In a swift development, IPS officer Vivek Sahay, a 1988-batch officer, has been appointed as the next Director General of Police (DGP) for West Bengal. This decision came within hours of the Election Commission of India (ECI) removing the incumbent DGP Rajeev Kumar from his position.
Sahay, who previously held the role of Director General and Commandant General (Home Guards), brings a wealth of experience to his new role. Notably, he was in charge of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s security in 2021. However, his tenure was cut short in March of that year during the assembly polls when Banerjee met with an accident in Nandigram and sustained injuries.
The ECI suspended and removed Sahay from his position at the time, citing failure to conduct his duty in protecting the chief minister, who enjoys Z+ category security.
In a significant move back in May 2021, shortly after assuming office, Mamata Banerjee initiated a major reshuffle in the police hierarchy. This included the transfer of 29 top-level police officers, many of whom had been shifted by the election commission prior to the polls.
In Sahay’s career trajectory, he served as the Director General (DG) of Provisioning in July 2022 before being appointed as the Director General and Commandant General (Home Guards) in November 2023.
Meanwhile, the former DGP Rajeev Kumar has been removed from his post by the poll panel and transferred to the Information and Technology department, which is considered a ‘non-election’ related assignment.
