On Sunday, sources said that after another assessment of threat levels, the West Bengal government had further cut down on security measures for several politicians, former police officers and other high-profile personalities.
The latest move involves house guards’ withdrawal, police deployment reduction, and change in VIP protection groups for several people across the state, officials said. The move follows an internal review by the Bengal government which has started reducing security cover to several top leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee after the decision was taken.
The new security measures were put in place following a thorough investigation by state and intelligence services, sources said. The review reportedly covered threat levels, public exposure/human security of each person.
Those who have reportedly had their security cut down include Kalyan Banerjee, former minister Arup Biswas, Trinamool Congress state president Subrata Bakshi, MLA Kunal Ghosh and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee.
A few senior officers are also facing a change in security, such as former state police chief Rajeev Kumar, retired DGP Manoj Malaviya and former acting DGP Piyush Pandey.
Officials insisted it was a routine administrative assessment designed to streamline security force manpowering and the allocation of security resources to new risks, not in response to the current crisis.