Mamata picks officer who lost out in race for CBI top job as adviser

NEW DELHI: Rina

Mitra

, the 1983-batch IPS officer of the

Madhya Pradesh

cadre who was among the frontrunners in the race for the CBI chief ’s post, was appointed principal adviser (internal security) by the Mamata Banerjee government on Tuesday.


Mitra, who retired on January 31, just two days before the new CBI director was appointed on February 2, was special secretary (internal security) with the MHA.

Confirming the development in New Delhi, Mitra, who completed her graduation from Lady Brabourne College and post-graduation from the University of Calcutta, described her newest assignment as “homecoming”.

Speaking briefly to TOI Mitra said, “Yes, I have been appointed as the principal adviser, internal security. I am looking forward to the assignment. It is a homecoming of sorts for me.” She, however, refused to comment on her CBI tenure and the fact that she was overlooked for the agency top post. “It is a closed chapter for me. I do not want to dwell on it,” she said.

Mitra’s MHA stint may come handy

Mitra’s Bengal assignment comes in the wake of a gradually escalating turf war between the central agencies, including CBI and ED, and the state police, which has now reached the Supreme Court. The Mamata Banerjee government has also withdrawn the “consent” clause for CBI to probe in Bengal, which means only those cases assigned by the high court or the Supreme Court and ongoing probes registered before the consent was withdrawn, can be probed by the central agency.

It is learnt that CM Mamata Banerjee had herself spoken to Mitra about the new assignment and the CM is likely to meet her before returning to Kolkata from Delhi on Friday.

Given the fact that Mitra has spent close to six years with CBI and a significant number of years with the MHA, the state government feels her induction as an advisor will be “invaluable”. Bengal already has a Special Security Advisor (SSA) in former state DGP Surajit Kar Purakayastha since his retirement on May 31, 2018.

The Sarbananda Sonowal government in Assam had in January appointed former Kolkata Police chief Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda as security advisor to Assam CM. Mitra’s expertise, senior officers felt, would be required to untangle the knots of the Centre-state interagency skirmishes which are repeatedly landing in the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court.