IPS officer Gyanwant gets promotion after clean chit in Rizwanur case

IPS officer Gyanwant Singh, who`s promotion was stalled following his alleged involvement in Rizwanur Rahaman`s mysterious death in 2007, was promoted as DIG Murshidabad Range in West Bengal.

Kolkata: In a major reshuffle, IPS officer Gyanwant Singh, who`s promotion was stalled following his alleged involvement in Rizwanur Rahaman`s mysterious death in 2007, was on Tuesday promoted as DIG Murshidabad Range in West Bengal, Home department sources said.

The promotion was cleared after the senior police officer got clean chit from the committee that probed his alleged involvement in the case, the sources said. At present, Singh was working as Commandant First Battalion of the State Armed Police. Bowing to pressure from within his party as well as the growing public discontent over the death of Rizwanur Rehman, the then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee shunted out Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee and four other senior police officers including Singh, then a Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police, for their alleged "intervention" in the case in October, 2007. Singh got posting later, but his promotion was blocked until he got clean chit in the case. Rizwanur, a multimedia graphic designer, was found dead near the railway tracks on September 21, weeks after he got married to Priyanka, daughter of industrialist Ashok Todi. The Todi family and the police had allegedly mounted pressure on the couple to break the marriage. Police claimed it was a case of suicide while the family alleged that Rizwanur was murdered. Kallol Ganai, who was working as DIG Murshidabad Range, has been asked to take over as Joint Commissioner of Police, Barrackpore Police Commissionerate. In another reshuffle in IAS cadre Special Secretary in CEO`s office Barun Roy has been asked to take over as Divisional Commissioner of Jalpaiguri. The PWD Joint Secretary Osman Ghani has been asked to take over as Secretary State Election Commission, while Deputy Director of AYUSH under Health Department Goutam Ghosh would take over as Secretary to GTA in Darjeeling, the sources said.