KOLKATA: Junior cops on duty at Nabanna and posted at chief minister Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat residence as part of her security detail have been barred from using mobile phones - apart from other security measures - two days after a 31-year-old man, armed with an iron rod, managed to breach Z+ security and spent seven hours at her home before being discovered on Sunday.
The cops have also formed an eight-member special investigation team (SIT) under joint commissioner of police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma to probe the lapses which allowed Hafizul Molla to slip through, unchallenged. The measures coincide with findings that Molla had, on an earlier occasion, tried to breach Nabanna security.
Mobile ban for jr cops on duty at CM home, office
Use of mobile phones by on-duty junior cops has been banned in Nabanna and chief minister Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat home.
Police have formed an eight-member special investigation team under joint commissioner of police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma to probe the lapses due to which 31-year-old Hafizul Molla from Hasnabad spent seven hours with a rod at the high-security home on Sunday.
The steps coincide with findings that Molla had once before tried to breach Nabanna security.
Among the other senior officers in the team will be DCP (DD-spl) Surya Kumar Yadav and DCP (STF) Harikrishna Pai. An inspector, who was on security duty, has already been asked to return to his parent cadre in the sixth battalion on Tuesday.
A detective department team has already been to Hasnabad and has asked Howrah Police to submit details of the episode when Molla was held at Nabanna and handed over to them when he tried to enter illegally on an earlier occasion.
Police said around 20-30 more CCTVs will be installed in and around Kalighat approaches.
Security officials had earlier planned to set up a watch tower near the CM's residence, but as the CM had objected to the plan, it could not be done. But now it has been decided to set up watchtowers near Alipore jail end for round-the-clock surveillance on the CM's residence.
Also, it has been decided to put up fencing along the Adi Ganga bank. In February 2021, five teaching assistants were arrested as they had tried to reach the CM's residence by crossing the Adi Ganga.
The cellphone ban order stated that mobile can only be used for emergency and official use, otherwise it has to be kept switched off.
The probe team, sources said, has been tasked to investigate the security breach - identify the lapses that led to the incident in the first place, identify the people whose negligence led to it and even probe the real motive of Molla, who had carried a rod with him, when he gained entry by climbing the wall of the office of Banerjee's brother's. It was learnt that Banerjee's family has expressed anxiety over the issue.
