EC, state at loggerheads over Bharati location

Kolkata: Where is IPS officer Bharati Ghosh? State officials and those now under the Election Commission differ over the location of this special superintendent of police (CID).
EC officers believe Ghosh is not in Kolkata and had been to Cooch Behar on the eve of the polls. Her boss, DG-crime Surajit Kar Purakayastha, has categorically said in his reply to EC that Ghosh has all along been in Kolkata and has not been to Cooch Behar.
The EC had on Tuesday evening ordered Ghosh "not to leave station" after getting information that she was in Cooch Behar. On Wednesday, an EC official from New Delhi said: "The action (against Ghosh) was not based on uncorroborated and wild accusations by Opposition parties. There is some truth to it. Having put restrictions on her movement on election day, the EC will keep a close watch on her." Kar Purakayastha refused to comment. And Ghosh was unavailable for comment all day long.
The EC's order restraining Ghosh from stepping out of Kolkata on Thursday comes in wake of "credible reports" that she - taking refuge in her present role as SSP-CID - has been touring and meeting police officers in some poll-bound districts. Earlier, it was alleged she had been to Jhargram on April 3 (a day before voting) and to the Midnapore Police Lines on April 10 (again a day before voting).
The CID has emphatically denied that Ghosh stepped out of Kolkata at all, let alone be part of chief minister Mamata Banerjee's entourage in Cooch Behar. But wary of Ghosh, the Opposition insists Ghosh is in Cooch Behar and has checked into a star resort in Siliguri. Ironically, ever since EC winded up her specially-created poll-eve post (officer-on-special-duty, Left Wing Extremism) and sent her to CID on April 4, Ghosh has barely stepped into her the CID HQ, Bhawani Bhawan. A senior CID officer said, "We did not see her in office when she was transferred here in 2014, nor have we seen her now. In fact, there is no chamber earmarked for her at Bhawani Bhawan."
The Opposition sees a pattern in Ghosh's pre-poll "secretive" meetings with local cops. The EC had made it clear it had its own mechanism to keep surveillance on officers and their work and that its actions were not knee-jerk reactions based on opposition complaints. The EC has transferred a whopping 68 officials, including many SPs and DMs, keeping police on the tenterhooks. The Opposition alleges that Ghosh is close to the ruling party and used her position to move "like-minded people in the police force" beyond the usual command structure. While several other senior cops are mentioned in the opposition list, Ghosh has always stuck out.
However, the EC letter on restraining Ghosh is open to interpretation, say some sources. As per the CID workflow chart, as CID-SSP, Ghosh is tasked to look after the Missing Persons Bureau, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, Criminal Intelligence Wing, Anti-Cheating and Fraud Cell and Narcotic Cell. Since CID's jurisdiction covers all of Bengal, the same applies to Ghosh. By preventing her from leaving station, EC's decision - even for a day - can hamper her official role, they say. "By station, the EC clearly mentioned her office - that is in Kolkata," an ADG said.