West Bengal Governor accepts resignation of TMC minister who verbally abused woman official

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Akhil Giri as the Correctional Home Minister, an official said.

He has kept open the avenues for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to investigate the legislator's alleged misconduct against woman official of the forest department, following which the ruling TMC asked Giri to resign as minister.

"The governor has accepted the resignation of Akhil Giri, minister of state (Independent charge), Department of Correctional Administration. The file was sent to the Raj Bhavan on Monday," the official said.

This, however, shall not be construed as absolving him of the responsibility of misconduct against a woman public servant.

"The CM may exercise her option to initiate an enquiry into the alleged misconduct of Giri so as to reestablish public faith in the system," the Raj Bhavan said in a post on X.

On Monday, Giri resigned from his chair, a day after the Trinamool Congress leadership asked him to step down from the ministry and apologise to a forest department woman official for threatening and verbally abusing her.

The TMC MLA from Ramnagar, however, said that he would not apologise to any official.

Giri, who has been with the TMC since it was founded in 1998, said he would write in detail to the CM regarding the events that led to his losing cool.

On Sunday, Giri, flanked by locals, was seen in videos threatening forest ranger Manisha Sahu, warning her of reducing her tenure after she and her team removed encroachments on forest department land near Tajpur beach.

Incidentally, two years back in 2022, Giri's controversial remarks on President Droupadi Murmu were severely criticised.

Party supremo and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had to apologise for Giri's "derogatory remark" on Murmu after a massive uproar by the opposition.