Soumen Mitra

Soumen Mitra (born 16 December 1961) is an Indian police officer, who served as the 38th Police Commissioner of Kolkata. Mitra started his police career as a probation officer in Darjeeling as part of the 1988 batch of police officers in the Indian Police Service. Throughout his career he served as a police superintendent in Barrackpore, Howrah, and Murshidabad, and deputy commissioner of the detective department in Kolkata, where he led investigations into the 2002 attack on the American Culture Centre and the 2001 Calcutta Stock Exchange scam.

Mitra served as Police Commissioner of Kolkata twice, first appointed by the Election Commission of India in 2016 during the West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections and again in 2021. His tenure during the 2016 elections is credited with facilitating a violence-free election. He was reappointed in 2021 by the West Bengal Government during that year's legislative assembly elections. Mitra continued in this role until his retirement in December 2021, receiving the Police Medal for outstanding service in August 2021. He is also known for his interest in heritage conservation, having helped restore several historical structures in Kolkata.

Early life and career
Born in 1961 in Kolkata, Mitra was educated at St. Xavier's Collegiate School, Kolkata, Presidency College, Kolkata and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, completing his BA, MA and M.Phil. A history graduate, he qualified for the Civil Services examinations and was inducted into the Indian Police Service, belonging to the 1988-batch in the West Bengal cadre. Initially, he started out as a probation officer in Darjeeling before being appointed the assistant commissioner of police operations in Darjeeling. Subsequently, Mitra went on to hold other roles, acting as a police superintendent under the West Bengal Police in Barrackpore, Howrah and Murshidabad. During this time, he developed a reputation for starting welfare and development projects in areas where he was posted. He is credited to have started the Chandradeep Mela in Hariharpara, a area known for it's communal violence which helped stabilize the atmosphere.

Mitra was transferred to the Kolkata Police to serve as a deputy commissioner for the detective department. He helped lead the police team in investigating the attack on the American Culture Centre in Kolkata in 2002 and helped investigate the Calcutta Stock Exchange scam perpetrated in 2001. Later, he was also put in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department of the West Bengal Police.

Police Commissioner (2016)
In the run up to the 2016 Assembly Elections in West Bengal, Mitra was appointed the Commissioner of the Kolkata Police by the Election Commission of India despite opposition from the incumbent Trinamool Congress government on 13 April 2016. Mitra's predecessor, Rajeev Kumar was seen as biased towards the ruling party and the other parties contesting the elections had filed petitions to the Election Commission alleging mismanagement of the elections due to rampant incidents of poll violence targeted at members of those parties. Mitra who perceived to be a rival of Kumar, cracked down on poll violence, and was credited with ensuring a smooth election. Subsequently, after the Trinamool government came back to power with a landslide victory, Soumen Mitra was removed from his post as Police Commissioner and was appointed as the Assistant Deputy General of Training.

Police Commissioner (2021)
In February 2021, Mitra was again appointed as the Police Commissioner of the Kolkata Police in the period prior to the 2021 Assembly Elections in West Bengal by Mamata Banerjee on the recommendation of the Election Commission. In August 2021, Mitra received the Police Medal for outstanding service to the West Bengal government. Mitra continued being the police commissioner after the conclusion of the elections until he retired from the Indian Police Service in December 2021.

Other interests
Mitra is known in the police force for his interest in heritage structures. In 2004, Mitra helped rescue and restore a dilapidated building on Ripon Street which was occupied by Ramendra Narayan Roy (popularly known as the Sanyasi Raja) when he was fighting his legal battles in the Bhawal case. In 2015, he helped restore the Police Training School which had previously served as one India's first mental asylum and was considered iconic due to it's unique architecture style that was pioneered by Jeremy Benthlam in the 18th century.

His restoration and repair of Government House, Barrackpore, the previous residence of the Governors-General of British India, was awarded the Heritage Conservation Award 2018-19 by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Literary works
Mitra's M Phil dissertation has been published as a book entitled In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta, 1880–1950.

In 2019 he collaborated with his wife, Monabi Mitra, in writing Under The Banyan Tree: The Forgotten Story of Barrackpore Park, narrating the two hundred year-old history of Government House Barrackpore.

Personal life
Soumen Mitra is married and resides in Kolkata. His wife, Manobi Mitra, is a professor of English and a crime novelist.