Manoj Kr Verma, 7 other police officers to get top state honour

Kolkata: IPS officer Manoj Kumar Verma, presently posted as Commissioner of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate, will be awarded the Chief Minister's Police Medal for Outstanding Service on Independence Day.

Sources in the Home department said Verma's efforts to restore peace and normalcy in Bhatpara has been a major reason behind his name featuring in the recipients' list released by the state Home & Hill Affairs department.

Verma, soon after taking over as CP, began area domination in full swing with RAF and combat forces to instill confidence among the common people who were under a sense of fear due to the atrocities allegedly unleashed by BJP supporters, particularly in Bhatpara and Kankinara. Verma also started a WhatsApp number appealing to the residents to inform of any sort of problematic situation and assured that the identity of the person would be kept confidential.

These places have been witnessing political violence after the result of the Lok Sabha polls was announced and it was on June 20 when the state government appointed Verma as the Police Commissioner.

Bhatpara is an Assembly constituency under Barrackpore parliamentary constituency which was won by BJP's Arjun Singh. The government had to shuffle Police Commissioner of Barrackpore on more than one occasion in the period between May 23 and June 20 when there were reports of sporadic violence.

Verma, an IPS officer of 1998 batch, had earlier played an important role in countering Maoist activities in West Midnapore district during the 2009-2011 period. Verma who was posted as IG Darjeeling during the violent movement of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the Hills in 2017, also played a significant role in the restoration of peace there.

Apart from Verma, Sanjay Singh, a 1992-batch IPS officer posted as ADG South Bengal and Vineet Kumar Goyal, a 1994-batch IPS posted as Director Security, West Bengal, will also receive the Chief Minister's Police Medal for Outstanding Service on August 15.

The Chief Minister's Police Medal for Commendable Service will be presented to five IPS officers including Pandey Santosh, C Sudhakar, Meeraj Khalid, Shyam Singh and Debasmita Das. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to hand over the medals at a programme on Red Road on Independence Day.