Kolkata: Sumit Kumar Ghosh, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Girish Park Police Station, has been removed from his post following the stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durgotsab pandal in Kolkata that claimed 19 lives.
Hirak Dalapati, an officer from the Kolkata Police Detective Department, has been given interim charge of the police station on the instructions of Lalbazar, the city police headquarters.
According to an official order, Dalapati, an Inspector of Police from the Detective Department, will handle the responsibilities of the OC of Girish Park Police Station under the Central Division in addition to his existing duties, with immediate effect and until further orders.
The development comes amid an investigation into the deadly stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal.
Earlier on Sunday, the Bankshall Court remanded seven people arrested in connection with the incident to 10 days of police custody, until October 28. Police had sought 14 days of custody.
Those arrested include Raj Kumar Sewda, alias Raja, secretary of the puja committee; Santanu Dubey, its vice-president; and Biplab Mukherjee, alias Joy, who was involved in constructing a bamboo structure at the venue.
The other accused are Koushik Saha, who managed the crowd and checked VIP passes; Pintu Dey, who also managed the crowd; and Suman Chakraborty and Rajesh Pal, who worked as private security in-charges.
Defence lawyer MD Yashim Raheman told ANI that the accused were outsiders who had come to attend the Durga Puja celebrations. He claimed they had tried to help rescue people after noticing severe overcrowding and people in distress.
Raheman said the court had granted police custody until October 28, although the police had sought custody until November 1.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari visited central monitoring facilities to review crowd management arrangements.
The state police have also brought back nine experienced Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to the Kolkata Police force to strengthen crowd control and security during the Durga Puja festivities.
