New Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma is a Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1998 batch who until yesterday served as the Additional Director General (ADGP) and Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) of West Bengal Police.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government Tuesday appointed decorated IPS officer Manoj Kumar Verma as the new Police Commissioner of Kolkata, replacing Vineet Goyal who has come under fire for the allegedly botching up the initial investigation in the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at the city’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month.
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CM Banerjee, following a meeting with protesting doctors on Monday, made the announcement at around midnight that Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, Director of Medical Education (DME) Kaustav Nayek, and north Kolkata Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Gupta, and Director of health services Debashish Haldar would be shunted from their current postings.
An official order to this effect was issued on Tuesday, naming Manoj Verma, formerly ADG law and order, as the new Kolkata Police chief, while his predecessor, Vineet Kumar Goyal, has been appointed as the ADG & IGP of Special Task Force (STF).
Who is IPS Manoj Verma?
Manoj Kumar Verma is a Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1998 batch who until yesterday served as the Additional Director General (ADGP) and Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) of West Bengal Police.
A decorated IPS officer, Manoj Verma was awarded the Police medal for Meritorious Service (PMMS) on Independence Day in 2017 when he was posted as Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Traffic headquarters. Later, in 2019, Verma was felicitated with the Chief Minister’s Police Medal for his work as the Police commissioner of Barrackpore.
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Earlier, this year, Manoj Verma had replaced Jawed Shamim as the ADGP and IGP (Law and Order). Previously, Manoj Verma had served ADG and IG (Intelligence Bureau), a posting he switched with Shamim who was given charge of these departments while Verma took over the former’s duties.
IPS Manoj Verma early life, career
Manoj Verma was born on September 30, 1968 to a middle-class family in a Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. Verma completed his schooling in his hometown and later went on to crack the UPSC exam in 1998 and earning an IPS cadre, according to his rank.
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Manoj Verma is an alumni of the National Police Academy in Hyderabad and was first posted as the Superintendent of Police (SP) in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, where his role in curbing Maoist activities earned him widespread appreciation.
New Kolkata Police Commissioner
Manoj Verma will now take over as the new Police Commissioner of Kolkata, replacing Vineet Goyal, whose shunting had been one of several demands of agitating doctors who are protesting the August 9 rape and murder of a trainee medico at the RG Kar hospital.
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“Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and Deputy Commissioner of the North Division Abhishek Gupta will be transferred. The doctors had claimed that Goyal had earlier told them that he wanted to step down because they had lost faith in him. We have accommodated his request and transferred him to a position he had asked for…We will announce the name of the new police commissioner after 4 pm on Tuesday after the scheduled hearing in Supreme Court gets over,” chief minister Banerjee had said on Monday after a meeting with the protesting doctors at her official residence.
