Who is the new Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma? | Latest News India

The West Bengal government on Tuesday appointed 1998-batch IPS officer Manoj Kumar Verma as the new police commissioner of Kolkata.

Verma's appointment comes a day after a meeting between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and protesting junior doctors. The Chief Minister announced that Vineet Goyal will step down as the city's top police officer.

Vineet Goyal has been made the ADG and Inspector General of the Special Task Force (STF) of the West Bengal Police.

Everything we know about new Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma:

Early life

Manoj Kumar Verma studied mainly at Kendriya Vidyalaya and a military school in Belgaum, Karnataka due to his father's service in the Indian Army, he revealed in an interview on Facebook.

Verma graduated from Engineering College, Kota with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Soon after that he started studying for the civil service exams and became part of the 1998 IPS batch at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad.

Career

Verma served as Police Commissioner of Siliguri before being transferred and posted as Inspector General of Traffic (IG) in West Bengal in 2016.

He also held the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Darjeeling and ADG and Inspector General of Intelligence Bureau in 2017.

He was appointed Additional Director General (ADG), Law and Order in January 2024, according to news agency PTI.

Now, Javed Shamim, a 1995-batch IPS officer, will take over as ADG and Inspector General (Law and Order), while Manoj Kumar Verma will become Kolkata Police Commissioner.

As West Bengal's ADG (law and order), Manoj Kumar Verma lashed out at protesters at the Nabana Abhijan rally, calling the march “illegal” and calling it an attempt to incite unrest.

Verma vowed to put the safety of the public and students appearing for the NTA exams above the protests, which he claimed were being held without necessary permissions.