Dilip Kumar Ghosal, additional officer-in-charge of Sealdah traffic guard, was on Monday showcaused for ordering traffic sergeant Amitabha Chakraborty to let Sajal Ghosh go, despite the son of Congress leader Pradip Ghosh having violated traffic rules.

“The police commissioner has taken serious exception to the incident. Ghosal has been pulled up and asked to submit a report,” said a senior IPS officer. “What he did was wrong, as the sergeant was doing his duty,” he added.

Deputy commissioner (traffic) Jawed Shamim, however, stuck to his “no comments” line.

Metro on Monday had reported how Sajal had been speeding down Park Street on his motorcycle, without a helmet, on Sunday afternoon when he was stopped by sergeant Chakraborty.

Sajal could not produce his driving licence or the vehicle’s pollution clearance certificate. But instead of paying a fine, he flaunted his “connections” and threatened the sergeant with “dire consequences”.

When the sergeant stood his ground, Sajal called up the additional officer-in-charge of Sealdah — an area where Pradip and Sajal Ghosh wield considerable clout — and asked him to intervene.

It was then that Ghosal barked out instructions into his wireless set — “Let him go right now… Do not argue with me. This is my order.”

Chakraborty was forced to let Sajal go scot-free.

A traffic department officer said Ghosal had crossed the line by ordering the sergeant from another traffic guard to allow an offender to get away.

“Instead of listening to the traffic sergeant, he rebuked him for doing his duty. And that, too, over the wireless, which was heard by many in the force. This sends out a wrong signal,” said a senior officer.

An incident at the opposite end of the spectrum was recounted by a retired officer. “About two-and-a-half years ago, a traffic sergeant had booked two inspectors of the special branch of the city police on a motorcycle without helmets. The sergeant called up Deepak Mukherjee, then officer-in-charge of South traffic guard, when the two inspectors disclosed that they were his batchmates. Mukherjee asked the sergeant to go right ahead and file a case of road-rule violation against them... It was a morale-booster for the force.”