Kolkata: Rina Mitra, who could have been the first woman CBI chief, has been appointed as West Bengal’s principal security advisor on internal security.
The retired IPS officer, one of the 12 shortlisted for the post of CBI chief, was dropped from the race after the selection committee meeting was deferred to the day after her retirement.
“I did qualify on all parameters to be considered for the selection to head the premier investigation body of the country… I was indeed the senior-most officer fulfilling all the four essential criteria including experience in CBI and anti-corruption… However, an easily avoidable delay of just one day in the selection process ensured that I was bumped out of the race and no longer in contention,” Mitra wrote in The Telegraph on February 5.
The 1983-batch IPS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre retired as special secretary (internal security) with the Home Ministry on January 31. She is the first woman IPS officer from West Bengal.
The responsibilities of Mitra for the newly created post would be defined later in a separate order, a senior official said.
Mitra would likely be reporting directly to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the rearrangement of security agencies in the state.
Born in 1959, Mitra grew up in West Bengal’s Asansol and went onto get an MPhil from the National Defence College. She has served in Madhya Pradesh and in the Union government in various capacities and was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1999 and the President’s Medal for distinguished service in 2008