An official order said that Rao, a 1986-batch Indian Police Service officer from Odisha cadre, has been appointed Director General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guard by 'temporarily downgrading the post' to the level of additional director general.
A rape case has been registered against Malayalam actor Sidhique following a female actor's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2016, the police said on Wednesday.
There were conflicting reports about some CBI officers being arrested.
After recent high-intensity operations in the Bastar region and the neutralisation of several senior Maoist leaders, officials say the insurgency has lost its ability to mount large-scale coordinated attacks.
Sporadic post-poll violence continued on Tuesday in West Bengal claiming several lives as chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked officials to act decisively and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to express anguish over the law-and-order situation.
West Bengal Home Secretary P R Roy told reporters in Kolkata that Chakraborty, additional director general of police (Telecom) would take over his new assignment soon.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla may have a video conference with West Bengal's Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Director General of Police Virendra on Friday evening after they conveyed their inability to travel to the national capital, officials said.
West Bengal had witnessed violence and arson from December 13 to 17 during protests against the new citizenship law.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has set up four teams, each headed by joint directors Ramnish, Anurag, Vineet Vinayak and Sampat Meena, to probe the political violence which ensued after the victory of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on May 2 in a bitterly fought eight-phase assembly poll in West Bengal.
Over two dozen people have been detained for questioning in connection with the suspected bid to derail the Kalindi Express in Kanpur two days ago, officials said on Wednesday.
The state police said the situation in Murshidabad is gradually returning to normal, with shops reopening and displaced families starting to come back.
The Bharatiya Janata Party dubbed the arrest as scripted and claimed he was in the safe custody of West Bengal Police.
In a communication to the chief secretary and the director general of police of West Bengal, the Union home ministry also said there is no regulation in vegetable, fish and mutton markets and social-distancing norms are being violated at these places in the state.
A four-member team of the Union home ministry, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhavan.
'Yaas' is likely to cross the Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar Islands around noon on May 26 as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 155-165 kmph, Kolkata's Regional Meteorological Centre Deputy Director Sanjib Bandopadhyay said.
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terrorists have entered West Bengal to carry out subversive activities.
As a state government report said that the situation is peaceful there, no order was being passed on deployment of central forces as was sought by two petitioners, the court stated.
Joint Director Ramnish Geer, who led the probe in cases like housing scam allegedly involving the then Union minister Sheila Kaul, Naval war room leak case, kidnapping of an NRI businessman and his release besides other high profile anti-corruption cases, received the coveted President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
The move came in the wake of several political parties complaining to the Election Commission, alleging that Virendra was inclined towards the ruling Trinamool Congress, sources said.
Senior Indian Police Service officer Manoj Kumar Verma was appointed the new Kolkata Police commissioner, replacing Vineet Goyal, on Tuesday, a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with agitating junior doctors and agreed to their demands in a bid to resolve the more than a month-long impasse over the RG Kar hospital incident.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she has blocked Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Twitter, 'disturbed' by his regular posts against her government on the microblogging platform.
For the first time, seven hardcore Maoists from junglemahal, including slain Kishenji's bodyguard, on Wednesday surrendered with firearms before West Bengal police chief in West Midnapore district.
Raja was hacked to death on May 23 while honeymooning in the northeastern state. His wife Sonam, her alleged boyfriend Raj and three hitmen have been arrested in connection with the murder.
Odisha is bracing for heavy rainfall early next week under the impact of a possible cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, which is likely to skirt the state and move towards West Bengal and Bangladesh, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.
A Karachi-bound cargo vessel from Bangladesh with heavy military supplies, including explosives, was on Friday detained by the police at Diamond Harbour in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, top police officials said.Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh said, "It is a consignment of heavy military supplies meant for a consignee in Karachi. Five tonnes of explosives and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition were found after the police detained the vessel."
In a prize catch, the West Bengal police on Tuesday night arrested top Maoist leader Venkateswar Reddy, the suspected mastermind of the attack that killed 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel in Silda in West Midnapore district. Additional Director General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department Raj Kanojia said Reddy, alias Telugu Dipak, was arrested from Sarshuna on the southern fringes of the city.
'The biggest game changer has been the belief among Maoists that they can surrender and join the mainstream'
Citing Section 144 CrPC was in force in parts of Sandeshkhali and it would not be prudent to allow them access to the area even in groups of four-five, senior police officers stopped their convoy at the Bhojerhat area, which is around 52 km from the riverine area, on Basanti Highway.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
Night patrolling on hospital premises and regulating access for people to key areas are among the measures the Centre has asked states to implement to ensure the safety of medics at workplaces, following Supreme Court orders in the rape-murder case of a junior doctor in Kolkata.
It said the chief justice-led bench of the high court shall be at liberty to pass appropriate order in the petition after hearing all the objections, if any, of Adhikari both on the merits and maintainability of the plea.
The state government, however, has not sent any report as sought by the Union home ministry on "serious security lapses" during Nadda's two-day visit to West Bengal.
A team of CBI officials reached CID headquarters Bhawani Bhawan in Kolkata before 4 pm. But the handover from the state agency took place at around 6:48 pm, despite the Calcutta high court setting a deadline of 4.15 pm.
In a setback to the West Bengal government, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed its plea challenging a Calcutta high court order transferring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into the January 5 attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team in Sandeshkhali, allegedly by supporters of the now suspended TMC local strongman Shahjahan Sheikh.
A two-day conference of state police chiefs of the northeastern region convened by the Intelligence Bureau has gone underway in Guwahati with an objective to have a coordinated strategy to tackle cross-border and inter-state movement of insurgents, Maoists threat and check fake currency and arms proliferation through borders in the region.
The West Bengal police on Saturday night said Maoists were behind the Gyaneshwari Express derailment and claimed to have identified the culprits behind the incident that has claimed 136 lives so far. "Those who did it are all members of Maoist squads. We have identified them and a search is on to nab them," Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh told reporters. He said two members of a Maoist squad, who were recently released on bail, had led the operation.
The West Bengal government has taken a serious note of the situation in certain areas under the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate, including Bhatpara, which has witnessed a series of clashes since May 19, when the bypoll was held in the assembly constituency.
The apex court also said no coercive steps, including the arrest of the Kolkata Police chief, will take place during the course of investigation.
West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh was on Friday summoned to the state assembly and ordered to pay Rs 1000 as 'punishment' by Speaker H A Halim for taking a photo in the House with his mobile. The Speaker asked the DGP, who was produced by the marshal in a temporary dock set up in the well of the assembly, whether he had taken a photo in the House with his mobile phone camera on Thursday.
An angry Banerjee slammed a minister, a former Trinamool Congress mayor and a few bureaucrats for their "below-par performance".
