CPI-M takes dig at Bengal's top cop

As the West Bengal Police chief disputed National Crime Records Bureau figures that the state recorded the highest number of crimes against women, the opposition CPI-M Wednesday accused the top police officer of talking like his "boss" Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Left party said Banerjee was "using the police as well as administration" to further her political interest.

While figures released by the NCRB showed that Bengal ranked number one in crimes against women, state's Director General of Police Naparajit Mukherjee contested the statistics, saying rape incidents had come down "considerably".

Taking a dig at Mukherjee, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Suryakanta Mishra said: "He is talking like his master's voice."

"It is better to utter that kind of words without wearing uniforms. If someone thinks that he would do politics, then he should not put on the uniform. They (policemen) cannot do this when they are in service," said Mishra, also the leader of opposition in the state assembly.

He accused the Mamata Banerjee government of using police as well as the administration "shamelessly" in its interest.

"She (chief minister Banerjee) even decides what the DG would say at media meets," he said.

The CPI-M leader also contested the government's view that recording of crimes against women had increased during its rule.

"There is no scope for reporting of crimes at police stations across the state even in case of crimes against women," Mishra averred.

Statistics released by the NCRB revealed that in West Bengal as many as 30,942 cases of crimes against women took place in 2012.