During attack on JP Nadda's convoy there was inadequate cop deployment, writes CRPF to West Bengal Police chief: Sources

The CRPF letter comes ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to West Bengal.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has written a letter to the West Bengal Police chief over the attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda's convoy in Diamond Harbour. Sources on Thursday told Zee News that the letter gives details about the lapses made by the local police when Nadda was attacked.

The CRPF has asked West Bengal Police for co-operation ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the state. CRPF had asked local police to make proper arrangements for such protectees. Shah is scheduled to visit West Bengal on December 19-20.

As per sources, the CRPF has written that during the incident of attack on Nadda adequate police deployment was not available. The CRPF has also given details about the incidents which took place on December 9-10. The CRPF is responsible for providing security to VVIPs.

On December 9, miscreants raised black flags and shouted slogans during Nadda`s visit to the BJP West Bengal election office in Kolkata. The next day when Nadda`s convoy was passing through Sarisha, Diamond Harbour, miscreants pelted stones, and several party leaders including Kailash Vijayvargiya were injured.

The CRPF gives protection to various VVIPs such as Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi etc. They are also deployed in Maoist areas and Jammu and Kashmir. 

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has sent a fresh letter to the West Bengal government for immediate relieving of three IPS officers, who were involved in the security of BJP chief J P Nadda, on a central deputation stating that they have been given new assignments, officials said on Thursday.

The three IPS officers -- Rajeev Mishra (1996 batch), Praveen Tripathi (2004 batch) and Bolanath Pandey (2011 batch) -- were directed to report on central deputation hours after the West Bengal government refused to send its chief secretary and police chief to Delhi to discuss the law and order situation in the state.

In a fresh order, the ministry cited rules of Indian Police Services (IPS) while asking the state government to relieve the three officers -- Pandey (SP, Diamond Harbour), Tripathi (DIG, Presidency Range) and Mishra (ADG, South Bengal). The three were responsible for the security of BJP chief J P Nadda during his December 9-10 visit to the politically volatile state when his convoy was attacked at Diamond Harbour.

The order also cited Rule 6(1) of the Indian Police Service (Cadre) Rules of 1954 and amended in 1985 which states "...Provided that in case of any disagreement, the matter shall be decided by the Central Government and the State Government or State Governments concerned shall give effect to the decision of the Central Government."

The Centre has already issued posting to Pandey to join in the Bureau of Police Research and Development, Tripathi as the DIG in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Mishra as the IG in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). The copy of the letter has also been sent to the West Bengal director general of police (DGP).

The entire issue started after the centre, taking a serious note of the attack on Nadda's convoy, summoned the state chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and police chief Virendra for December 14 to discuss the "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state. The state government, however, turned down the request for the meeting after which an order for taking the three IPS officers on deputation was issued.

On December 12, the West Bengal government had conveyed that it would not be able to spare the three IPS officers and also attempted to refer to a rule of IPS cadre whereby the state government's consent is taken before any all-India service officer is called to serve in the central deputation.

The two top civil and police officers were called by the MHA after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar sent a report on the attack on Nadda's convoy with stones and bricks at Diamond Harbour, the Lok Sabha constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

Dhankhar had also alleged at a press conference in Kolkata that violators of law have the protection of the police and the administration in West Bengal and any resistance by the opposition is quelled. The West Bengal government has not sent a report on the "serious security lapses" during Nadda's visit to the state, as sought by the MHA.

The chief minister had mockingly distorted Nadda's name at a recent rally in Kolkata and termed the attack on his convoy a "staged act".
The cars of several BJP leaders, including that of the party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh, which were part of Nadda's convoy, were also damaged in the attack.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said, "Bengal has descended into an era of tyranny, anarchy and darkness under the Trinamool rule... The manner in which political violence has been institutionalised and brought to the extreme in West Bengal under TMC rule is sad and worrying".