From Sandeshkhali’s Papiya Sultana to Jayaraman’s Symbolic Rope Protest — Every Officer Moved Has a Story That Exposes TMC’s Grip on Bengal Police
By NIRENDRA DEV
Kolkata, March 18, 2026 — The Election Commission of India has launched its most sweeping police restructuring in West Bengal’s recent electoral history — systematically dismantling a law enforcement network that critics say was built to serve the Trinamool Congress rather than the people of Bengal.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s operation began at the top. Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty and Home Secretary Jagdish Prasad Meena were the first to go. Mamata Banerjee’s handpicked Director General of Police Peeyush Pandey and Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar have since been replaced. The message from the Commission was unambiguous: no officer whose loyalty lies with a political establishment will oversee a free and fair election in Bengal.
Papiya Sultana: The Officer Mamata Moved Mid-Investigation
Among the most symbolically significant appointments is that of Papiya Sultana — Bengal’s first Muslim IPS officer — who has been posted as Superintendent of Police of West Midnapore, one of the state’s most sensitive districts.
Sultana’s story encapsulates the pattern the Election Commission is now trying to correct. Before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, she was abruptly transferred from the home guard to the Barrackpore Police Battalion by the Mamata Banerjee government — in the middle of her investigation into alleged atrocities on women in Sandeshkhali, North 24-Parganas. The state police called it a routine transfer. Few believed that.
Jayaraman: The Officer Who Arrested an IAS Officer — and Paid For It
The Election Commission’s appointment of K. Jayaraman as Additional Director General and Inspector General of Police for north Bengal — which votes in the first phase on April 23 — carries its own powerful symbolism.
Jayaraman, a 1991-batch IPS officer, was abruptly transferred by the Mamata government in November 2013 — one day after he ordered the arrest of then Malda District Magistrate G. Kiran Kumar on charges of misappropriation of funds at the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority.
His colleagues in the Siliguri Commissionerate did not let the moment pass quietly. In a rare act of solidarity, five policemen tied a rope to the back of his SUV, put the vehicle in neutral, and pulled it back for a full minute — a symbolic protest against his politically motivated removal that became the stuff of Bengal police legend.
Replacing the Abhishek Banerjee Network
Several of the transfers directly dismantle a police network allegedly built around TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
In Barasat, 2012-batch IPS officer Pushpa has replaced Priyabrata Roy — an officer who became mired in serious controversy in January 2026 when the Enforcement Directorate alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma, and Roy himself barged into the premises of I-PAC chief Pratik Jain during an ED raid, restricted investigating officials, and helped remove key documents and electronic evidence including laptops and files.
In East Midnapore — the home district of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari — Angshuman Saha has been appointed SP, replacing Parijat Biswas, described as an Abhishek Banerjee loyalist. Saha, a former commandant of the Gorkha Battalion, was once summoned by the CBI in a cattle-smuggling case — a background the Commission has evidently weighed against the alternative of leaving a TMC-aligned officer in charge of a politically charged district.
In Murshidabad — a violence-hit district now under NIA scrutiny following the Beldanga riots — 2013-batch IPS officer Sachin has been appointed SP, replacing Dhritiman Sarkar, a Mamata confidant who earned the reputation of functioning more as a TMC activist than a police officer during his posting in East Midnapore.
In Diamond Harbour, 2013-batch officer Ishani Paul takes charge as SP. The earlier officer was allegedly handpicked by Abhishek Banerjee.
In Malda, Anupam Singh replaces Abhijit Banerjee — described by sources as another die-hard TMC loyalist. Rakesh Singh will serve as the new SP of Islampur, and Surya Pratap Yadav takes charge of politically sensitive Birbhum.
Kolkata’s DC Central: The RG Kar Crackdown Officer
In Kolkata, the Election Commission removed DC Central Indira Mukherjee — an officer who came to public attention for her role in the crackdown on protesters following the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and separately for her handling of teachers protesting the cash-for-jobs scam. She has been replaced by Y.S. Jagannath Rao, DC Traffic, Kolkata Police.
Hooghly: A Question Mark Remains
Not every appointment has come without scrutiny. Kumar Sunny Raj has been named SP of Hooghly — but he previously served as SP of Murshidabad during whose tenure the Beldanga riots broke out two months ago, a case now under NIA investigation. His transfer to Hooghly, rather than removal from a sensitive posting, has raised questions among observers tracking the Commission’s moves.
The Larger Picture
Taken together, the Election Commission’s Bengal operation represents one of the most determined pre-election police restructurings in recent Indian electoral history. Almost every officer transferred carries a story — of being hounded for doing their job, sidelined mid-investigation, or rewarded for political loyalty with sensitive postings.
CEC Gyanesh Kumar has sent a message that Bengal’s 2026 election will be contested on a levelled playing field — or as close to one as the Commission can enforce. Whether the new officers can establish authority quickly enough in districts where TMC’s administrative grip runs deep remains the central question of the weeks ahead.
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