everal boats belonging to the Nishads were allegedly damaged by policemen after the clash. Two police observers, Mrinal Kanti Das and Vivek Kumar Dubey, are likely to arrive in Bengal on Sunday. According to sources, they will review the situation in the run-up to the Assembly elections. Several districts of the state have been identified as sensitive and highly sensitive.
Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora on Friday said Ajay V Nayak, former chief electoral officer of Bihar, would be deployed as the special observer to West Bengal. He is a 1984 batch retired IAS officer.
The poll panel had announced on Friday that retired IPS officer Vivek Dubey, a 1981 batch officer from Andhra Pradesh, would be sent as police observer. He was the police observer in West Bengal in the last parliament elections also. Mrinal Kanti Das, a retired 1977 batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre would also be sent. He was the observer in Tripura elections.
Vivek Dubey is known for investigating the Bilkis Bano case, his efforts to combat terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and operations against Naxalism.
At least 18 companies of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) reached West Bengal on Saturday as part of the ongoing deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the statefor the Assembly polls.
Officials said 10 companies of the SSB reached the state from Assam and eight from Bihar.
Three companies each have been deployed in Kolkata, arasat, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and two each in Bongaon.