the Kolkata Police Commissioner since December 2021, will be assuming charge as the Additional Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police (Special Task Force).

The transfers and appointments were announced in a notification on Tuesday afternoon and included the names of four other police officers as well. Among them was Deputy Commissioner (North Division) Abhishek Gupta, who has been replaced by Dipak Sarkar. The North Division is where the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital is located and the parents of the trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at the hospital on August 9 had alleged that Mr Gupta had offered them money.

Shortly after the notification on the police officers was released, the Bengal government announced that Dr Kaustav Nayak had been removed as the Director of Medical Education and Dr Debasish Halder as the Director of Health Services.

The order by the health department said Dr Swapan Soren has been appointed the new in-charge director of health services and Dr Suparna Dutta the officer on special duty for medical education.

Dr Nayak will take charge as the Director of the Institute of Health and Family Welfare while Dr Halder has been posted as the officer on special duty (public health) at Swasthya Bhawan.

'Younger Brothers'

Doctors, who have been protesting since the rape and murder came to light, finally met Chief Minister Banerjee on Monday after talks fell through several times over a demand for live streaming of the meeting. The West Bengal government had termed Monday's invitation its "fifth and final" invite.

While Ms Banerjee had earlier said that Mr Goyal had offered to resign multiple times and asked the protesting doctors to wait, given the upcoming Durga Puja celebrations, she announced on Monday that the Kolkata Police Commissioner would be replaced, as would the Deputy Commissioner (North Division) and the two health officials.

Speaking after the meeting, the chief minister said she had accepted 99% of the doctors' "demands because they are our younger brothers".

Doctors had become more vocal for the removal of the Kolkata Police Commissioner after the CBI arrested Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and Abhijit Mondal, officer-in-charge of Tala Police Station (under which the RG Kar Hospital falls) last week and alleged that they tampered with evidence. This lent credence to the doctors' claim that the case was not handled properly by the Kolkata Police and there was an attempted cover-up.

As their agitation entered its 39th day, the doctors said earlier on Tuesday that the state government accepting their demands was a big victory but a final call on withdrawing their agitation would be taken only after the state government implements its announcements "in true spirit".