Upendra Nath Biswas | |
---|---|
Minister for Backward Class Welfare,Government of West Bengal | |
In office 2011–2016 | |
Governor | M. K. Narayanan |
Succeeded by | Rajib Banerjee |
Member of Legislative Assembly of West Bengal | |
In office 2011–2016 | |
Governor | M. K. Narayanan |
Preceded by | Dulal Bar (AITC) |
Succeeded by | Dulal Bar (INC) |
Constituency | Bagda |
Personal details | |
Born | 12 August 1941 Jessore,Bangladesh |
Political party | AITC(2011-2021) |
Residence(s) | Sector III,Bidhannagar (E),Kolkata |
Alma mater | University of Calcutta |
Profession | Politician and Civil Servant |
Upendranath Biswas or U. N. Biswas is a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer,caste historian,and an Indian politician. He is widely known for his probe into the Fodder Scam and for bringing down the once-powerful RJD leader and Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in 1997. [1] [2]
He also served as the Minister of Backward Classes Welfare in the Government of West Bengal from 2011 to 2016 in the First Banerjee ministry. He resigned from Trinamool Congress in 2021. [3] [4]
He was born to Nibaran Chandra Biswas at faridpur resent,vill ulpur,upazila Gopalganj,Jilla Gopalganj in Bangladesh. He belongs to Namasudra family and follows Ambedkarite ideology. [5] He completed his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Calcutta in 1986. He converted to Buddhism and is one of the few lawmakers from West Bengal who belongs to the religion. [6] [7]
He joined the West Bengal Police as an IPS officer in 1968,serving as a DSP in charge of an EFR Company,a Subdivision,Addl. SP of District HQ,S.P of West Dinajpur,SSP in the West Bengal CID,and the Joint Director in CBI,his honest investigation report to the court was changed with a milder one written by his deputy Ranjit Sinha by the head of the CBI,Joginder Singh to please the political establishment,for which the CBI received strictures from the court. [8] [9] [10]
He retired as the additional director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),which he served as an officer of the Indian Police Service (West Bengal cadre,1968 batch). He first became a news-maker by relentlessly pursuing former Chief Ministers of Bihar,Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Prasad Yadav in the ₹950 crore (US$110 million) Fodder scam as the joint Director (East),CBI. [11]
His efficiency and honesty were always on the top. He was involved in detecting and resolving many scams when he held the Office of the Joint Director,Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The most popular of these was perhaps the scam for Chara Ghotala in which he caught the corrupt politician Lalu Prasad Yadav and sent him to jail also. Even after threats to his life from different politicians,he did his duties perfectly up to the end.
In 2002,he had retired from the CBI as Additional director. [12]
After retirement from his job,he joined the All India Trinamool Congress party and won from Bagda in Bongaon subdivision. [13] [14] He was an MLA,elected from the Bagda constituency in the 2011 West Bengal state assembly election. He has served as the Minister for Backward Class Welfare in the Government of West Bengal from 2011 to 2016. During the 2021 West Bengal election,he resigned from Trinamool Congress. [15]
In 2022,in a Facebook post,he first exposed the School Service Commission (SSC) TET scam in West Bengal. [16]
He created a controversy by seeking the help of the Indian Army in rushing to arrest Lalu Prasad Yadav, [17] [18] following which he was harassed by his department and the political establishment. [19]
Lalu Prasad is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997),a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009),and a former Member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha &Rajya Sabha.
The All India Trinamool Congress is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a breakaway faction from the Indian National Congress and rapidly rose to prominence in the politics of West Bengal under her leadership. Presently,it is ruling the state of West Bengal beside being the third-largest party in India in terms of number of MPs just after the BJP and INC.
Jagannath Mishra was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Bihar and as Minister in the Union Cabinet. He was also Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha between 1988 - 1990 and 1994 - 2000. His involvement was at a high level in the Indian National Congress. He was elected Chief Minister of Bihar three times. After his brother L.N. Mishra's assassination,Jagannath Mishra became Bihar's most powerful Congress leader in the late seventies and eighties. Prior to the emergence of Lalu Prasad Yadav in 1990,Jagannath Mishra was rated as the biggest mass leader in the Congress. He was affectionately called "Doctor Sahib". He was also referred to as "Maulana" Jagannath because of his clout with the Muslims that he had earned by making Urdu the second official language of the state in 1980.
The Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of about ₹940 crore from the government treasury of the north Indian state of Bihar. Among those implicated in the theft and arrested were then Chief Minister of Bihar,Lalu Prasad Yadav,as well as former Chief Minister,Jagannath Mishra. The scandal led to the end of Lalu's reign as Chief Minister. Dineshwar Prasad Sharma is also alleged to have received ₹300.60 crore from S. N. Sinha. On 23 December 2017,Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by a special CBI court while Jagannath Misra was acquitted.
Anirudh Prasad Yadav,better known as Sadhu Yadav,is an Indian politician and founder of Garib Janta Dal (Secular). He has served in 14th Lok Sabha as MP of Gopalganj from 2004 to 2009 as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate. Sadhu was MLA of Gopalganj assembly from 2000 to 2004.
Politics in West Bengal is dominated by the following major political parties:the All India Trinamool Congress,the Communist Party of India (Marxist),the Bharatiya Janata Party,the National People's Party and the Indian National Congress. For many decades,the state underwent gruesome and terrible political violence. Since the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election,it has been governed by the Trinamool Congress party. Previously,it was ruled by Left Front led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for over three decades.
Suvendu Adhikari is an Indian politician from Bharatiya Janata Party who is the current Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly since 2021 and a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Nandigram Assembly constituency since 2021 and from Contai South from 2006 to 2009.
The Bihar Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Bihar,India,with its headquarters in Patna. It has a sanctioned strength of 111,000 personnel,and as of 2017,employs 77,000 personnel.
Madan Mitra is an Indian politician,actor from West Bengal. Madan Mitra started his career with party Indian National Congress. He held many positions of Indian Youth Congress,the party's youth wing. In 1998,he joined Trinamool Congress party,founded by his colleague Mamata Banerjee,and his movie debut was in the 2023 Bengali film Oh! Lovely. In 2011,he was elected to the legislative assembly and became a state minister. He was arrested for the Sarada Chit Fund conspiracy case and got bail after 22 months.
Ranjit Sinha was an Indian police officer and was the former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He was the director general of police of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the director general of the Railway Protection Force before joining as the CBI director in December 2012 for a two-year tenure. He has also served in senior positions in the CBI in Patna and Delhi.
The Saradha Group financial scandal was a major political scandal caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group,a consortium of over 200 private companies that was believed to be running collective investment schemes popularly but incorrectly referred to as chit funds in Eastern India.
Kunal Ghosh is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Trinamool Congress and a former MP,representing West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha.
Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is an Indian politician and former professional cricketer who served as the 5th Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar from 10 August 2022 to 28 January 2024.
Amit Khare is a retired Indian Administrative Service officer from Bihar/Jharkhand cadre and is currently serving as the advisor to Prime Minister of India. He is noted for his role in bringing to light the Fodder scam,in which Rs. 940 crores were embezzled in Bihar over many years,and successive chief ministers Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Yadav have been imprisoned.
The Narada sting operation was a sting operation carried out by Mathew Samuel targeting high-ranking officials and politicians of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). It showed several politicians and a high-ranked police officer accepting cash bribes in exchange for providing unofficial favors to a company.
Rakesh Asthana is an Indian police officer,known for investigating various cases,including embezzlement,bribery,and bombings. He joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1984 and was part of the Gujarat cadre. He served as the Special Director at the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI). In July 2021,he was appointed as the Police Commissioner of Delhi. Asthana retired from the Indian Police Service (IPS) on 31 July 2022 after receiving a one-year extension.
Paresh Chandra Adhikary is an Indian politician from AITC(till August 2022). In May 2021,he was elected as the member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Mekliganj.
West Bengal School Service Recruitment Scam is an ongoing education SSC scam in West Bengal,India since 2022. The scam is being currently investigated jointly by Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate. The scam was revealed,following the arrest of Partha Chatterjee,a Trinamool Congress leader,who has served as the Minister of Education in the Mamata Banerjee's cabinet until his arrest on 23 July 2022.
West Bengal cow smuggling scam is an ongoing Cattle theft in India scam going on from August 2022. The scam is currently investigated by Enforcement Directorate,Central Bureau of Investigation and National Investigation Agency jointly. The scam was revealed,following the arrest of prominent and senior leader of Trinamool Congress and president of Birbhum district Trinamool Congress,Anubrata Mondal,who is also known to be a close aide of the Chief Minister of West Bengal,Mamata Banerjee by the agencies.