Anil Goswami has been sacked as home secretary for stalling the arrest of an accused in the Saradha scam. The government action came a day after Governance Now reported on Goswami’s links with the accused, Matang Sinh (Matang’s clout brings governance under cloud). But, of course, Goswami has a long history of questionable ways. He had set several precedents in the home ministry which of late became a turf for playing “favourites”. One of them relates to the recent posting of RS Pachnanda, a 1983 batch IPS officer of West Bengal cadre, as additional director general of the central industrial security force (CISF), in charge of the security of airports.

In fact, the prerogative of assigning a particular role to any officer in the CISF rests with the director general (DG) who heads the force. For the first time, Goswami threw this propriety to the wind and issued the transfer order with a particular assignment for Pachnanda.

Pachnanda was a favourite officer of Goswami who entered into a verbal duel the with the then CBI chief Ranjit Sinha in 2013. Sinha, however, refused to induct him in the CBI as additional director.

Read the full story: Bureaucratic battles over CBI posting: what really happened

Since then Goswami has been targeting officers known to be close to Sinha and trying to manipulate transfers of his favourites. Pachnanda’s proximity to Matang Sinh was known to be another reason for the strong bonding between him and Goswami.

The VVIP welcome accorded by the CISF at Kolkata airport on Matang’s arrival for CBI interrogation was also intended to display his clout and influence the investigation. As the controversy over Goswami’s conduct intensifies, Pachnanda’s name is also being mentioned as an officer who made frequent calls to officials in the CBI to intercede on behalf of Matang.

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